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.

Got any actual stats for that or just a 'feeling'?

Well even Dr. Michael Mosley succumbed to that one which I still find shocking.

I don't think it really matters. People who ski know (or should know, it's bloody obvious) that participating in a dangerous activity brings a risk of life-changing injury and death. That's part of the thrill, it's about laughing in Mother Nature's face and beating her at her own game. If you roll the dice often enough Mother Nature will have the last laugh, but the enjoyment of skiing is that you know you are risking your life. It's the same with riding a motorcycle at high speed along narrow country lanes. You're free because you're living in the moment. There's no future and no past, only now. It has to be that way, if you don't think like that you will have a bad outcome.

My mother has the same attitude to risk as you OP.

I point out to her that despite the (tiny) risk, I am absolutely certain that me running (often long distances) does so much for my general (physical and mental) wellbeing that I will live a much longer and healthier life because of it. And running increasing in general popularity will have benefited society as a whole.

My ex put a rib through her liver in a skiing accident.

Ok Scandi Mandy 🙄

If you are a regular and seasoned runner you are probably right. I imagine most of the problems in marathons are from people who have trained intensively for their first ever marathon from not having had much history of long distance running previously, and perhaps over-extended themselves.

That's really not the reality of skiing for the vast majority of people who do it. The idea that the average recreational skier cruising blues and reds is "laughing in Mother Nature's face" is ridiculous - the comparison is more "cycling along the towpath with your 5 year old" then riding a motorcycle at high speed on narrow country lanes.

I grew up in a skiing family and one of my DC worked in the mountains running ski lifts. He says that by far the biggest cause of accidents is reckless skiers (usually young men) going far too fast and injuring themselves and sadly sometimes the people they ski into. In North America reckless skiers can have their lift passes confiscated. Sadly this doesn't happen in Europe. Tragically it appears that the young man who died was going very fast and lost control resulting in a freak accident. His poor family must be absolutely devastated.

It's the stupidest sport. Strap a blade on each foot and fling yourself down a mountain. I've never seen the appeal.

Agreed. I enjoy skiing, but I am definitely not 'taking on mother nature' 😂

It's like driving or cycling - not just yourself you need to be careful of it's all the other idiots on the slopes/roads. Two family members have had bad leg bone breaks from other skiers crashing into them

as above, don't do it if you don't want to.

I go to a boxing club twice a week. You don't know what you're missing 😂

I was a ski rep for a while and yes this was my experience

We could predict which clients arriving would have an accident by the end of the week, it was always in the groups age 20-35 and usually a lad. Generally a wide variation in the skiing level among the group but the less experienced didn’t want lessons of course 🙄🙄. They went out drinking till late and skiing the next day. Thankfully it was just themselves they hurt IME and nothing serious.

I want my kids to learn to ski partly because we love it and I believe it’s far easier to learn as a child, but partly for safety reasons. People who go on their first ski trip as a young adult are much less safe IMO as young adults are inclined to ditch lessons asap and be more reckless. Better they know how to ski before that point.

We were skiing in Itally last year and 2 of our party were threatened with having lft passes confiscated for going off piste and straying onto a piste that was closesd. They took down full details and lift pass number. In the French Alps I am increasingly seeing them pull aside young people going too fast/uncontrolled, so I think that is happenning more.

I know someone who died young on a hot day running a marathon who had a slight undetected heart problem.

This is also very true. I've been away with mixed ability work groups and the young lads who have never skied before try and keep up with experienced skiers and that is a recipe for disaster. I think it should be like scuba diving where you have a log book and certified training and dive hours. Beginners should be forced to have lessons imo. I have records of all the hours of ski tuition my kids have had over the years and they never ski alone without responsible adults. On school trip lessons are mandatory, no matter how good/experienced they are, as it should be. Poor boy, he was very unlucky.

Where are you getting 13 deaths since 1981 stat from because I can't see it in the article you are quoting.

This thread has actually made me consider my attitude to risk. I think possibly the riskiest thing I undertook was backpacking alone in Egypt during a time of political turmoil. I was absolutely fine and had some amazing experiences but only really by relying on the kindness of strangers so it could of gone horribly wrong. Hobby wise I did a lot of Scuba diving which is possibly more dangerous than skiing. Sailing just pootling around on a dinghy which never felt atall dangerous but probably is a little. Paddle boarding and wild swimming maybe slightly dangerous if not aware of weather and / or limitations.

Everyone that goes abroad to ski, mostly, pays for winter sports cover, as do all the school trips. There might be a few young groups that don't but everyone I know that goes skiing has comprehensive winter sports coverage. And all the medical care is done in situ if needed or helicoptered to in country hospitals. The idiots without insurance would also get that, and then sent a huge bill. NHS might get a bit of physio when they get back I guess. But no one is rocking up in an English A&E with an injury they sustained in the Alps.

I have never skied in the UK and imagine that is generally people up in Scotland. Not sure what happens there? Do you have winter sports insurance skiing scots?

@Needspaceforlego a Google. The ROSPA don't specifically report on London Marathon.

I know a very young man who died of a brain hemorrhage. He'd already lost a sibling to cancer. His manta was 'live every day as if it were your last'

There have been some scare mongering posts on here. Making me nervous about out next holiday.
But I'll always keep Safety in mind both my kids are good skiers. We all wear helmets. And remember he died in his bed.

'Live every day as if it were your last'

Only idiots live every day as if it were your last.
Alcoholism and massive drug use here I come, plus riding a motorbike with no helmet to feel the wind in my hair!!

I worked in Neuro ICU, for goodness sake OP, don't ever go up a ladder, up the stairs, in and out of a taxi or have sex!

Or give birth!