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.

Things that are common do not make the news. This is very tragic but I would imagine it mostly depends how you ski. I might also be opening myself up to attack here but in my experience boys aged from about 9 upwards seem to have absolutely no fear or regard for others so may be more likely to get injured. Not all boys obviously but this is the demographic I most often see and think wtf and am actively aware of. I'm not blaming them for their behaviour, children don't have a sense of mortality.

You hear of more people of this age falling off of balconies in Spain than you do this kind of accident.

I was taken to a dry ski slope on a school trip as a teenager.

They'd insisted we had to wear jeans. I never wore jeans ever. My mother had to buy me jeans. New, thick stiff jeans that I could barely walk in. I fell on my arse immediately, knees in the air, back on the ground, feet locked into the very heavy skis that were dragging me down the slope at speed. I slid down that thing half on my back. My jacket, jumper, top, vest came up as one and I went home with bloody burns all up my back. Imagine the worst carpet burns you've ever seen. That's once and only a part way up. No snow. No cold and, crucially, no obstacles. I was in agony for months.

Fuck. That. Shit.

I'm old enough to remember when the chief medical officer said he would rather his kids took ecstasy than ride horses or ski - statistically safer
He was forced to
Resign which was bloody ridiculous- he was accurate

All sports have risks, but so does not doing sports. And the benefits of sports usually outweigh the risks (I'd say that's not the case with base jumping, for instance). My 7 year old plays ice hockey, that has risks. My teenager DD plays volleyball in the boys' league (not enough girls to form their own team) which also has risks, because the boys hit the ball with so much more power and speed - not good when that hits you in the head. I'd be just as happy taking them downhill skiing, and hope to do that in the near future now I can afford it (live an hour away from ski slopes)

I very much enjoyed skiing, riding, climbing, caving, wild swimming, canoeing and all sorts of other outdoor activities as a child and teen, until my disabilities caught up with me and made themselves known anyway. I did those things from pretty soon after I could walk, as they were the things my parents did.

I'd be pretty miserable to have not had those experiences now I cannot do any of them.

Where do you draw the line - getting in a car is dangerous, walking along a busy road is dangerous - shall we only take risk if it is boringly necessary and not remotely enjoyable?

Perhaps that is how you want to live but it's not for everyone!

Accidents when skiing are pretty rare considering how fast people go and how many people do it - vs falling off balconies, down their own stairs, or under the wheels of a car anyway. That's why it is news.

And much of the time these accidents, on further investigation, have some other factors at play - like alcohol, not wearing protective gear, or being dared to do something stupid, or all of those.

I get your point but it's not comparable to kids getting in cars. 3 out of 5 teen boys died in a crash near me last month and last Summer six people were killed near here in one crash one summer afternoon. I'm going to drive past the crash site in an hour as I do every day but it's not stopping me driving.

Skiing terrified me and I'm glad we no longer go. My in-laws owned a house in the French Alps for around 8 years and we went every year.
Like driving, your safety is generally reliant upon the competence of people around you and I found I was often surrounded by idiots with no regard for others.

How many kids drown in the sea each year? Shall we stop beach holidays too??

You're more likely to die in a car accident than skiing. Nonetheless, we don't see people flooding to safer busses and trains, because they like the convenience. In a similar vein, people like skiing.

Risk is part of life. People who insulate themselves from risk lead pretty boring and meaningless lives. They never learning anything new or overcome challenges, and as a consequence, never achieve anything.

A lot of skiing accidents happen because people are learning, go just once a year and then push themselves when they are tired on slopes they probably shouldn’t be on. Then you have other people in the same boat who have no control and ski into you. Personally I hate skiing. I’m simply crap at it and don’t enjoy it.

My husband and kids ski. One child ski races and so spends a lot of time racing on dry slopes here in the UK and on snow abroad. It is dangerous. He wears a helmet and back protector etc, but as with any other sport it carries a risk. Are we irresponsible to allow him to do the sport he loves? No more than parents whose children ride horses or cycle on roads imo.

Well maybe, but only if those who are overweight, smoke/vape, drink, have more than 2 children, sunbathe etc. also have to pay it. The NHS has to pick up the pieces of these self inflicted issues too.

