Is resort skiing getting more dangerous?

[Christy]

There was an interesting article in the New York Times today that I think is very analogous to the ski resort situation. It's about how major league baseball stadiums have become more dangerous for fans, and how MLB organizations won't release information about injuries and even deaths. There is a discussion of inherent risk and how that has changed in stadiums in the last hundred years.

Family of Fan Killed by Foul Ball at Dodger Stadium Calls for More Safety https://nyti.ms/2UKK0mo

I'll also say that as a season-ticket holder in foul ball territory, I was initially very opposed to safety measures like extending the net. I thought, it is an inherent risk and if you don't want it then sit somewhere else. In my mind the opportunity to get a foul ball is a real treat. It was only after more information came out and I started learning about what is different about stadiums and the way players play today that I began to change my mind. And now reading that teams don't release statistics on injuries and deaths--it makes it seem like these organizations don't care about fan safety and that something needs to change.

We are increasingly safety conscious society and I really think that the ski resort issue could get a lot of press if someone just figures out how to make that happen. I mean, there have to be way more injuries and deaths on ski resort slopes then there aren't major-league ballparks.

 

[racetiger]

I got my tails clipped by a snowboarder last weekend. Thankfully at a very crawling slow speed. I had gotten off the lift and was slowly making my way to where I was going and heard the boarder behind me. He was goofing around doing some spinny stuff and hit my tails. It spun me around in a circle. (I was on twin tips ) Thankfully I was prepared and just went with the spin didn't fight it. I looked at him but he wasn't even paying attention....in his own little world...

 

[Sheena]

I am not sure if skiing has necessarily become more dangerous. Growing in in the mid-Atlantic I have always seen crowded slopes, with teens and college age students drinking and bombing runs. I do notice it more at my local resort now that I have young kids, and thankfully they are getting good enough now we can start to avoid those choke points.

Snowbasin where I ski is a victim of its layout in some ways, there are basically two runs that funnel to the bottom, and it gets bottle-necked. I posted last month how I got clipped by a boarder who hit (thankfully) and bent my pole!! Even with that, I am not sure that pulling passes would really change much. As a pre-teen, I once got my pass punched as a "warning" for skiing in the trees, when I popped out onto the main trail, and to be honest, all it did was make me not do it when there was patrol around. There is only so much resorts can do, they can't be there to enforce reckless behavior at all times. Plus at some point, reckless behavior and fast skiing are all very subjective.

Just anecdotally, I have several neighbor friends who work as crossing guards for schools. Last month, someone videoed a women trying to go through the cross walk while kids were still trying to cross and the guard was in the middle with her stop sign up, and the driver yelled at the cross guard to move because she the driver had the right of way. After that there was a police car stationed there for 2 days, but that is it. When I talked to my neighbors they say that cars running through the cross walk while they are in the middle of the road happens at least once a week. And at the cross walks there are signs, flashing lights and a person with a stop sign. If the cross guard can get a plate number, or if there happens to be a police presence that day they person gets a ticket, but people obviously still do it with complete disregard for safety.

Pulling passes *may* work a little while, but ultimately we have to have individual skiers/riders be responsible. Should extremely reckless behavior be enforced? of course. There may be more in the works for Snowbasin, though I guess its just wait and see at this point, but their safety month was also launching the new Safer Mountain Team, or something like that. I didn't press for details when I talked to them during the safety month at the stations on the mountain, so I don't really know what the initiative all entails.

Yes. I'm not sure if there is one or not, but yes, that's true. The rest of the injuries that happen are kept very hush hush.

I understand that thinking, but I would assume that the injuries being kept hush-hush have to do with privacy of the individuals? I assume that there are daily injuries at most resorts and its just not worth the time to publish every injury.

 

[contesstant]

I don't know if it's for privacy purposes, because the names could not be released but details could.
And yes, Snowbasin suffers from serious choke points. Honestly, City Hill on a Saturday is terrifying.

I do think that if it was advertised that passes would be pulled for skiing recklessly in the choke points, and passes WERE pulled, between the magic of social media, and word of mouth, it would have an impact. I think it would be only necessary on weekends or even just Saturdays, and holidays.

My thought is pull the pass for the day, and make them visit patrol and watch a video or cite the code and which part they violated. Then, their pass gets flagged, and if it's pulled again, they are either done for a month, or done for the season. It'll never make it 100% safe, but it sure can't hurt.