Accident at Sundown

[o3jeff]

There was a lot of speculation of what happened from people while I was riding the lift. Sounds like a couple older guys collided and went into the woods or hit some snow making equipment. I got there around 9 - 9:30 and shortly after that heard an ambulance shows up. About 10 minutes later the Life Star helicopter showed up and too one of them away.

Brian or Severine know any details of what happened and how the person is?

 

[severine]

Neither of us were there this morning, but Brian's working tonight. He may have details when he comes home.

Sadly, ambulance arrivals (and even the occasional Life Star) are not rare occurrences. Part of the risk of the sport.

 

[davidhowland14]

Sadly, ambulance arrivals (and even the occasional Life Star) are not rare occurrences. Part of the risk of the sport.

I was talking to a woman on the lift at crotched who said someone called 911 from the top of pluto's becuase they were scared to go down it. Their call got a cruiser and an ambulance to respond. The woman who responded to the call (the lady I was talking to) ended up carrying most of the family down on her back. :roll::roll:

And i heard at killington that they have 1 paraplegic person per week. About 10 years ago, my uncle was one of them.

sorry if i hijacked.

 

[bvibert]

I don't know anything more than what you just posted other than that it happened on Gunbarrel.

 

[loafer89]

Alot of people who we know in my town are going on and on about the 13 year old kid from Glastonbury that was killed last week in Colorado. I here that he skied into a tree (skiing the glades alone) and cracked his sternum?

We had a fine trip yesterday at Sunapee, even with the hardpacked conditions in the glades and then come close to personal injury by a suicidal deer 1/2 mile from home:???:

You just never know what life may bring

 

[tcharron]

I was talking to a woman on the lift at crotched who said someone called 911 from the top of pluto's becuase they were scared to go down it. Their call got a cruiser and an ambulance to respond. The woman who responded to the call (the lady I was talking to) ended up carrying most of the family down on her back. :roll::roll:

And i heard at killington that they have 1 paraplegic person per week. About 10 years ago, my uncle was one of them.

sorry if i hijacked.

That just doesn't seem quite right. I mean, why wouldn't they just have ski patrol use a snowmobile.

 

[KingM]

And i heard at killington that they have 1 paraplegic person per week. About 10 years ago, my uncle was one of them.

I found this information about skier injuries:

http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/press/facts-ski-snbd-safety.asp

Fatalities - According to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA): During the past 10 years, about 37.1 people have died skiing/snowboarding per year on average. During the 2006/07 season, 22 fatalities occurred out of the 55.1 million skier/snowboarder days reported for the season. Eighteen of the fatalities were skiers (15 male, 3 female) and 2 of the fatalities were snowboarders, both male. In two of the cases the equipment used was reported as unknown. The rate of fatality converts to .40 per million skier/snowboarder visits.

Serious Injuries - Serious injuries (paraplegics, serious head and other serious injuries) occur at the rate of about 43.7 per year, according to the NSAA. In the 2006/07 season, there were 40 serious injuries. Twenty-four of these serious injuries were skiers (20 males, 4 females) and 16 were snowboarders, (14 male, 2 female). The rate of serious injury in 2006/07 was .73 per million skier/snowboarder visits.

So I don't think Killington would have so many injuries, or they'd have about 1/3 of all the serious injuries in the whole country.

If I ski a thousand days in my life (30 days a year for 30+ years) I face about a 1/1000 chance of serious injury or death on the slopes. I'm sure that's less than my chance of dying in a car accident, but I still find it a bit scary.

 

[WoodCore]

This was in today's Hartford Courant.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-mondigbrf0225.art3feb25,0,4308266.story

 

[davidhowland14]

That just doesn't seem quite right. I mean, why wouldn't they just have ski patrol use a snowmobile.

IDK if I can back that up, It's just what the woman told me. If she did call 911, though, they would at least respond with a cruiser. And the ambulance makes sense, given it's a ski area.

 

[tcharron]

IDK if I can back that up, It's just what the woman told me. If she did call 911, though, they would at least respond with a cruiser. And the ambulance makes sense, given it's a ski area.

Yup, makes sense, they'd just mutual aid respond. But I'd doubt they'd show up and hike up the mountain. :-D

Ski Patrol would go up with an EMT on a snowmobile to get them down first.

 

[davidhowland14]

this woman said she was skiing when she got the call. Maybe she was on call that weekend and they beeped and she happened to be in the right place? or does NH have some sort of field EMT thing. I was kinda confused about it myself.

 

[KevinF]

If I ski a thousand days in my life (30 days a year for 30+ years) I face about a 1/1000 chance of serious injury or death on the slopes. I'm sure that's less than my chance of dying in a car accident, but I still find it a bit scary.

I'd like to think that as your experience grows, your chances of getting killed / seriously injured goes down somewhat. i.e., you learn when it's safe to ski fast, and when you need to throttle back somewhat. There's time's it's safe to ski the trail edges, and there's times that it's best to stay away. etc.

True beginners (for the most part) know that they suck. To me, the dangerous period is when you think you're good and you don't yet know what you haven't learned yet. Lord knows I did some extraordinarily stupid things on skis when I thought I was "really good" and was actually a long, long ways from being anything other then "stupid".

Survive that "I'm really good" self-evaluation period, and I'd guess that your odds of getting seriously hurt / killed start going down.

 

[KingM]

I'd like to think that as your experience grows, your chances of getting killed / seriously injured goes down somewhat. i.e., you learn when it's safe to ski fast, and when you need to throttle back somewhat. There's time's it's safe to ski the trail edges, and there's times that it's best to stay away. etc.