Well I hear about a lot more ecstasy deaths than I do ski deaths

Well thanks very much DebbieDowner OP, I’m off skiing tomorrow, been to indoor slopes dozens of times and probably ten holidays. I went riding last week, I have been doing it for 50 years, I’m nearly 59.

my DC have done all the above as well as played rugby. I’d rather that then spend their lives on the internet (which IMO) is a damn sight more dangerous and bad for their health in countless ways, than being in the fresh air, having fun and making friends.

I will think of you when I’m sat in my deckchair, sun on my face with my Croque Monsieur and Aperol.

He was drunk on a night out. If it is the one in Avoriaz. DC have skied since they were 3, never had a serious accident, nearly always the less experiencedskier who had accidents on the piste. Yes back country skiing is riskier.

When marrying DH I accepted there is a risk he may kill himself doing an extreme sport, it is part of who he is though and would be miserable with out those things in his life.

@LiquoriceAllsorts2 we also hear more about plane crashes than car crashes as
A) less common so more newsworthy
B) drug deaths sell papers

Sorry but isn't plane travel the safest of them all ? Have I got that wrong ?

I hear you, OP. I hate skiing. And I've been on six skiing holidays and dry-skied in the C team (the bad team!) at uni. So no one can say I haven't given it a go.

I have never experienced a leisure activity that was so frustrating. The sheer amount of effort expended to get up a wretched hill only to be at the bottom again shortly was crazy. Maybe you only get something out of it if you're really good and can really ski through the mountains. I was mostly just blue runs and spent as much time on the lifts as I did on the slopes. But I did have some times of skiing some longer runs pretty freely, and still didn't enjoy it. The weather was mostly foul. In all those hols I remember one sunny day, and that was pretty nice, I admit.

I also think it was dangerous. It was very easy to get lost in the thick fog - it was always foggy - and I could never get the hang of the chair or button lifts. Easy to fall off the buttons or mess up the getting off and on the chair lifts, which did terrify me.

In total, the entire thing was 90 percent hassle and 10 percent fun, if that.

The driving analogy is a really poor one - almost everyone who drives/gets in a car does it because they need to in order to get somewhere. Skiing is a hobby, there's no corresponding need to do it

The thing is, the kind of people who go on skiing holidays are privileged, and far more likely to have a sense of entitlement and think this kind of thing couldn't possibly ever happen to them.

That’s a lot of pretty nasty assumptions. Whereas I read the OP and just felt really sorry for the family involved.

If it's worldwide, this statistic will include cross country skiing, which is regularly done by huge amounts of Scandinavians and Europeans and is no more dangerous than going for a jog.

The fatality rate for downhill skiing, which is the type of skiing posters in this thread are talking about, is enormously higher than that

I think there are inherent risks to skiing of course, but these would be minimised to acceptable levels if there were a better safety culture within the sport. It seems that many people ski beyond their ability, on dangerous overcrowded slopes and without basic safety equipment such as a helmet / protective clothing.

There may not be a lot that can be done about knee and leg injuries (similar to eg football they're just inherent to the sport even at low speed / on easy courses etc) but some life threatening injuries could be avoided.

It’s one of these middle class ‘i’ve made it in life’ sports in my opinion. I went on a school ski trip and one of my friends was so close to going over the edge one day (with a big drop). I was so glad none of my kids asked to go!

As PP have said, it’s about weighing up the risk/benefit balance.

We live a couple of hours from some ski resorts and aim for 3 weekends a year. I can’t imagine how this accident could have happened unless the boy was off piste.

The confidence and sense of accomplishment it gives to my anxious ND child is worth the very small risk of injury. We also live by the beach and I let him play in the sea. I am a nervous overthinker so am often thinking of the worst that can happen, but you have to teach them to be sensible and let them live.

I'm 54. I've surfed for 20 years. This year I learned to snowboard. At 54, which I'm pretty proud of.

I have spent so far 4 months in the snow and I love it. I'm in the best shape of my life.

I had several lessons to begin. I know my limits. I take my time. I wear a helmet and knee pads. I've had loads of bruises and torn a muscle in my abdomen. I've not broken anything.

I'm getting sunshine, fresh air and massive amounts of exercise.

Surfing and snowboarding keeps me young and fit. I'm slim and my blood tests show I'm healthy, especially for my age. What's not to like?

Life is for living. I choose life.

I think that as a country we are becoming increasingly risk averse. Of course the downside of this is we are become increasingly sedentary, obese, lonely and struggling with mental health.

Obviously it’s really sad whenever someone dies but pretty much everything we do has some element of risk attached.