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

[ExcessiveNumberOfNinjas]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14427223/British-schoolboy-14-killed-skiing-accident-northern-Italy.html

This poor lad, only 14 years old, crashes headlong into a tree at speed and dies of chest injuries right in front of his parents.

What's so fucking great about skiing? Every year without fail there are stories like this and I'm sick of them. I know someone who became permanently disabled and slightly brain damaged after a skiing accident in his 20s.

As parents we don't encourage our kids to get into cars and drive them at speed round a race track with very little training every half term in February do we? We don't stick them on the backs of race horses and slap their arses and watch them go over hurdles. We don't encourage them to dive off high cliffs into the sea below and hope that they manage to miss the rocks as they land. So why do we continually let them hurl down mountainsides at god knows how many miles an hour, hoping that they manage not to collide with a tree or hit their heads on a rock?

I don't get it. I never will. However 'fun' it might be it can't possibly be worth the stupid level of risk.

I don't see it that way. Most accidents happen at home, stretching to get a cup out of the cupboard!
But you can't protect yourself from other idiots on the slopes. People going on black runs when they are only a beginner. But you get that in every area of life. Car accidents the same.

Well this thread is just what I needed to read two months before my child goes on a school ski trip.

This is the weirdest thread. Do you think the mountains are full of people tearing down slopes at uncontrollable speed and backflipping off deep ravines? This boy, and i say this with every sympathy for his family and friends, was going too fast for his ability and the terrain. Just like a teenager speeding in their car. It's horribly sad but not a reflection on how dangerous the sport is. I just got back from a week away and the worst I did was chipped a nail. As for the people who think you should only ski if you grew up in the mountains that's just some skewed form of xenophobia.

I went skiing every year through childhood, though in the Cairngorms so little to no trees and so less chance of hitting an obstacle. Never any injuries with the group I went with, but it is a factor I think of as it can be very dangerous if you are skiing beyond ability, on the wrong slope etc, so much so my husband refuses to try downhill skiing as he just thinks it's too dangerous. And I know people bang on about how marvellous it is, but it is pretty marvellous when you're on your skis in the fresh air, zipping about (after the appropriate lessons and within your ability etc). Some nations grow up skiing and most ski on the right slope and to their ability, but when there is an accident it will often be catastrophic due to the speeds if out of control and the lack of protective gear.

I know someone who's leg is mangled from playing football.
And i worked with a man who had a limp from a childhood bike accident.

Accidents happen. You can't wrap yourself or your kids up in cotton wool.

My first ski experiences were day trips to Glenshee with school, a council school, with a teacher prepared to put time and effort in to running the school ski club.

There are risks on every holiday, pools always worry me, kids slipping, banging heads, drowning, the sun getting burnt.

I posted upthread that the young man I knew in my social circle was paralysed from the neck down from a snowboarding accident was an amazing snowboarder. The people I know who have broken the arm and injured back no so much.

Scotland has a real problem with drownings in lochs, because tourists don’t realise that under the surface the water can be icy cold and can send you into shock in seconds and can get very deep very quickly. However people don’t go to Scotland just to swim!

Life is full of risk.

I'm not a skier or a beach bum, but each to their own

A young family member died falling off their horse.

Should horse riding not be allowed? Flights? Travelling in cars? Where does it end?

It's a tragedy but we can't remove risk from our lives, it would be joyless.

You can love ski and still admit that it’s one of the most dangerous sports out there , Michael Schumacher is still in a coma from a ski accident not a racing car one, Natasha Richardson , Gaspard Ulliel, Sonny Bono all died due to accidents , and just this month two died in Aspen.
the statistics are pretty high compared to other sports and hobbies.

I get you OP my DH is a ski family and my kids have been skiing since they were 5 and are pretty good, but last year my eldest broke his collar bone, ambulance, hospital and 8 weeks of recovery at home.

We were in the resort when Schumacher had his accident on the Boxing Day, that's terrible.

