So fed up of stories like this every single year. Stupid bloody Skiing.

Can we talk about how skiers love to operate a soft-pressure MLM scheme?
Everyone who gets talking to me about skiing seems bizarrely keen to convince me that I too, need to ski. Come! Come with us! It's great, you'll LOVE IT. We're going again in [x]. But of course, the more skiers they can rope in, the cheaper it is per head...
Thanks, but I genuinely prefer my ankles unbroken. The fondue does sound lovely, but it's not enough to compensate.

Just so different isn’t it- it’s very normal around here. 1/2 of my daughters class went with their families at half term- and that’s not an exaggeration! Others are going at Easter. Very normal where I live. Where do you live?

Is this the database you are quoting? https://health-infobase.canada.ca/winter-sport-injuries/alpine-skiing.html

If yes, I think you have misinterpreted the data. Of those who sustain an injury, 43.3% are aged 10-14.

43% of 10-14 year olds do not sustain injuries.

Alpine skiing was literally invented by the British. You might as well ask why do so many Scandinavians go to the Alps to do alpine skiing when it is not part of their culture (proper Scandi skiing is telemark).

Are you referring to this?

https://health-infobase.canada.ca/winter-sport-injuries/alpine-skiing.html

It’s not saying 43% of 10-14 year olds suffer a ski injury, It says 43% of those that were injured were in that age group, which is a totally different thing. Same with the 2% statistic you quoted for 40 year olds.

I suspect the stats would be the same for skateboarding or mountain-biking. The majority of the injuries will be in the demographic who most take part in it.

Maybe not outside the central belt or South but in some parts of Scotland it forms part of PE lessons as it's council run slopes etc.
Scotland is a very big place!

There's a Canadian winter sports database of injuries. Most skiing injuries happen to kids - and in the highest injury age group (age 10-14 years) it's 43% percent of them who suffer an injury skiing. That's so high!

Thankfully it decreases as you get older - only 2% of 40 year olds suffer ski injuries, for example.

OP the reason it's not thought of as awful is because it's a middle class hobby. Same as fox hunting and all the vulgarities with that (smearing fox blood on young riders faces, etc)

That accident looks heartbreaking.

Skiing is a huge part of mountain culture and a very established sport (with plenty of injuries at that level!) it can't just disappear, although climate change will make ot more difficult.

I ski (slowly and carefully) and on my recent trips the were a minority of people skiing beyond their ability way too close to others, you unfortunately do have to ski defensively on busy slopes. My own instructors were very critical of them and I've seen instructors have words with the worst offenders.

Skiing is something you must weight up the risk/benefit of individually and the risk is significant but I know people who have enjoyed a lifetime of multiple ski trips a year and skied into their 70s. I would hate to think what a crash would do to them at that age but it's a huge part of their lives, often their main social activity and really part of who they are.

This American data and I do realise fewer people ski than say play football but there are many injuries doing all sorts of activities you would consider normal

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/sports-injuries/sports-injury-statistics

So your parents were the only ones too scared to let their child go and now you are too scared to let yours go. And you base your views on how dangerous it looks because you've never skied.

That's such a sad way to live.

I did the same lessons as you but for two terms as they split the class in half and there were extra spaces to carry on. I did give it a go as an adult and actually really enjoyed it and kids were favourably impressed by my ability ( so was I to be fair). I am not a good skier but I can get up and down an easy slope and have fun and not fall over. I did manage to break my wrist very badly putting the bin out. Statistically You are much more likely to have nasty accident at home than anywhere else.

Loved skiing - went every year for 30+ years always 6+ people and in that time we had one minor broken leg. Fantastic holiday.

@Nanny1983

Maybe everyone who does extreme sports should be made to have proper insurance at all times so that our NHS isn’t picking up the costs if people want to go ahead and do these dangerous sports.
I know people go abroad and take out insurance but what about people who do the sports in the uk ?

Sure. As long as the plan extends to smokers, drinkers and the overweight.

Yes this

People complaining about skiing but will happily watch their dc playing rugby or horse riding

Makes no sense.

I'm with you. Definitely not for me.

I very much do not mix in skiing circles and yet I know someone who lost their teenager in a skiing accident (and he was very experienced) and several who have broken limbs.

