Lawsuit with a twist vs K-town

[legalskier]

In addition to suing for his initial injuries, the plaintiff allegedly
...suffered additional injuries when the ski patrol toboggan he was strapped into for the ride to the bottom of the hill flipped over, along with the snowmobile that was pulling it.“I yelled to him to slow down,” Rocks said in a portion of a pretrial deposition filed with the court. “He’s going too fast. My left side of my body is killing me, and the jarring was making it worse.” *** The toboggan incident, however, could pose a more serious problem for Killington, Banker [an independent expert] said, assuming Rocks can prove he was injured when the toboggan flipped over. ***​

Full story: ​

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...opnews|text|FRONTPAGE&gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

The trial commenced on Friday.

 

[deadheadskier]

I think what's most surprising to me in this incident is the use of a snowmobile to pull a ski patrol sled down a trail as steep as Ovation. Can't say I've ever seen that before.

 

[Puck it]

If this is true. They are in for a hefty pay out.

 

[bobbutts]

I've seen patrol practicing many times down steep and bumpy runs.. One pulling the sled and another behind.
Never once saw them doing anything like that with a snowmobile.

It using a snowmobile for downhill evac on a mogul run standard operating procedure for patrol?

 

[Watatic Skier]

I've seen patrol practicing many times down steep and bumpy runs.. One pulling the sled and another behind.
Never once saw them doing anything like that with a snowmobile.

It using a snowmobile for downhill evac on a mogul run standard operating procedure for patrol?

I highly doubt it, I can imagine a snowmobile without a toboggan having trouble on ovation, let alone one with a toboggan.

 

[bobbutts]

I guess the other question is 'was this a downhill evac?'.. I was just assuming that's what they did.
I realized with a snowmobile they could potentially bring him up to the bailout on mid/lower ovation across superstar and then down less steep runs

 

[Highway Star]

At first I thought they might have been talking about this, but this was in march '08:

http://www.killingtonzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22014

Anybody enjoy the grooming on lower-O this weekend?

They groomed HALF the trail!!!!

This would be fine except that the ungroomed half was super slick shiny glaze ice. Deadly.

We took one run down it. The groomed half was fine, with a couple spots of real bad ice. No big deal. Real nice on the far left from what I hear.

I was scoping out the ungroomed side, hoping for some spots with blown in pow.....no dice...80%+ blown off to glaze ice. I spotted a woman about 1/3rd down the pitch, out on the ungroomed ice....she had taken her skis off and was perched on a tiny spot of soft snow. I stopped and asked if I could help - she said she had been standing there for 15 minutes....had accidently skied over there when she missed her turn.

I was trying to help figure out how to get her off of there, when a guy about 100 feet above us veered into the ungroomed at about 30-35 mph.....he promply fell and lost his skis, and slid all the way to the bottom bouncing off ice bumps, head first. Probably a good 500+ ft, at least 30-40 mph. One of the scariest crashes/slides I've ever seen. The guy looked banged up, but he got up by himself after a minute. Standard advanced level skier.

At some point the woman dropped one of her skis. She then started working her way over very carefully. After about 5 minutes, death slider #2 shows up, and we get a repeat. His slide looked even more brutal, but he got right up and seemed to be fine. Again, 500+ ft at 30+ mph. He managed to shower us with spray and made the women drop the rest of her gear.
Two near misses....

Finally, after a few more minutes, she managed to work her way over.....and then what? I told her her best bet was to just slide down on the groomed, and try to stay in control. She went down facing the snow (not what I was thinking...duh) and was generally ok but got pulled over to the ungroomed at the end. Seemed to be alright. Not much else I could have done....?
Man, I wish I had video.....

Anyway, we get down to the bottom, and finally a ski patroller shows up on a snowmobile. We told him what just happened, and he said he had witnessed it from the base and came up. We suggested they close the trail until they can get it groomed. He said he would go talk to his boss.....trail stayed open the rest of the day, from what I could tell.

Seriously.....what the HECK are they thinking????

