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.

Wearing a helmet with a go pro camera attached - which pierced his brain when he fell. He likely would have been ok if he hadn't had that on his helmet - a pretty dumb thing to do but was common back then - you see much less of it now.

This is like saying you've been put off driving for life because you saw what happened to Ayrton Senna. Reinstadler died during race training and was going at over twice the speed that the average recreational skier would be going.

Safety nets are only used in races, and the design has been much improved over the 30+ years since Reinstadler's death.

No it isn't. It's like saying you've been put off taking up motor racing. Not regular driving.

Risks exist for most things - if you ban skiing for say under 18s - where would you draw the line? Is horse riding more or less risky statistically? What about gymnastics? I went to visit someone in a specialist spinal injury unit and every single person in there and they all had life limiting conditions were there as a result of a motorbike accident.

I think there is a difference for things that cause risk to other people. Driving does. Gymnastics doesn’t. Skiing does.

I think there’s a case for having to get your “skiing licence” before you’re allowed up the mountain without an instructor. Not sure how this would work practically but I can see the benefits

OMG 😲 I didn't know he had a Go Pro on.

I did know they weren't recommended for putting on helmets when I bought DH his I read and found alternative like having it on his chest or on the strap of his backpack.

If someone is comparing ski racing with skiing and saying they are equal, then it is a perfect comparison of race driving to everyday driving. It's disingenuous to think otherwise.

It may have already been said - I have not rtft - but OP you are vastly overstating the risks here and completely ignoring the many benefits that literally everyone who skis enjoys.
"When it goes wrong it's brain damage" - no. Only a vanishingly small number of accidents result in brain damage. So that's a small portion of an already small minority. I get that it can be devastating were one to be so incredibly unlucky, but more likely, if you hurt yourself, it'll be bad bruising, torn ligaments or broken bones, nasty but survivable.
Meanwhile, everyone who skis benefits from the exercise, fresh air, change of scenery, and social scene.

Recreational skiing is to ski racing is what regular driving is to motor racing. The comparison stands.

What an interesting topic. I grew up abroad, in an area where you would go skiing from very young, every weekend in winter. All my friends ski, and their children too. We now live in England and we go skiing 2-3 times from December to March on average (typically when we visit family). We brought DS since he was very young, and now at 6 he's quite good.
Across all my and DH's family members and many friends, we never experienced a serious ski accident. Children normally learn to ski in very safe areas, where the slopes are not steep and adult don't go, so it's pretty safe. We also go skiing as a group, with one adult in the front, children/teens in the middle and more adults following, so speed is controlled and you keep an eye on each other and what others are doing.

Not sure my post makes sense, but it's to say that despite the horrible accidents making the news, I don't think statistically it's such a risky sport. I feel way more at risk when we go snorkeling or diving.

I agree, OP. I wouldn't ski again, although I've been a keen rider which also comes with risks. But the differences are that the slopes are ridiculously crowded (which either leads to collisions or else people being tempted to go off piste), and you don't get many people riding who can't ride (outside of a riding school or other closely supervised environment), whereas ski resorts are absolutely packed with people who have only the most basic ability at skiing, which again leads to collisions and poor decision making. The riding equivalent would be if you got hundreds of people who had been on a horse once or twice a few years ago, put them all in a field together, gave them a few drinks at lunch and then suggested they do whatever they fancy. It would be carnage.

Per hour I think riding is more dangerous (although it depends exactly what you're comparing) but I find it much easier to gauge the risks and decide whether to take them- it's dangerous because it's an inherently dangerous sport. Skiing doesn't seem to have any of that- it's an inherently dangerous sport but it's also (as practised at a typical ski resort by a typical skier) a chaotic free-for-all in which people with almost no ability are encouraged to take substantial risks. Crackers.

I am older. Everyone I know who has skied has injuries relating to it, usually knees. Some which mended after the initial injury, but are now causing problems.

Just about everywhere has the ski code with about 10 rules on safety, inc not stopping in the middle of a run, and what to do in event of an accident.

It's also very difficult to say someone is capable of skiing say Reds because the Reds in one resort might not be the same difficulty as a different resort. Each resort grades their own runs.

Runs become easier and harder depending on the snow conditions. A nicely groomed red with fresh snow can be easier than a chewed up Blue in the same resort

l lived in Czechia when I was young, and there was a v small (and janky) ski slope near us, and everyone just taught themselves. I then went skiing properly and the instructor said that people like me are actually worse than beginners, because of bad habits.

yeah exactly, used to be commonplace to see people filming while skiing with the Go Pro on the helmet. V rarely see it now, for that reason. Not officially mentioned butbif you go to Meribel, where Schumacher's accident happened, all the instructors and lifties tell you. They also point out where it happened. He wasnt even really off piste, he we skiing between 2 pistes on the ungroomed bit under a lift, apparently. He was also very unlucky.

My understanding of Schumacher's accident is that it was a freak one and he was extraordinarily unlucky.

But you don't have to be skiing for that. I know of someone who died because they fell down the stairs and broke their neck in their house.

You've never been hunting then! 🤣

Literally a bunch of people of varied experience, some on strange horses, drinking alcohol and galloping around with few rules or regulations.

Definitely not jealousy, no. I could afford to go skiing three times a year if I wanted to. I don't.

I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve with this thread, but, yes, skiing can be dangerous as can many, many other sports, pastimes and activities.
Everyone does their own risk/benefit assessment and goes from there. I take my child skiing, but I wouldn’t allow them to do boxing for example. Each to their own.

I don’t know why you are quite so agitated that not everyone makes the same assessments and decisions you do. Let it go!

I have a son about to go on a school ski trip and a daughter who loves horse-riding, so I hate reading articles like this. There’s also a swimming coach at my local pool who is in a wheelchair after a skiing accident (he collided with another skier). I think terrible accidents like this make the news because they are rare, or different, whereas car accidents barely make the local news. (I realise that driving may be a necessity and skiing isn’t). One of my daughter’s friends was left severely brain damaged and paralysed after a car crash.

Apparently around 400 million people go skiing every year (I think that may be in addition to those that ski all the time as they live in snowy areas).

You therefore need to get this into perspective!

Talk about wanging on, OP......

Ah yes, I had a vague memory of there being a go-pro on his helmet, on the side and it being there contributed to his brain injury. But I couldn’t be arsed to google the details so decided to leave it out.

Lots of people injure themselves jogging.

Most runners myself included have running injuries.