Is night skiing dangerous?

[SnowGlider]

I was skiing a half hour sunset last week. I noticed that the snow was very flat---I completely lost my sense of the texture of the terrain and was just skiing on faith. I wasn't sure whether goggles would make my vision better or worse at that time of day. I assumed worse so wasn't wearing them.

I caught an edge and went flying into the brambles on the edge of the hill. Skis did not release (so I later had them reset from level 3 to level 2).

That made me wonder about night skiing, which I've only done once before. I feel a need to see the fine points of the terrain for safety---especially if the snow has been mangled by a full day of skiing.

So is night skiing considered dangerous due to reduced visibility? I have a trip coming up and want to be cautious.

 

[skigirl]

Visibility is actually better at night than during the day. You never deal with flat light when skiing under the lights at night.

My bigger concern is that you had your din setting turned down just because you did not release. Did you have release check done on your bindings before you had them turned down? If not and you just had then turned down you could do what is called pre release which means you just come out of your bindings while skiing because your din setting is too low for you. Be careful, unless you really know what you are doing leave din settings to the pros.

 

[Sheena]

The only thing that scares me about night skiing is the number of kids getting wasted/drunk in the parking lot and then clicking in and heading down the slopes.

 

[SnowGlider]

I had my skis tuned that day and the technician increased the binding setting from level 2 to level 3 based on my increased weight and also increase in ability level from the last tuning. I was not having any problems with the skis releasing inappropriately prior to that change.

When I fell my legs were turning like a windmill, which really worried me. So I had the bindings restored to level 2. I'm probably a level 2.5 skier, but I'm not that aggressive and the black trails I do are fairly tame.

 

[Pequenita]

Agree w/ skigirl - I night skied pretty exclusively between 1985 and 1991, and never knew what flat light was until I skied during the day in college! The lights are superior to what you get on an overcast day. I don't think night skiing is inherently dangerous due to visibility. However, conditions will ice over if you are skiing in a part of the country that experiences significant warmup/melt during the day and cold nights. So, when you fall while night skiing, it tends to hurt (at least in New York and Connecticut, it did!).

 

[SnowGlider]

Thanks! I guess the poor visibility was related to approaching sunset, when the night lights weren't turned on yet. Maybe that's the time to avoid.

Yes, I'm in the East and conditions change quickly after sunset, especially on a mountain that's been exposed to the warm afternoon sun. Thanks for that reminder.