True beginners (for the most part) know that they suck. To me, the dangerous period is when you think you're good and you don't yet know what you haven't learned yet. Lord knows I did some extraordinarily stupid things on skis when I thought I was "really good" and was actually a long, long ways from being anything other then "stupid".

Survive that "I'm really good" self-evaluation period, and I'd guess that your odds of getting seriously hurt / killed start going down.

According to what I read this morning, most of the injuries are to absolute beginners (as in 25% of snowboard injuries are on their very first day on the mountain) or to people who are more advanced. I'm guessing that this is simply because they are spending more days on the mountain. Their daily odds are lower, but their cumulative odds might be worse.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

we had a few close calls at Bromley this weekend....my daughter (5yrs) on a Green, going back and forth in a controlled wedge when faster skiiers zip buy (one time over the backs of her skis) and these were big guys, if they ever hit her at that speed God know what would of happened...the base area was a bit uncontrolled as trails merge and people try to keep up speed to get to other lifts....I think Patrol needs to do a better job managing speed zones and stand there and make a presence.

 

[SnowRider]

Eighteen of the fatalities were skiers

Thats funny...I thought it was always the snowboarders ou of control :lol:

 

[MR. evil]

My wife (MRGisEvil) and i took our nephews out to Butternut this past weekend. It was only their second time on skis (they both did great!). I was however extremly disappointed with the lack of Ski Patrol presense on the hill. The entire day I only saw two patrolers, and lost count of how many out of control idiots I witnessed flying down the hill. We also witnessed several idiots crash into one another a couple of times from the lift. My wife was almost run over by an idiot while she was standing on the side of the trail waiting for one of the boys.

To make things even worse, we had planned on meeting one of my co-workers and his family for a few runs. We talked on the phone during the morning and we told each other what we were wearing. A few lift rides later while on the chair we saw this gaper flying down a really narrow trail in a full on snow plow tuck (no tun turns what so ever) totally out of control. I then realized that this person was weraing an outfit very similar to what my co-worker described. Once on top of the hill I waited at the lift a few minutes for this fellow to get to the top. Wouldn't you know it, is was my co-worker with his 3 kids. I decided to do a run with him and his children while my wife and the boys took a different trail. I didn;t want them skiing anywhere near this person. So we headed down a faily narrow intermediate trail, and my co-worker and his 12 year old took off down the hill. Both in gaper position (snow plow tuck, arms flailing all over the place). I hung back a good 100 feet with his older boy who happened to be a very skilled boarder. No less than 4 or 5 times down the trail I though I was seconds from watching a bad wrek as my co-worker and his younger boy narrolwy missed skiers. I was pretty PO'd. Down at the bottom I told him that he needs to slow down and turn more. He then told me that would be no fun and he prefers speed. I then had to be blunt and I told him that he was totally out of control and dangerous. I was then told that I didn't know what i was talking about, and that he was a good skier. The thing that upsets me the most is that his young son idolizes his dad and ski's just like him.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Sometimes I want to stop on the side of the trail to tighten my boots but I don't because I feel in danger. I feel way safer flying down the trail than stopping because if I'm stopped an out of control skier in frozen jeans and an eagles jacket can plow into me and end my season..

 

[Grassi21]

My wife (MRGisEvil) and i took our nephews out to Butternut this past weekend. It was only their second time on skis (they both did great!). I was however extremly disappointed with the lack of Ski Patrol presense on the hill. The entire day I only saw two patrolers, and lost count of how many out of control idiots I witnessed flying down the hill. We also witnessed several idiots crash into one another a couple of times from the lift. My wife was almost run over by an idiot while she was standing on the side of the trail waiting for one of the boys.

To make things even worse, we had planned on meeting one of my co-workers and his family for a few runs. We talked on the phone during the morning and we told each other what we were wearing. A few lift rides later while on the chair we saw this gaper flying down a really narrow trail in a full on snow plow tuck (no tun turns what so ever) totally out of control. I then realized that this person was weraing an outfit very similar to what my co-worker described. Once on top of the hill I waited at the lift a few minutes for this fellow to get to the top. Wouldn't you know it, is was my co-worker with his 3 kids. I decided to do a run with him and his children while my wife and the boys took a different trail. I didn;t want them skiing anywhere near this person. So we headed down a faily narrow intermediate trail, and my co-worker and his 12 year old took off down the hill. Both in gaper position (snow plow tuck, arms flailing all over the place). I hung back a good 100 feet with his older boy who happened to be a very skilled boarder. No less than 4 or 5 times down the trail I though I was seconds from watching a bad wrek as my co-worker and his younger boy narrolwy missed skiers. I was pretty PO'd. Down at the bottom I told him that he needs to slow down and turn more. He then told me that would be no fun and he prefers speed. I then had to be blunt and I told him that he was totally out of control and dangerous. I was then told that I didn't know what i was talking about, and that he was a good skier. The thing that upsets me the most is that his young son idolizes his dad and ski's just like him.

Good on your for speaking up. Speed is fine as long as the skill level and awareness of the conditions is there. This guy just sounds careless and inconsiderate.

 

[Paul]

Sometimes I want to stop on the side of the trail to tighten my boots but I don't because I feel in danger. I feel way safer flying down the trail than stopping because if I'm stopped an out of control skier in frozen jeans and an eagles jacket can plow into me and end my season..

Dude....don't be hatin' on my Iggles!!!:uzi:

Good on your for speaking up. Speed is fine as long as the skill level and awareness of the conditions is there. This guy just sounds careless and inconsiderate.

Like most of the "skiers" there.

 

[SIKSKIER]

I think almost everyone has one of those co-worker stories where the guy boasts about his ability and then you see him ski.The ones that talk the most usually are not too good.I believe the vaca weekend had something to do with the amount of joeys out there.Hats off for speaking up,I know I certainly have.