We have dual failures here - mountain ops for not grooming that half of the trail, and ski patrol not using proper judgement in opening the trail.

They are extremely lucky someone didn't get badly hurt or die.....

 

[marcski]

Full story:
​

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120624/NEWS07/306240031/Killington-faces-ski-liability-trial-twist?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE&gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

The trial commenced on Friday.

Burlington FREE Press, isn't free anymore!

 

[riverc0il]

Burlington FREE Press, isn't free anymore!

There is a difference between "a free press" and free news.

Any ways, I have never heard of a snow mobile handling a patient let alone down a steep and icy trail. Me thinks the plaintiff is digging for dough. Maybe Killington should have saved themselves the trouble and left him on the hill. You can't fault ski patrol for not being able to perfectly navigate a steep and icy mogul field. They practice for it but goodness knows if conditions are terrible, there are some places I've been in that I knew a rescue would be difficult. Thems the breaks. No pun intended.

 

[Geoff]

There is a difference between "a free press" and free news.

Any ways, I have never heard of a snow mobile handling a patient let alone down a steep and icy trail. Me thinks the plaintiff is digging for dough. Maybe Killington should have saved themselves the trouble and left him on the hill. You can't fault ski patrol for not being able to perfectly navigate a steep and icy mogul field. They practice for it but goodness knows if conditions are terrible, there are some places I've been in that I knew a rescue would be difficult. Thems the breaks. No pun intended.

My opinion: The main parameter for "trail closed" is whether a sled dog can get a toboggan down it safely without putting core shots in their skis.

 

[drjeff]

My opinion: The main parameter for "trail closed" is whether a sled dog can get a toboggan down it safely without putting core shots in their skis.

And considering that the sled dogs have to buy their own skis/boards, i'm totally fine and respectful of that reality.

 

[bobbutts]

There is a difference between "a free press" and free news.

Any ways, I have never heard of a snow mobile handling a patient let alone down a steep and icy trail. Me thinks the plaintiff is digging for dough. Maybe Killington should have saved themselves the trouble and left him on the hill. You can't fault ski patrol for not being able to perfectly navigate a steep and icy mogul field. They practice for it but goodness knows if conditions are terrible, there are some places I've been in that I knew a rescue would be difficult. Thems the breaks. No pun intended.

When do they practice it on a snowmobile? Why would they choose a snowmobile instead of patrol team? And like Geoff said, if it can't be navigated by patrol, it should be closed. I'm usually for the defendant in skier vs. resort cases, but based on the small amount of evidence we have here, I am thinking resort should be found negligent.

 

[thetrailboss]

The case settled.

http://www.wcax.com/story/18882824/killington-settles-lawsuit-with-injured-skier

 

[Puck it]

Just a thought. Maybe, they used the sled from the bottom of OVation ot the Patrol Shack. Just can not see the sled on Ovation.

 

[RENO]

Just a thought. Maybe, they used the sled from the bottom of OVation ot the Patrol Shack. Just can not see the sled on Ovation.

They said he was near the bottom of the trail when he crashed so I would agree that there's no way they came from up top and that's why they used a snowmobile to come up from the bottom. Gotta be insane to come down that trail with a snowmobile even in great conditions! :lol: Even a skier/boarder pulling a toboggan coming down would be extremely brutal!

 

[Riverskier]

Part of a sled ride I took once (unfortunately) was by snowmobile. However, it was the uphill portion of the trip. I was injured on Aurora at Sunday River and they hauled the sled from the Auroroa Basin up to North Peak. Both downhill portions were via patrol on skis, and I can't imagine why they ever wouldn't be. I have never skied Killington, so I don't know the layout, but is any part of the route to the appropriate facility (this could be a route to an on mountain clinic that nobody would ever ski) uphill?

 

[skiadikt]

thought this past season k was the most liberal i'd seen in years in terms of opening trails in "marginal" conditions as they appeared to be padding trail counts in a miserable season. personally i think you accept the risks though the snowmobile mishap is a whole other story. wondering if the verdict of this trial moves them in the other direction.