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.

Name one? Does it involve not getting off your sofa? Because pretty much anything else that gets you out of the house for fun is taking a risk.

Honestly, I’m surprised some people on this thread haven’t said ‘well I would never take my child in a car, far too dangerous.’ That’s how ridiculous you sound.
You are telling me that if your child was offered an amazing all paid ski trip with full lessons and food included you would take it?

He was wearing a helmet. Sounds like a very unfortunate accident

Obesity might be a disease but it is caused essentially by people making poor lifestyle choices. Yes, there might be other factors at play such as MH, but this is still what it boils down to.

Perhaps obese people are compelled to eat in the same way that extreme(ish) sports enthusiasts are compelled to participate in exhilarating activities?

The OP was asking why you would put your kids in danger. My kids love skiing and ask if we can go.

They learned at a young age and respect the mountains and know their limits.

We are not forcing our children to ski. It is a fantastic family holiday. No electronics while skiing, just happy chatting.

I'd rather die doing something exhilarating in beautiful surroundings than die of boredom on a beach.

Each to their own.

Children die doing all sorts of things. Sport. Travel. Car. Skiing. Hockey. Biking to school.

Suspect more children are caused by idiotic car drivers than by them skiing.

So what level of risk do you think is acceptable?

Skiing is for people who don’t have enough risk in their daily lives.

(Obviously not talking about people who ski daily and are actually good at it! The risk then is obviously low. A week a year isn’t the same thing)

I can’t imagine sending my kids off sliding down a mountain. A very irresponsible risk indeed.

That’s awful, but why was he on such a thin part of snow? The main / easy slopes are not thin with rocks under them. Also, why was he not wearing a helmet?

It says chest injury. The speed must had been huge.

And it must have happen at a generally safe part of the slope, probably getting out of the slope to the side, not just downwards, because all the tricky places are secured with padding and nets and everything.

Secondary school kids cycling to school is for families who don’t have enough risk in their lives. Plenty of safer ways to get to school and the daily risk far outweighs a ski trip IMO

I've just had a thorough google and the death/serious injury rate per 1000 people for alpine (ie downhill) skiing is variously either the same as or lower than football, depending on how measured.

Although I'm not sure whether that proves skiing is lower risk than assumed, or football higher risk!

The driving comparison is stupid. Most people don’t drive purely for fun, they do it to get to places they want to go.

Dunno about it being no more dangerous than going for a jog - my DD fell while cross country skiing and managed to kick herself in the eye with her ski! Can't really injured yourself like that jogging.

It's an awful story.

However, you don't hear the stories of the people who went on holiday, had a week skiing and came home. It's in the news because of what happened.

Many people go hill walking and tragically some people die when falling off certain routes such as Crib Goch.

People go scuba diving and some people die doing that.

There are sports that people do and die doing. But it's rare.

And people enjoy doing those sports.

It’s no more difficult to understand than any other type of travel. What a strange, insular attitude you have.

Almost everyone wears a helmet now. From my experience it is generally older locals who have been skiing for 60 years who don't wear them (and a few snow boarders but not many).

What a bunch of absolute bed-wetters posting here. Skiing and snowboarding are fun. Mountain biking is fun. Rock climbing is fun. Horse riding is fun. The people who do these activities are fitter and healthier than those who don’t and are statistically likelier to have longer healthy lives.

if you really want to keep your children safe from traumatic injuries don’t drive them everywhere and don’t sign them up to rugby club.

I just spent a week skiing with my teenage daughter. We both ski fast on challenging slopes. I connect with her so much in the mountains, due to our shared joy, far more than just being at home. It’s our special place.

Ah another thread to bash skiers!

So much kak here. I’m Scandinavian too, learnt cross country from a young age and downhill skiing from teens. I’m very slow but I love it so much. Why would not Brits suit skiing too? If you live in Helsinki it’s not your natural landscape either 🙄 as you’d have to travel quite a bit before you hit a ski slope.

My SIL lives in Wales, learnt to ski as an adult and is very competent skier now. She’s in her 60’s now and still goes to ski every year. Very elitist for some Swiss geezer to declare that you’ll never be a good skier if you hadn’t learnt by the age of three 🙄.

Indeed. There are always several sad cases every year of children drowning in swimming pools or the sea, but I never hear anyone say going on a beach holiday is too dangerous.

People can die or be seriously injured doing the most innocuous things though. Shit happens

I don't ski. My husband does and we have several friends who do: one of them 2 or 3 times a year. None of them learnt to ski very young or from traditional skiing countries. The only incident in nearly 20 years is someone hurting their knee - though quite badly, admittedly.

Does going for a walk involve greater risk than skiing then? Do those statistics exist and how are they arrived at? It doesn't follow that those who don't partake in skiing are obese or suffering from mental health problems. Equally, skiing doesn't equate to fun in my world, that's not what embracing life looks like to me, I find that view to be really lacking imagination.

In response to the long list of things "we don't let kids do" well actually we do, kids ride horses, jumping, kids ride motorcycles and karts, and kids do other dangerous stuff too. Perhaps the difference is that parents don't always pay for sufficient lessons when it comes to skiing and helmets aren't always fitted properly.

I ski, ride horses and a motorcycle, perhaps I'm bias. Accidents happen and like with everything in life we need to take appropriate precautions but ultimately decide if you personally accept the risk.

And yes, I have the opportunity to go, my DH has just returned from skiing and I have Danish family, most of whom can ski well but saying that not all of them.

@beachcitygirl your comment is offenceive, and wrong!
I ski, I horse ride, I climb. My kids have skied and ridden from about 4. Most of my friends and their kids do so too.
My close friend died from an ecstasy overdose in 2014. Rob Hill. He could ski and horse ride and mountain bike. He died on the street in London.