Latest posts for the topic "Death on the slopes."

Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 11:52:20 GMT

Hi O/H is currently in St Gervais for a few weeks, she informed me that a 50 year old lady had been killed on the slopes by somebody running into her. Have not got any more news yet will speak to O/H today.

Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 14:32:49 GMT

Eggman wrote:Hi O/H is currently in St Gervais for a few weeks, she informed me that a 50 year old lady had been killed on the slopes by somebody running into her. Have not got any more news yet will speak to O/H today.

It seems the poor woman was French but not a local, is the latest info.
O/H is in ski school while she gets used to skis again,anyway a Dutch guy in her group had his skis nicked from outside a resturant at Bettex at lunch time. He waited all afternoon just in case anybody had taken the wrong skis but eventually there were no skis left. He has hired some more from the ski shop.
Final note on this sad subject, O/H informes me that the lady was from Picardie and the skier who hit her was a 19 year old Megeve lift moniter. The lady died of a heart attack after being hit.

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 16:26:27 GMT

That is sad but in a way i am not surprised to hear it.
While we were in Ski school, all lined up, people came racing down the nursery slopes all the time. My guess is that they were simply showing off to the newbies.
I said countless times ' how tragic would it be if your holiday got ruined by someone running into you?'

It maybe that the offender was skilled but careless (arsehole) or simply a newbie without proper supervision. Either way it goes to show that there is no accounting for all the other people on the slopes and we all need to keep a sharp eye out for such things hurtling our way.

Sad.

Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 16:38:29 GMT

Eggman wrote:Hi O/H is currently in St Gervais for a few weeks, she informed me that a 50 year old lady had been killed on the slopes by somebody running into her. Have not got any more news yet will speak to O/H today.

That is really terrible :shock:

How awful for her friends and family. I wonder who it was who ran her over. Some of the slopes do get awfully crowded, especially at the bottom and at the intersections.

Ally

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 16:48:18 GMT

Snapzzz wrote:
I said countless times ' how tragic would it be if your holiday got ruined by someone running into you?'

There's no doubt it would be tragic but it's also exceptionally unlikely so you shouldn't let irrational fears spoil your holiday.

Someone did a study on the various ski myths, including it was a dangerous sport, and published it late last year. I couldn't recall the title and googled for it, what I found first was this :

http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/ski-holidays-10-myths-exposed-861723.html

that wasn't what I was looking for at all but it's with this great quote :

2. Skiing is dangerous

Although skiing does involve travelling downhill on planks of wood without any breaks, the vast majority of skiers who learn to ski with instructors and ski within their limits will have a happy lifetime of incident free skiing. Yes accidents do sometimes happen, but more often than not ski related accidents are less to do with the actual skiing and more to do with amounts of alcohol consumed and not taking care on icy surfaces etc. If you learn to ski properly, you will also learn to ski safely.

apparently this guy has set out to debunk a few myths armed only with a bit of common sense and a can-do attitude which is unfortunate as facts tend to work better ) He's right, "skiing is dangerous" is a myth but one that he could have easily debunked with a few figures but he's gone for links with instruction for which no proof at all exists, in fact several studies have established there's no link at all with lack of instruction and people having accidents.

In a real tour de force of rational argument he's also gone with this in relation to snow levels and global warming :

6. Because of global warming, there won't be much snow

It is true that global warming was blamed for the bad winter of 06/07 in the European Alps. However, this was down mostly to lazy journalists not researching their facts properly. The bad winter that year was down to the weather, and not the climate. Plus, the skiing wasn't actually bad - it just wasn't as good as it could have been.

well, quite, those darned lazy journalists not researching their facts properly, it's a scandal )

The study I was thinking of published in "Sports Health" which is here :

http://sph.sagepub.com/content/1/6/486.abstract

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 16:49:23 GMT

He also says skis have no brakes, wouldn't trust a word he says :twisted:

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 16:53:09 GMT

there's more )

10. I can't take a baby skiing

Nearly all ski resorts have excellent creche/nanny facilities. And for those people who worry about the cold/altitude etc, don't forget that babies are born in the mountains every year and they do OK!

of course we forget about the maternity wing in Val d'Isere )

you've got to love the internet :roll:

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 17:05:10 GMT

ise wrote:

There's no doubt it would be tragic but it's also exceptionally unlikely so you shouldn't let irrational fears spoil your holiday.

Ah, i would never let it spoil my hols, accidents happen where ever you are.
However those overcrowded, with people that are extreme novices, nursery slopes that i was part of did look like an accident waiting to happen. Once i was off them and up the mountain the traffic was sparse to a point where the danger was only ever going to be my own actions.

I suppose once you pass a certain level the danger diminishes thanks to experience. But in the early stages the risks are much greater due to your lack of skills and also those around you.

I don't see skiing as dangerous as i approach it with caution and take advice well. Its sad that someone has lost their life probably because others didn't approach it with the same attitude and care.
I am of course making assumptions that the lady didn't cause the incident by her own actions.

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 17:57:54 GMT

Snapzzz wrote:
I suppose once you pass a certain level the danger diminishes thanks to experience. But in the early stages the risks are much greater due to your lack of skills and also those around you.

That rather depends on what you mean by experience, to put it another way, on the average package tour transfer bus accidents will be fairly evenly distributed between those on their first week or those on their 10th or 20th. It's not a very level playing field so experience is very relative.

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 19:36:12 GMT

AFAIK no-one in this incident died, but both had significant injuries.

http://austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2010-01-13/19607/British_skiers_seriously_hurt_in_piste_collision

Re:Death on the slopes.

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 19:49:36 GMT

Unresponsive doesn't sound good does it?

I think the passage that states "both skiers were sober" says heaps about the Ski scene! To be honest i didn't see anyone drunk on the slopes, or even drinking in the mountain cafes......But maybe i went to the wrong place.

Re:Death on the slopes.

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 00:07:38 GMT

Its a tragic accident, and the probability of it happening is minute. Lets move on and not dwell on something like this happening to one of us.

Re:Death on the slopes.

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 00:18:51 GMT

Tony_H wrote:Its a tragic accident, and the probability of it happening is minute. Lets move on and not dwell on something like this happening to one of us.

.... sure you have more chance of being hit by an idiot in a truck on the road to East Grinstead :roll: