Have you ever been hit by a speeding skier?

A snowHead

The insurance thread seems to suggest that high-speed collisions between skiers are scarily common. Is that really the case? Or is it just that crash victims take more interest in discussions about insurance than other skiers?

Let's find out...

A snowHead

Twice ! see the insurance thread Confused

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Or boarder?

I've seen it happen to quite a few people, and a disproportionate number of children. Mainly because kids are less 'aware', more unpredictable in their movements, and are more likely to be hit from behind as a result. Still the fault of the uphill skier/boarder though.

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I skied into a friend at high speed. We were equally at fault, equally stupid in fact, and it led to a bloody nose (mine) and two black eyes (both mine) although she was unhurt! Nothing worse than the sight of fresh blood on snow, particularly when it's your own.

Regards

Rob

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No - so I've gone for the "accidents happen to other people". Not true, except in the sense of collisions with speeding skiers.

Friend had major leg damage in Val D, stopped at the side of the piste with his beginners' instructional group. Speeing skier hit him. Took a long time to recover. Put off skiing for life.

There have been times when I have gone off piste, not because the skiing there was particularly good, but because on piste seemed so dangerous.

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There are some resorts where the piste layout encourages accidents, one of the worst examples I know is Alpe d'Huez where all the pistes funnel into the beginners blues and greens close to the resort. At the end of the day it's a potential disaster zone.

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I haven't, but my wife had a pretty bad collision with a speeding Austrian who went into her whilst trying to overtake on a narrowish blue run back down to Soell. She was close to being knocked over the edge into the trees and was pretty shaken up.

He seemed to think it was her fault for skiing slowly!

After all it is free

I'veoften come down from a challenging day off piste and found myself on a piste with all these people whizzing about in seemingly random directions* and thought: God, this is Dangerous!

* No doubt if you asked the molecules in Brownian motion they would all have their reasons too.

Dr Che, he was wrong. Had your wife been injured, with witnesses present, the likelihood is that he and his insurance company would have been held 100% responsible.

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I had something that barely came up to my waist take my legs out once. It had been tailgating me and when I stopped, it couldn't. Don't know if it was boy or girl: they all look the same when rolling over and over down the piste.

I had a close shave as the speeding slier too though. I was desperately trying to keep up with Gregory who was schussing as hard as he could to avoid a climb up the other side of a dip, when a stationary skier suddenly pushed fwd into my path without looking uphill. I managed to avoid a direct hit but had to go over their skis which surprised them more than a little. I guess they'll look up hill next time!

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Dr Che, too many people like that, slow skiers always have the right of way on blue runs, other people must slow down for them and may only overtake where it is safe to do so giving plenty of room, I've seen accidents between so called good skiers and beginers far too often due to just that sort of arrogant attitude and it really p's me off

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What really gets me is the people who stop in the middle of the piste or worse still over the brow of a hill. As the uphill skiier you still get nailed if some muppet is sitting down in some spot where he/she is not visible until it's all too late.

You know it makes sense.

Fortunately, no injuries reported so far. But it's pretty scary to learn that nearly half (43% so far) of Snowheads have been hit by an out of control speeding idiot.

I hate to generalise but, in my (fairly limted) experience, US resorts have a lower proportion of selfish nutters. I suspect that fear of litigation is the main driver, but it manifests itself in more practical down-to-earth steps that resorts can take to control the yobs. These include:

- Lots of warning notices about fast skiing
- Prominent threats to take legal action against those who cause accidents
- Removal of lift passes from dangerous skiers
- Clearly marked slow areas near junctions, or where beginner and expert runs coverge
- Less congested runs

Perhaps European skiers need to concentrate minds by suing resorts that fail to offer them adequate protection.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

skanky, without comprehensive third party insurance, I suppose he would become personally liable, and any assets he might possess forfeitable in the event of an award?

A snowHead

Speeding boarder - yes!

Was on a crowded flatish path leading from top of lift to top of pistes. The lady's front bottom on a board obviously needed to keep speed up, and was swerving in/out of the skiers (lots). I made sure the lady's front bottom was removed from the path far enough to have to un buckle and walk.

I have nothing against boarders... just j**ks who totally ignore the snowsports code.

