Colorado Slopes Safety for Skiers and Snowboarders
So far this year, 4 people have died on Colorado slopes. The latest included a doctor from Kansas who fractured his neck after going airborne at Breckenridge’s terrain park and a 22-year-old snowboarder who suffocated to death after falling into a tree well head first at Steamboat. According to recent studies from the 2007 International Symposium on Skiing Trauma and Safety there are a number of factors responsible for the increase in death and injuries. A large-scale study in France showed that 10 percent of injuries on the slope were caused by collisions between people. That is up from the previous steady 6.4 percent. The most common type of collision is “by far” a snowboarder hitting another snowboarder and skier colliding with skier. The rate of snowboard injures are increasing from 3.37 injuries 1990/91 to 7 injuries per 1,000 incidents. The use of helmets has been estimated to be about 40 percent of users and while reducing the number of head injuries by 30 to 50 percent, the number of less serious injuries has remained constant. Surprisingly, over the last nine seasons there has been no significant reduction in fatalities due to head injury. Non-helmet use increased the likely hood of death by head injury to two times more. There are several reasons why fatal head injuries are still a risk. One being that helmets are designed to protect the head up to 12 mph and most collisions involve the skier/boarder traveling twice to three times that speed. Studies have also shown that those wearing helmets ski faster than those without helmets. What may not be so widely known is the increased risk of death by falling into a tree well. A tree well is usually made after heavy snows. Skiers and snowboarders in search of fresh powder off the established trail are at the most likely in danger. The snow in a tree well is like quicksand and the more the victim struggles, the deeper they bury themselves, usually suffocating to death. Colorado accounts for 17 percent of these kinds of fatalities in North America, trailing British Columbia (24 percent) and California (19 percent). Over the past seven years, snowboarders were twice as likely as skiers to be involved in these accidents. That is why it is always encouraged to ski with a partner so they can assist if one happens to find themselves in any of these types of situations.
