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.

Oh I know MIL's neighbour is basically disabled. 17 years on fro ma skiing a accident and she still can't walk properly. Leg is pretty much mangled when you see her in the summer months in shorts/skirt

Yes I think this is very relevant.
Most people from the UK will probably have relatively limited experience on the slopes really and might be more likely to over estimate their capabilities and take daft risks.

Personally I have not been tempted because I have never been very adept at this sort of thing. As a child other kids made slides on icy days and if I tried them I always fell arse over tip. Immediately.

I am not a total "stay on the couch where it's safe" sort of person. I have walked in the Pyrenees and the Canadian Rockies and in Austria, but knew my limits and stayed within them.

It’s very clear that most of the people scaremongering about skiing in this thread have never actually been skiing.

My brother was an expert snowboarder, used to spend whole seasons in the Alps, hiking for miles off-piste and boarding down remote gullies.

He’s in a wheelchair now after a spinal cord injury. Which he sustained in a workplace accident on a beautiful summer’s day in Birmingham.

As soon as he could, he took up para-skiing.

went on a school trip skiing-hate it an my friend broke her leg on the second day -we were supervise but it still happens

By this logic: people who do these sports are often well off so also paid extra in taxes

Sorry but YABU. I fell off a slide in the local park at the age of 9. Was in a coma for 10 days. Children fall off slides everyday. Should we ban those - after all, more children play on slides than go skiing? Even factoring in snow bound countries where skiing is a way of life/necessary skill on a par with cycling… being hit by a car, falling off a slide or falling down the stairs are more common causes of death and disability than skiing.

In fact here are some stats: between 1980-2001, 149 under 21s were killed in the US from skiing. 3400 children were killed or injured in the UK in 2022 alone.

Michael Schumacher had a very dangerous day job and look what happened to him on the ski slope. Some of the stories you hear from young lads playing rugby even is shocking.

I refuse to go skiing. I will never take DD. To me, it's simply not worth it.

I refuse to go skiing. I will never take DD. To me, it's simply not worth it.

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?

My now 14 year old has been track driving since she was 12. She doesn’t go as fast as I do, yet………..

Oh yes, I'm sure the Alps are positively heaving with people on universal credit during half term 🤣

No chip on my shoulder I'm afraid.

This shows the stats of data regarding children dying including causes, different age groups have different most common causes.

Child death data release 2024 | National Child Mortality Database

''The most common primary category of death for children under 1 was Perinatal/neonatal event; for children aged between 1 and 9 years it was Chromosomal, genetic and congenital anomalies; and for children aged between 10 and 17 years it was Malignancy.''

97 children aged between 10-17 died from trauma and other external factors last year compared to 121 children aged between 10-17 who died from cancer.

I feel more unsafe riding a bike around here than skiing at 40mph.

it seems a sort of aspirational thing to do for wealthy British people

I don’t know any plebs (like me) who have ever been skiing. I didn’t even know ski school trips were a thing until I went to university.

I know a 15 year old who broke her back on a school skiing trip.

Shockingly, she was given a detention after she returned to school for falling asleep in a lesson, due to the heavy duty painkillers she required to even make it to school.

She has more or less dropped out of school now, due to the pain she's in and the lack of understanding shown due to an accident on a trip they organised.

I forgot to mention - Dr Fischer of Geneva. Experienced skier, based on a true story.

Spot on, absolutely. And even here the half-term posts are positively heaving with mentioning dc practising their language skills on the slopes, not only skiing skills!

Every state school near me offers ski trips, it’s how my children started. DH and his mates went for a laugh in their early 20s and got the bug. They started on the ski train from London and stayed in Hostels.

The inverted snobbery around what is both a ‘sport’ and, in effect, an essential life skill in snow impacted nations is ludicrous.

But then trying to balance on skis or a snowboard whilst carrying a chip that size may be rather challenging.

But then trying to balance on skis or a snowboard whilst balancing a chip that size may be rather challenging.

Haha! Well said 👏

A quick google gives this response to ‘most dangerous sports kids uk’. Skiing doesn’t feature

According to most studies, the most dangerous sport for kids in the UK, as in many other places, is football (soccer), due to its high risk of contact injuries, including concussions, particularly at younger ages; making it the top concern for potential head trauma and musculoskeletal injuries.

Other sports considered relatively high risk for children in the UK include:
Rugby: High contact sport with potential for serious injuries.

Hockey (field or ice): Risk of collisions and stick-related injuries.

Gymnastics: Potential for falls and landing injuries due to complex maneuvers.

Horse riding: Risk of falls and related injuries, especially for young riders.

Cycling: High risk of accidents on roads, especially without proper safety gear.

Some very silly people on this thread. Don’t ski then if you’re so sure it’ll lead to certain death or injury. 🤷‍♀️

Just don’t go on any boats abroad, or ride a horse, or get in a vehicle either.

I agree. Reading the post, I was confused because, AFAIK, people do still send their kids go-karting. I was off (unsupervised!) on my pony as a young child and still see little kids about riding on the roads, and I’m sure professional free divers learned sometime.

I understand the sentiment; I’m an anxious person, but as someone raised doing sport, the risks just have to be minimised because there are so many benefits and skills you won’t get from playing at the park or using the iPad.

If you tried to mitigate every single risk to your DC’s safety they’d be a prisoner, unable to cross the road or eat solid foods. Sports are okay, just ensure proper safety guidelines are being followed and when necessary supervised by a professional.

*Hwi *
I assume that was aimed at me. You so realise that every child at school learns languages, yes? I presume you agree practising a language when given the opportunity to do so is a good thing? Not sure why it's so hilarious that if abroad I'd encourage DC to practice what they're learning at school 😆

I have been skiing many times and have never had nor witnessed an accident fortunately. However, you do get people who behave stupidly, or drink at lunchtime and then feel brave about skiing down the side of a mountain. For me, despite my extensive experience, each trip started with a ski school refresher. You don't drink alcohol during the skiing day. You don't go outside of your comfort zone or abilities, especially not off piste. You stop when you're tired or if the weather takes a turn. It's a fantastic sport if you are careful and properly equipped. Now I'm in my mid 50's with a recurring knee injury (unrelated), I probably won't go skiing again but I have no regrets at the many fun holidays I had.

Those accidental deaths are largely very old people.