Oh and my brother managed to ski right over the back of both my skis mid-turn once, but he was a total beginner.

A snowHead

That would mean suing, and from personal experience, I can tell you all it is not easy to sue Austrians!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Jonny Jones, it might, or it could just mean that a lot of resorts would be forced to close, insurance premiums have been forced to higher and higher levels in recent years if resorts were made liable for the actions of any skiers on their slopes it would be a disaster, can you imagine the problems of policing such a system, It would be like making the government liable for the actions of all road users out there

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Diarmuid, that's why I always check at the brow. You don't have to stop, just check (a bit like approaching a give way sign as opposed to a stop sign). They may be doing something ridiculously stupid, but I can still do something to avoid the collision.

Additional: it's worth noting that sometimes the person over the brow is not deliberately lying down in that spot, they may have fallen.

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Jonny Jones, from personal knowledge, people and companies can be sued within the European Union. It might take years, but EU legislation permits it and will ensure claims go through - eventually. I believe that the laws of the country, and in particular the local court where the offence is deemed to have occurred, has jurisdiction. That certainly applied in my case where a UK resident was involved in a road accident in France 100% caused by a Dutchman driving for a Belgian transport company.

After all it is free

I think that you have to be either very unlucky or unaware to get hit by someone speeding. That doesn't excuse people that risk endangering others by speeding close to other skiers.

Low speed contact in busy crowded sections are more common but apart from bruised hips/buttocks/wrists or scraped top sheet, they are unlikely to cause much damage beyond the sheer annoyance and frustration of it.

Self induced accidents are another matter entirely, of course...

u brain, I've been jumped by a slider....I can tell you it's definitely a bit surprising! His fault, not mine I hasten to add, but I was very impressed by his skill at jumping over my skis and flying on down the mountain!

I've never been actually hit but I've had lots and lots of near misses....reading everyone's comments I wonder if it's only a matter of time?

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I'm not so sure, Tony. Most people responding to the poll seem to have been hit, which would rule out 'unlucky'. And you can't be aware if you're facing downhill yourself, no matter how good a skier you are. (there are those who say that they ski too fast to be hit from behind, but it's arguable if that isn't dangerous in itself on a blue run).

I've been pretty laid back about getting hit, but it did happen, and the last time the guy who hit me was someone I had just met and shared a few runs with!

However, I did once get hit BECAUSE of being aware: I saw someone completely out of control coming from my right and I realised I had just seen a little girl skiing to my left...so I skied into this guy's path. He threw me to the left about three yards and I almost hit the girl myself. I don't like to think of what could've happened if I hadn't been in front of him.

The resulting bruises I considered as retribution for the fact that, a couple of years before on the same run, in foggy conditions, I had been the one to ski into someone. I had avoided two other persons just before, and I did cushion the unlucky lady's fall, and she wasn't hurt as I had already braked hard, but it was still my fault. That was a long time ago and I've been far more careful since.

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Tony Lane,

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At Alpe d'Huez there's a drag that crosses the piste and some kn*bhead French bloke skied in to me whilst I was on the drag.

The funniest crash I ever saw was at La Plagne where a guy was carrying a tray with three lots of soup and some other stuff and a smartarse flying machine bloke trying to cut the corner skied straight into him. He was not a happy bunny !

I was also guilty of skiing into someone at La Plagne, as there's a spot where in order not to have to walk you need to carry a lot of speed. He was doing the same thing but going the opposite way. Spectacular but no more than bruising.

Hmm, I've just been given the option to vote again. Odd. Haven't.

You know it makes sense.

Nick Zotov, another poll yesterday got a bit out of step somehow.

Being hit - the oddest incident was in Iran. On a longish gentle schuss a little hot shot Iranian skiing dwarf deliberately came up from behind and put his skis outside mine so I get thumped in the backside with absolutely no warning. No harm done but it couldn't have been an accident. Since swearing at him didn't work, we decided to laugh about it.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

PG, I agree totally, and we had enough people with us that there were plenty of witnesses. Fortunately she wasn't seriously hurt and was able to continue the run after a few minutes so it wasn't an issue.