I'm always on edge the whole trip and dreading the day they go with "mates" they both did school trips and were the year when they got Covid in Austria.

So my association with ski trips is pretty much way too much drama and I wish we'd never started taking them.

Life can be dangerous and it's all about risk assessment. If you're careful and cautious when doing anything you reduce that risk. Do you allow your kids to travel in cars OP?

Oh get over yourself. There are far more injuries from kids on bicycles, kids getting hit by cars, kids busting knees playing football, kids taking on trampolines. Or do your kids do nothing but play computer games wrapped in cotton wool? Skiing is a great way to learn respect for the outdoors and risk assessment.

Horse riding and skiing are risky and aren't necessary to live a fulfilled life, if people think partaking in sport is living a fulfilled life then they lack imagination!

I like some sports but it hardly ever snows where I live and there isn't a dry ski slope nearby. It therefore would involve the intermittent skiing trips which I can go on with my DH but I don't want to and neither do my teens.

Nonsense. It’s no different however regularly you ski - you keep to slopes that are appropriate for your experience level and mitigate risks by wearing a helmet.

I’d argue that a daily skier going at very high speed on dangerous runs is a much higher risk than the yearly skier pootling slowly down the beginner slopes.

What level of risk of death would be acceptable to people?

Or the level of risk of serious injury?

People do many things that have a level of risk of death that would be unacceptable to some but would be fine to others, given the enjoyment the activity brings.

Risk is an inherent part of all our lives. We have to find enjoyment in it, navigate our way through all the chaos or else we’ll just sit there not leaving our homes.

All my DC adore high risk sports including skiing. I very much don’t but I can’t stop them. All I can do it make sure they are as safe as possible and are aware of the risks.

What’s more scary than being outside, doing something physical is our children stuck inside on phones and social media. That’s utterly terrifying.

I have never been skiing, mainly due to fear of injury, but I can see why people do. To be honest I think our kids ' mental health crisis is their biggest risk and some people just need that adrenaline rush in the outdoors to feel alive I think.

What are your thoughts on

rugby
horse riding
hockey
football
cycling
crossing the street
riding in a car
golf
cricket
netball
running
etc

and pretty much everything that humans do for fun. You can sit them at home in front of an IPad if you want and it won’t kill them immediately but the inactivity will shorten their lives, damage their mental health and possibly bring them into contact with individuals who will kill them.

Actually you are right op. I've never been skiing, neither have my kids. Its always been the cost that put me off. But the danger is much worse.
Didn't Liam Neeson loose his wife in a skiing accident?

My children aren't stuck inside, they are thin, do partake in activities that are physical but they aren't as risky as skiing. They also find fulfillment in non sport activities, play instruments for example. I don't know why not horse riding or skiing would mean you are obese or stuck on a phone.

Again, what are the statistics on child death in sports? Why would they automatically shorten their life from playing an instrument? Or taking photographs of painting or reading?

OP you realise that that case made the papers because it's such a rare occurrence right?

I know a few people have replied to you.
The vast majority of skiers and borders wear helmets. The change happened about 15 years ago more and more people were wearing them, lessons learned after the Natasha Richardson and Micheal Schumacher accidents.

They are a legal requirement for under 15s in Austria.
Nearly all ski schools insist on them too.
Our local dry slope has started to insist on helmets for lessons too.

I'll 100% agree with you for ice-skating why are people skating without helmets? Especially figure skaters doing crazy jumps with zero protection. I don't watch much roller skating but it seems to be more receptive to protection than what ice skating is.
I do note ice hockey players are padded up to the max, probably protection from the puk but figure skaters are in the flimsiest of outfits.

Statistically, mental health issues are far more common than skiing accidents.

There are dangers in sitting at home angry from reading the Daily Mail.

It is fine to assert that it benefits your child who enjoys the sport but it does not follow that thrill seeking is only achieved from skiing. Equally, it does not follow that if not skiing the child is sat in front of a screen, is obese and has low life expectancy.