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.

@sunbum is that what happened to MS? A go pro injury? Why are they so secretive about it? It's bloody tragic. Stupid life changing (or death) accidents can happen in all sorts of ludicrous situations. I dwell on the woman who tripped over while holding a cup with a reusable straw and it went straight into her brain through her eye. She died. I don't let my son use those now. I've got a drawer full of them while I try to be environmentally aware 🙄

Rich family, controlling the narrative, I guess. there was a lot of hush money paid around the time. A french journalist got taken to court by the family and settled, not said anything since etc. Powerful, rich man with a huge ego, adrenaline junkie, it's a pretty humiliating way to end up I guess, for a man like that, so the details were all supressed in the media. I think Go Pro were also involve as their stock dropped .... But the locals talk about it.

You can get soft silicone straws, that have to be saver than the steel ones that are like a ridgid pipe.

I don't know if the MS family were secretive about the accident, but I sort of get why they are secretive about his condition now. It was reported at the time
Hes obviously not able to give consent for photos or film to be published. And nobody would really want undignified photos of themselves in the public domain.

Not really any different to the older footballers and other celebrities who've ended up in nursing homes with dementia.

@sunbum I've just read a report pretty much confirming what you said, he'd gone off-piste to help another skier. Hit one rock was thrown into the air and landed on another, the helmet split in two.

It doesn't mention Go-Pro but what a nightmare for the person he went to help. Imagine trying to live with that knowledge someone had a life changing injury trying to help you.

I'm glad I don't need thrill-seeker adventures to feel fulfilled. I get enough enjoyment out of my life without taking what I see as unnecessary risk. Yes, I drive, but I see that as a necessary risk. I guess that's what it always comes back to: We each have our own set of rules for what is and isn't worth it.

Sure you can injure yourself jogging, but you can't kick yourself in the eye with skis

Though I'd say cross country skiing is likelier more risk of injury than jogging because you will be going faster than a jogging pace, especially when going down hills, and you can't stop suddenly if there's an obstacle, like a fallen tree just round the corner on a hill. And then there's the risk of snowmobilers crossing the path suddenly, even though they're supposed to be careful of skiers.

Exactly this. I think it's quite right they don't give details.

Why didn’t you mock my post in full view of everyone @BlueWhippetsForever instead of leaving a pathetic little laugh emoji in secret? If you have an opinion, just give it.

You sound exciting!!!!

I'm sure skiers have a fulfilled life too!

Perhaps they just went on a skiing holiday (ie with the school), enjoyed it, and want to go again!!!!!

Christ alive, sit at home polishing your halo and clutching your pearls! What do you do for fun, put an extra lettuce leaf on?

So what, I would still rather die on my skis! Some of us like skiing... a lot

Sorry @chocmalt but this made me laugh.

I love the idea that people who don't ski might assume I am spending my holidays indulged in thrill-seeking adventures, rather than pootling around the mountain at a leisurely pace from cafe to cafe.

You say that, but just how much hot choc with a dash of malt WHISKEY are you downing 😱😂 @chocmalt

Nah, coffee and a génépi on the side hits the spot.

This is a huge generalisation and simply untrue. It's exactly like generalising about working class people going to Benidorm, splurging their benefits drinking too many pints of Stella and pissing off the locals. Do you have a chip on your shoulder about not being able to afford skiing?

I have went on expensive holidays with other people with money. I do think you are more likely to meet people with a sense of entitlement amongst people with money.

I disagree somewhat. The most entitled people I have met are one that claim long term benefits because the choose not to work, not because they can't.

Talking of risk, what about the TT motorbike races in the Isle of Man every year, then? So many deaths! I can't believe people do it.

I must be boring like another poster who was mocked for it. I hate taking any kind of physical risks at all. You wouldn't catch me scuba-diving, cycling on the roads, caving, or any number of other dangerous sports, no siree. You can get plenty of exercise without putting yourself at risk. I like swimming. In a pool, in water I can stand up in! I might try skiing again if I was fit enough, to see if I could get on with it after all these years, but I would stick to blue runs.

The costs to the NHS of treating sports injuries are negligible compared to the costs of treating people who don’t undertake any exercise, drive cars dangerously, drink alcohol, etc. Would be far happier seeing all those charged.

Rugby is in a way higher insurance category than skiing. It is up there with free climbing and base jumping, yet 100's of 1000's of children participate every week.
Life is about managing risk and sometimes you get unlucky. Better to have lived a life of adventure than spent it all in cotton wool.
I heli-ski and play polo and there is no way I'd play rugby.

Managed risk is part of life and you only hear about the horror stories rather than the many who ski perfectly safely year after year. I've been on lots of ski holidays but only once did one of our group get injured. My kids learned to ski safely young and are, I would say, confident but not overly so.

You're not wrong. It's a very upper-middle to upper class thing to do in the UK. I don't know anybody in my family or social circle who has gone skiing or snow boarding. The locations always look beautiful though.

I would previously have been in the entitled show offs doing a dangerous sport camp but my perception has totally changed since trying it. Yes some people who ski are braying idiots, some of us deliberately go to resorts where we can avoid those people! There are a lot of ways to massively mitigate risk - skiing on piste, getting your kids proper lessons until then are technically competent (and beyond), skiing at sensible speeds in control, wearing decent kit, making sure your family knows and obeys the piste cross code etc.

And quite honestly, it’s popular for a reason. There aren’t many family holidays where everyone from 3 to 80 can engage in the same activity all day and all have a wonderful time. The scenery is spectacular. Everyone is exercising and there is usually some cracking food and drink on offer.

This incident was a tragic accident. It sounds as if he shouldn’t have been on a red and he definitely wasn’t in control. It is beyond sad that he lost his life as a result of this but it’s really unusual.

What a ridiculous thing to say. I have been skiing since I was 7 years old, have spend 3 winter seasons living in the alps and regularly take 4-5 trips a year but according to your friend I can’t ski??

Many many people on here need to learn to live life.
There are risks in everything we do.
Skiing as a family is one of the most enjoyable things we do. We are exercising, in a beautiful environment, breathing fresh mountain air, and spending quality screen free time together.
It’s also a real incentive to stay fit.
We are fully insured and are in no way a burden on the NHS.

Alternatively we could stay home, watch TV and wrap ourselves in cotton wool. What a fulfilling life that would be!

I've known a few families over the years who are very keen on skiing and that whole way of life. One friend married an Austrian so perhaps that's not surprising! But they all went skiing several times a year, from when the children were tiny babies and took health and safety VERY seriously. I can't help wondering if these appalling accidents are much more likely in families who are only occasional skiers, have little tutoring and really don't know what they are doing?