It seems it's all too common for good skiers to overtake slower skiers when the conditions don't really allow for it. As D G Orf says - it's just a totally arrogant attitude that shows no consideration for anyone else.

A snowHead

I answered "Yes, but I miraculously escaped unhurt" as indeed all of the high-speed near-misses I've had (never had a serious collision) have resulted in nothing more than dented pride and a lost ski or two, and all those in my first week. (Edited to say I'm talking about other people's high speed, natch. Had a couple of spectacular yard sales at high speed on empty pistes snowHead

)

Was injured, however, by a slow-speed skier on a narrow track along the side of the slope in Lake Louise back in January. Green run, shallow slope, busy traffic and lots of beginners around, everyone in single-file doing snowploughs to avoid running into the person in front... whack! I was hit by a glancing blow from behind by an out-of-control numpty who thought that the best course of action was to try to overtake everyone rather than bale out or ski up the side to slow down. totally off-balance, I fell on my ski pole, bruised a couple of ribs and nearly had my thumb dislocated by the pole strap. All this was on the first day of a 2-week trip and I was in pain for most of the rest of the holiday.

Never even got an apology.

High speed can cause nasty injuries, but so can lack of control, panicking and sheer thoughtlessness - at any speed.

A snowHead

Nothing in the last 20 years until last year when I took my 6 year down a blue on Saturday in La Rosiere. The piste was wide and empty and the weather gorgeous. Needless to say that my little boy went airborne as an idiot in his early 20s collided with him. He obviously hadnt had much experience and was going far faster than he should. I always thought an adult would do everything possible to avoid hitting a little child but not in this case. Still apart from 1 minute of crying nothing broken and off we went. The other chap was not so lucky, he got the full fury of Mrs Chris B, not something I would wish on anyone.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Dr Che, I know that blue run... I skied it when very icy once. If that guy wanted to go fast, why didn't he take the alternative red back down to soell?

I had several close calls on that blue trying to protect my very nervous girlfriend. Not much fun!!!

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Chris B, I disagree he obviously deserved the full force of Mrs Chris B, another case for getting the idiots off the slope as rapidly as possible, there really is no excuse for that sort of behaviour. Mind you I have seen some pretty iresponsible behaviour on the part of teachers taking british school groups and yes I do go and give them an earbashing when I see them doing something stupid

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Paul Holland, it's not really a run that you'd think of skiing overly quickly is it! It's a nice gentle meandering run perfect for slower, low level skiers but can get a bit busy, and as you say can be tricky when trying to look after a nervous skier (and my wife is definitely one of those!)

Personally I prefer the red run back to Soell, though towards the end of the day that has a fair number of lunatics on it as well. Can't understand why anyone would want to go particularly fast on the blue run as opposed to the open (ish) spaces of the red run.

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Hey we've all done it! It feels good to let yourself go a bit on a nice safe blue and go faster than you'd dare on (say) the alternative red.

It's not so different from having a sneaky go through the kids' slalom course when the instructor isn't looking.

I'm not advocating irresponsible skiing. Just pointing out that whooshing past people on an easy run is good for the ego.

In defence I always make sure if I am passing someone slower I pass well behind them, so there is room even if they make an unexpected turn. I've not hit anyone yet.

I fear that this post is making me look like an irresponsible kid (I'm very much neither of those things), but lets all understand that skiing cannot be risk-free and we all make mistakes.
Come on then! Shoot me down!

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Chris Bish, if the blue run in question is a bendy, narrowish trail through the woods then it's just probably not too good an idea to go fast. On nice wide cruisy blues however... snowHead

After all it is free

I got shouted at in French and then English by an ESF intructress (female instructor - right word?) when I was in a collision with a very small child. She just came whizzing at me! Now admittedly I didn't notice her but I was poling in a lift queue at the time rolling eyes

But according to her - it was still my fault Shocked

Dr Che, My point exactly. Folieres down to La Tania for example. An absolutely blissful run with good vis and plenty of room.

And talking of narrow trails how terrifying is that top bit of the left hand (from the top) run down Vallon? And that's red.

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maggi, you do seem to have been judged a little harshly there Laughing

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Have you ever been hit by a speeding skier?

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