Ski accident - paralysis - help required!

There are no safety regulations specific to Snow Parks, however the Swiss Commission for Accident Prevention on Snow Slopes http://www.skus.ch/ has produced some guidelines that the Swiss Supreme Court recognises as authoritative:

Guidelines for Skiers and Snowboarders http://www.bfu.ch/PDFLib/982_42.pdf and Richtlinien für Anlage, Betrieb und Unterhalt von Schneesportabfahrten / Directives pour l'aménagement, l'exploitation et l'entretien des descentes pour sports de neige http://www.bfu.ch/PDFLib/1119_42.pdf In both these documents it is clearly stated that all snow sports activities take place at ones own risk.

There is also some case law that you can study http://www.skus.ch/skus_d/frame.html

The Association of Swiss Cable Way Operators http://www.seilbahnen.org/index_de.html has also produced a set of guidelines detailing it's members safety obligations with regard to snow sport descents in both German http://www.seilbahnen.org/dcs/users/6/Verkehrssicherungspflicht_06_d.pdf and French http://www.seilbahnen.org/dcs/users/6/Obligation_d_assurer_la_securite_06_f.pdf

I have had minimal experience of snow parks and jumps etc. but what I do know is that they are very dangerous places, but most people don't actually end up paralysed. They 'just' break their arms etc. I would say your poor unfortunate client was very unlucky indeed :cry: I hope he was well insured.

I remember one of my ski instructors said that the snow park kept the medical centre very busy!

I know I had a go over the jumps at the top of the resort in Kaprun in Austria, and after I'd gone over the last one I was going fairly fast and out of control and there was a man standing there watching his friend go over another jump and I skied right into him. Luckily we were both okay, but he shouldn't really have been standing there.

And, in Val Thorens, our instructor took us into the new boarder cross in a group lesson without realizing that it wasn't actually finished yet, and I can remember rocketing up the wall and shooting out the end and even the instructor was rather taken by surprise. But luckily none of us fell over.

In February I was going through the boarder cross in Courchevel, very slowly and carefully, and there was a kid who'd fallen over sprawled across the top of one of the jumps. Because I was only going slowly I managed to avoid her.

And my daughter had a private lesson in the same snow park in Courchevel and she went over a big jump and lost one of her skis and the girl behind was going too close to her and nearly got hurt on her ski.

So, I do think the snow parks should be supervised, something like the slides and waterchutes are in our swimming pools, to make sure people know what they're doing and that they keep a safe distance from the person in front. I didn't see anyone controlling the ones in Kaprun, VT, or Courchevel.

I was talking to someone in Courchevel and his son had a really bizarre accident in the snow park. He was an experienced jumper, but when he was in mid-air one of his skis came off and he landed on it and hurt himself quite badly.

Ally

If this was, as trencher suggests, a single jump with a gap between the take off and landing, there would have been no opportunity for your client to 'bail out'. This kind of jump is usually the reserve of experts as you have to hit it at speed in order to clear the gap or you may well injure yourself. I hurt my back (not seriously fortunately) on a jump like this a few years ago, landing on the knuckle of the landing side. I consider however that the accident was entriely my own fault as I knew what I was getting in to and simply wasn't going fast enough on approach.

In some resorts in France jumps in parks are graded by difficulty in the same way as pistes. Whether this is the case in Switzerland or not I do think it is an individual's responsibility to check out the park before having a go.

After reading these comments I think I'll be steering well clear of "fun parks" and the like in the ski resorts I visit. I can have all the fun I need on the normal pistes; and, yes, I know danger can lurk in even the most innocuous of those too !

billip1 wrote:After reading these comments I think I'll be steering well clear of "fun parks" and the like in the ski resorts I visit. I can have all the fun I need on the normal pistes; and, yes, I know danger can lurk in even the most innocuous of those too !

I'm guessing billip1 you have not got young kids, I can't keep mine out of the Snow park and I have to go with her :lol:

Sorry to hear about your client, hope he recovers . It's really unfortunate that it happened but sounds like a pure accident, with resort playing no part in it. Skiing is inherently dangerous sport and this is where it stops in Switzerland. As for the supervision - usually the runs are marked and maintained appropriately and all necessary warnings as to conditions and FIS rules are posted, the rest is pretty much the responisibility of a skier.