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.

Again, logical invalidity at play. Not going skiing does not result in your child being an angry Daily Mail reader.

Honestly, what a ridiculous point. I really doubt the NHS is in the mess it’s in because of dealing with skiing injuries

We went skiing three times a year as a family of 5 from when I was 4 - 21, and then every now and again since. In all those trips we had a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder. I hurt myself worse falling off a climbing frame across the road from my house 🤷🏼‍♀️

There’s risk in everything you do, it’s just being aware of the risks and taking precautions.

My daughter (now very much a grown-up!) wanted to learn to horse ride when a child - it was the one thing I said no to, due to the very high numbers of serious accidents.

Friends have just come back from a skiing holiday with their three young children. One child now has a leg in a full cast and the wife is in a neck brace.

Of course everything has risk attached, but that doesn't mean we have to deliberately seek out risky activities that are by no means essential!

Surely, the number of people who going skiing have some bearing on that.

Perhaps you haven’t read any information about the nature of obesity and the role of hunger and satiety hormones. But that’s ok. You’re far from alone.

It’s a bit like rugby at school. I don’t get why contact rugby is played at many private schools, and in some schools it is obligatory. Luckily evidence is starting to emerge about how serious it is.

Some people don’t obey the rules. I was with friends and their 45 year old son came back from a skiing trip saying how good it was off piste. They were oohing and ahhing in admiration. I was horrified but didn’t say anything as it wouldn’t be welcome. Don’t people realize that through their selfishness, the new snow could be unstable and cause danger to other innocent skiers below.

Skiers, who think they are good, go too fast on learners slopes or go down slopes that are too difficult for their abilities, endangering others.

Children’s parents want their DC to go home with the next starred badge and are encouraged to go faster.

Well I suppose it’s their week’s holiday in the snow and it is a good business for the villages. Doctors go there to work during the holiday period to earn their salaries.

Skiing injuries tend to be widely reported but statistically, serious injuries are quite rare.

There are also a huge number of serious injuries in sports like horseriding, from trampolines, gymnastics etc.

Life is, not, and will never be, risk free. It is always down to choice, some people would rather take a relatively small chance of injury and have an enjoyable life. There are also choices to be made that can minimise risk - wearing a chest protector and helmet, not skiing steep runs or off piste etc.

I think obesity is largely self inflicted, obviously there are exceptions for genetic conditions and some medication causes weight gain but the vast majority of people are lardy because they eat too much and don’t burn it off.

So skiing is the answer is it, even when you don't live in a are the world that has any snow. Surely you can make others choices to stop ones self from becoming obese.

Not sure I ageee with this. Plenty of people use adrenaline and endorphins to escape stress, it’s just that skiing is expensive.
There are also plenty of traditionally ‘working class’ sports, for want of a better description, taht come with an element of risk and definitely adrenaline.
Boxing probably the most obvious. Also Rugby, league or union depending on where you live, physical contact sports with a risk of head and spinal injury.
plenty of ‘non posh’ extreme sports too - skateboarding, bmx, motorcross etc that kids and teens take up.
but they don’t play into the Daily Mail narrative

I think the risk of accidents are a little bit exaggerated here. I grew up in a house with ski-in/ski-out distance from a slope and have been skiing since I was 3, so for 46 years. I have had zero accidents that have had any lasting effect on my body. Sure I have fallen over and got bruises but I also got that from playing football and tennis. I come from a large family where everyone skiis and none of them have ever had any serious injuries, neither have anyone else I grew up with. On the contrary it has provided me with a fun way to stay fit, lots of fresh air and a rish social life.

Again though 'enjoyable life' to me does not look like skiing or horse riding. 'Enjoyable life' is not only achieved via sports.

One of my Dc has 3or 4 Orthopaedic Clinic appointments a year so over the years I have spent many hours watching people in and out.

Motorbike and football accidents seem to cause the most attendances. A huge number of football incidents all year round. Accidents at work. A big spike of fractures following an Icey spell. And a flurry of ski-ing fractures during the ski season. X-Ray and check up.

The motorbike accidents cause the worst in terms of lengthy very expensive treatment (multiple surgeries, a year in a fixator frame etc)

I would do all in my power to stop my kids getting a motorbike.

There definitely are other factors at play, not just poor choices and mental health issues. It is much more complex than previously thought.

I am not against people taking part in risky sports or other behaviour. It’s human nature. We’re all different. But I do take issue with people deciding who is more deserving of NHS treatment and in particular the poster who felt they needed to point out that obesity costs the NHS more money. It’s an irrelevant comparison.

Lots of British people are taught to ski at a young age and it's a part of life for them, as is owning a horse and riding. I'm not sure where you go the idea that it's 'aspirational'. It's not expensive to go on a skiing holiday compared with many other types of holidays.

It’s a status symbol

Where I live in the UK skiing is one of the most accessible sports available. The (state) primary school has a dry ski slope in the grounds which is really good. The quality of the instructors is excellent. It’s run by the council and they do lots of lessons/ camps for less than ten pounds an hour including all kit hire.

It is a tough sport but I think it encourages dc to push themselves physically.

We know a few families who ski/used to ski, and within this relatively small sample size, skiers of moderate ability and all young, there’s been one ruptured ACL, one broken leg and very sadly one death, similar to the one described in the OP. I’ve been a couple of times prior to children and did love it, but wouldn’t go now as I would be too scared.

Typical MN posters - forever banging on about NHS resources. It would be interesting to know how many of these people are actually net contributors to the country in terms of the tax they pay as individuals.

Going off piste is a perfectly normal thing to do. The instructors take you off piste frequently.

Not sure what you mean?

Isn't the point that you have to have training to do other risky activities like driving and horse riding before you can do the riskier elements. With skiing it seems like you can do a couple of hours of lessons then hurtle down a mountain if you want to when you don't have the necessary skills.

As someone who rides horses I don't feel I can comment upon the safety risks of sports. They are pretty much all safer than hopping on the back of an unpredictable prey animal that travels at 30mph and hurtling at solid obstacles.