I can't think of many other areas I know such a high proportion of injuries. Horse riding I've known people have a few bad falls but not as serious in terms of long term. Football a few broken limbs but again, not life threatening.

I'm a life long skier and also did 5 seasons working in resort. I've built my career around the sport and in my opinion it's the best experience in the entire world and I am so excited to share it with my 3 year old next year when she is 4. She does ballet and could trip over her foot on the dance floor and cause a life long injury. She could or I could trip off a kerb and cause life long injuries. Yes it can be dangerous, but the health benefits, memories and experiences that you can gain through skiing are amazing and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I learned to ski properly, not just technique but etiquette, how to read the mountain, the rules you should follow so I can be as safe as possible. As long as people are taught this then the mountain should be fairly safe. There are some that don't follow the rules and are the mountain equivalent of "boy racers" and some are just AHs but they are in the minority. If you don't fancy skiing then that's totally fine, but please make sure you don't ever judge a fellow parent as irresponsible for letting their kids enjoy it.

There’s a lot of “I imagine” statistics there. If you have actual evidence of the injury rate of skiing then share it. Otherwise it’s just that you don’t like skiing (fair enough) so you notice the deaths and injuries. I know a person who was left a wheelchair user for life after a school rugby lesson, a friend whose horse fell on her as a child who was in hospital for months with head injuries as a result and a child relative who was knocked unconscious and had to have surgery after falling off his bike cycling around his local cul du sac.

If reading ski accident stories upsets you then just don’t read them. But you seem to suggest lots of people shouldn’t participate in a sport they enjoy because you personally don’t think it’s worth the risk and you find the Daily Mail upsetting. That’s for you to deal with.

I'm Scottish, I grew up on a rough council estate in Edinburgh. We learned to ski at primary school at about age 10, on the artificial ski slope, we went up for lessons once a week for a term. I'm the only member of my large family that didn't break a finger but i did get concussion from being hit by the chair lift and witnessed a girl from another school get her coat caught as she was coming off the lift at the first level. It carried on up the hill while she was dangling from it. We all thought it was a good laugh at the time but I've never been tempted to go skiing as an adult.

There are a lot of accidents this year. Mostly people caught in avalanches hors piste but not only. There was a nine year old killed on an outing with her class not far from me. But then you look at the hundreds of thousands who ski and have a laugh and build the most amazing memories together - I still ski ( badly) with my dc who are in their 20’s. It’s just wonderful.
You have to hope that you’ll be lucky. So much also depends on who you are sharing the mountain with and being an accomplished skier as we know, doesn’t make you immune to stupid accidents ( Gaspard Ulliel for example).

Let's just ban everything, to be on the safe side.

Agree with posters who say the coast can be just as dangerous as a ski slope if people are not educated in rip tides etc .
I am glad I didn’t read this thread before my DS went skiing with his uni friends. He is not a yuppie though! There was a tragic accident a few years ago at the snow dome in Tamworth . A young boy died I think he was in a toboggan though.

I’ve been skiing on two school trips and as an adult and had an absolute blast. No-one was injured. No doubt - accidents can happen, but they can happen with any sport. I know of someone whose child went into cardiac arrest playing football, which seems a pretty low risk sport to me.

do you not find it very odd, then, that so many Swedes go to hot countries and love the beaches? that's totally not part of your culture.

Are you brit bashing? ski bashing? or bored?

Im middle class, middle income, I enjoy skiing. I know lots of people who ski, and lots who dont. Equally, I know quite a few people who horse ride. But I have never tried it and couldnt afford it. Same with riding a motorbike, and in that case I wouldn't want to as they exceed my appetite for risk. I also don't play polo or go sailing or own a yacht. Neither do I shoot, like many farming families in rural areas. So what? Not everyone wants to or can afford to do everything. Some people I know still smoke cigarettes. That's crazy dangerous and expensive. All personal choice though.

@JoyousGreyOrca all the local schools (state) in my area use the dry slope in Edinburgh for ski trips with the kids. Hillend is a Council owned facility, not private, so local schools use it,
I learned to ski there as many of my friends did in the 80s and 90s. So where I live it's not just the preserve of the middle classes.