Ski and Snowboard General Facts
General Statistics
According to researchers at the University of Vermont and the Rochester Institute of Technology, accidents claimed the lives of 562 snowboarders and skiers at U.S. ski resorts between 1992 and 2005. The majority of the fatalities were skiers. Experienced males between the ages of 18 and 43 accounted for most of the deaths, most commonly due to severe head injuries resulting from high-speed impact with a tree. An estimated 100,000 to 140,000 injuries require treatment in an emergency room each year.
Fatalities — Approximately 37.1 people have died skiing/snowboarding per year on average.
During the 2006-2007 season, 22 fatalities occurred out of the 55.1 million skier/snowboarder days reported for the season. Eighteen of the fatalities were skiers (15 males, 3 females) and 2 of the fatalities were snowboarders, both male. In two of the cases, the equipment used was reported unknown. The rate of fatality converts to 0.40 per million skier/snowboarder visits.
Serious injuries — Serious injuries (paraplegics, serious head and other serious injuries) occur at the rate of about 43.7 per year according to the NSAA. In the 2006-2007 season, there were 40 serious injuries. Twenty-four of these serious injuries were skiers (20 males, 4 females) and 16 were snowboarders (14 male, 2 female). The rate of serious injury in 2006-2007 was 0.73 per million skier/snowboarder visits.
Note: A skier/snowboarder visit represents one person visiting a ski area for all or any part of a day or night and includes full-day, half-day, night, complimentary, adult, child, season and any other ticket type that gives one the use of an area’s facility.
Skiing/Snowboarding Statistics:
- 2006-2007 number of fatalities: 22
- 2006 number of ski/snowboard participants (in millions): 10.6
- Fatalities per million participants: 2.07
- Days of participation (in millions): 55.1
- Fatalities per days of participation rate (per million): 0.40
California had 30 areas in operation during the 2005/2006 season. By state, New York leads with 48 areas in operation followed by Michigan’s 39 and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania each with 32 ski areas. (2005/2006 Kottke National End of Season Survey)
According to a recent study by the National Ski Areas Association, the average age of skiers and snowboarders rose to 36.6 in the 2006-07 season, compared with 32.1 in the 1996-97 season. Snow riders age 45 and older make up 32 percent of resort visitors compared with 20 percent a decade ago. In comparison, skiers and snowboarders age 10 to 32 dropped from 58 percent of visitors in the 1996-97 season to 47 percent of visitors last year. (Tahoe Daily Tribune, October 9, 2007).
According to a news release issued by the California Travel and Tourism Commission (CTTC), the California Ski Industry Association reports that the California winter sports industry generates $500 million annually to the economy, employs 15,000 people, and hosts an average of 8 million skiers seasonally.
Fatal Accidents
According to researchers at the
Most fatal accidents occur on well-groomed blue cruiser trails where the average speed of skiers is 25 to 40 miles per hour, according to a recent news article in The Coloradoan.
Twelve chairlift deaths have occurred since 1973, the latest at Heavenly Valley Ski Resort where 19-year-old Ryan Moore died when he leaned forward on the Dipper Express chair because of a leg cramp and fell nearly 20 feet into rocks below. California law does not require ski resorts to use restraining bars on chairlifts and no resort has mandated it.
Collisions on the Slopes
According to research unveiled at the 2007 International Symposium on Skiing Trauma and Safety, collisions between people on the slopes is increasing. A large-scale study in France showed that 10 percent of injuries on the slopes were caused by collisions between people.
Rate of Snowboarding Injuries
The rate of snowboarding injuries is nearly doubling, according to research, which dates to the 2000/2001 season. The rate of snowboarding injuries was nearly seven injuries per 1,000 visits in 2000/2001 compared to only 3.37 injuries in the 1990/1991 season.
Skiers and Tree Wells
According to a recent article in The Sacramento Bee by Paul Collins, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine, a few things stand out in studies about incidents involving skiers and tree wells:
- Most of them occur within ski area boundaries.
- Many involve people skiing alone.
- Most involve male skiers.
- The snow conditions usually involve recent snowstorms.
- They call could have been rescued has they been found quickly.
- None were able to escape on their own.
Actions Taken Following Some
Ski Resort Fatalities
California state regulators fined Mammoth Mountain Ski Area $50,000 for several job safety violations related to the deaths of three ski patrol members on April 6, 2006. The patrolmen were trying to fence off a toxic volcanic vent when the snow collapsed and two of them fell in. A third ski patrol member died while trying to reach his colleagues, and seven more were seriously injured due to the carbon dioxide gas spewing from the vents. A report by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) said the deaths could have been prevented had Mammoth Mountain officials posted enough signs warning about the vent and followed procedures on performing rescues. The report also cited Mammoth Mountain for neglecting to train employees on ways to gauge the danger.
A U.S. Forest Service investigation faulted the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort in Southern Nevada for inadequate avalanche prevention and rescue training in the death of a teenage snowboarder who was swept off a chairlift by a cascade of snow. Allen Brett Hutchison died January 9, 2005. The Forest Service report found that Mount Charleston Resort had not complied with an avalanche control plan, did not have rescue equipment in position and had not adequately prepared employees for search and rescue. According to the Forest Service National Avalanche Center in Ketchum, Idaho, the resort did not have the snow-pack and weather data-gathering and recording tools in place that would have made it more possible to recognize the extraordinary nature of the storm. The forest service closed off the area where the death occurred for five weeks until they were satisfied with ski area safety and avalanche control. The forest district ranger for Mount Charleston said the ski area has the responsibility to ensure safety.
In the wake of a ski death at ArapahoeBasin in May 2005, forest service officials throughout the Rocky Mountains will review snow-safety plans at each ski area to ensure they employ the most current scientific knowledge of the spring snow pack. Fifty-three-year-old David Conway of Boulder was skiing an expert-only run on May 20, 2005, when an avalanche broke loose during a late spring warm spell that snow-safety experts now believe contributed to the snow pack instability. Jim Chalat, a prominent ski-accident attorney representing >Conway’s family, did not disclose whether a lawsuit would be filed but said the forest service “snow-safety standards don’t take into account high-altitude areas staying open into May with temperatures remaining below freezing.
In what was described as the highest expressions of corporate responsibility in a long time, the Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington State apologized to the family of 29-year-old David Pettigrew of Issaquah for statements that led the news media to mistakenly conclude that David was responsible for his own death by skiing alone in a roped-off area. Pettigrew was invited to join friends from the Alpental Ski Patrol on a sweep to check for anyone remaining on the slopes as skiing came to an end at Alpental on December 7, 2005. The Summit took out an ad, which stated that David was there at the invitation of the ski patrollers and admitted the area was not closed to David nor was he “out of bounds” as originally inferred. The family prepared a statement, which read: “The Pettigrew family greatly appreciates the acknowledgement by Snoqualmie Summit of the true facts surrounding the accidental death of David Pettigrew.
A California couple considering legal action against the Treble Cone ski field in New Zealand after the death of their 18-year-old son in 2004 will not be able to seek compensation according to a lawyer familiar with the case. Rising ski star Eric Nageotte of South Lake Tahoe was killed when he crashed in an off-piste creek bed after skiing off a groomed trail at speed. The Queenstown Coroner released his findings into the death, which blamed neither Nageotte nor the ski field directly for the accident.