 Poster: A snowHead
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A 63-year-old skier involved in a collision at Hinterstoder (Austria) is said to have almost lost his life by choking on his dentures. In addition, he suffered numerous fractures.
This report (in English) from Wiener Zeitung
The FIS (International Ski Federation) code is worth quoting, apart from the well-known rule that the skier above/behind is almost always responsible for avoiding the skier below (except if the skier below turned uphill or set off without looking up the slope):
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[From FIS '10 Rules for Conduct']
Rule 10. Every skier or snowboarder and witness, whether a responsible party or not, must exchange names and addresses following an accident.
[FIS comment on Rule 10]
Witnesses are of great value in establishing a full and proper report of an accident and therefore everybody must consider that it is the duty as a responsible person to provide information as a witness.
Reports of the rescue service and of the police as well as photographs are of considerable assistance in determining civil and criminal liability |
Have you been involved a witness of a ski collision, to the extent that a statement's been requested?
Of course, the incident above might not have been independently witnessed at all. Sadly, in that event, it's frequently impossible to determine which skier was responsible, because the injury evidence (or any other forensic detail) doesn't normally prove who was higher on the slope.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It also suggests that it's probably a good idea to remove dentures or other dental appliances that are not firmly or permanently fixed in place when you are skiing or engaged in sporting activities with risk of impact. I know that jockeys generally remove any fake teeth or bridges if they are not permanently affixed, and I suspect that ski-racers would do the same.
Whether or not the other person was at fault here, accidents do happen on the ski slope and you don't want to risk choking (or for that matter breaking) on your dentures/bridge.
Kate
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Lord above... of all the ways to go, choking on ones dentures has to be low on the list... 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The issue is less who is at fault for the initial collision and more that the other skier left the scene.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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David Goldsmith, an interesting post and I presume an issue which has been explored elsewhere. I was involved in a collision on the slopes at Lech. A so called "independent "witness reckoned it was a case of 50/50 and initially there was a worry that the other party might have been concussed and so it was suggested that names, addresses and insurance details be exchanged. A few minutes later the other party was fine to ski on and so no information was exchanged.
If the accident had been more serious and liability could have been determined, and perhaps even admitted, what would have been the consequence? Apart from civil or criminal proceedings, are we talking about circumstances similar to a road traffic accident? If so, are insurance policies designed to recover costs from people who cause harm to others through careless behaviour or worse? Any scope for no claims bonuses......?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Colin Bell, I suppose it would be considered rather like a car crash, although apportioning blame in an area in which lawyers and courts have little or no experience might be tricky, and I suspect that there would be an attitude of, 'It's a sport, what do you expect?', which might make it difficult to get an award unless one party was behaving ridiculously (personally, I'd hope for that attitude).
My travel insurance includes public liability insurance, which would presumably cover an award against me for a ski crash (up to the limit).
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When I was working as a ski expert witness quite a number of collision cases were put my way to report on. The ones with independent witnesses (obviously a court might regard a friend/relative of an injured skier as less reliable, though that was for the Judge to decide, not me) could be more easily resolved than those with no witness other than the two skiers.
It's not as simple as a car shunt. If cars collide there's usually one car with self-evident damage to the front and another with the opposite. Skiers don't usually show comparable forensic evidence on their bodies.
In the above, the man reportedly has received impact to his mouth and several broken bones, but that would not necessarily indicate the directional impact causing them.
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On a recent trip one of my friends got separated from the rest of her group towards the end of the day at the top of the mountain. Whilst slowly skiing down to find them she was hit at speed from behind, thrown up in the air, landing injuring her back and head (no helmet). The woman who hit her was OK, they were then joined by a man who identified himself as the other womans instructor, pointed to a nearby restaurant and told my friend, who could not stand up at this point, to go to it. They both then skied off down the slope leaving her stranded and injured. The rest of the group could not find her and thinking that she had gone ahead went down themselves. She eventually contacted, by mobile phone, the ski instructor, George, who they had been having lessons off earlier in the day and who had finished work for the day. George came back up the mountain and arranged for her to get back down. Fotunately there were no broken bones just a bit of cuncussion and some physio bills when she got back home. Unfortunately she could not identify the woman who hit her or the insturctor. There are some right b@st@rds about.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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On a slightly different note, has anyone ever seen an accident where the resort might be in some way to blame? Not really interested in apportioning blame for the sake of it, or in naming and shaming, but friends of mine witnessed an accident last week, which having looked at the location, might possibly have been avoided if a halfpipe type structure (not in an official park) had either not been allowed to form, or not been built, right at the junction of a skiweg and a main piste.
What happened was a kid lost control and ejected himself from the halfpipe, flew through the air and hit slow travelling skier on skiweg, the halfpipe was in the 'V' between the Skiweg and the piste, above the junction. Cue helicopter and closed piste for almost half a day, so it looked like bad news for those concerned .
Don't know how the halfpipe got there in the first place, but it seemed like a unwise location at an already hazardous junction, with slow moving traffic meeting faster moving traffic on one of the main 'arteries' of the area.
D
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| richmond wrote: |
My travel insurance includes public liability insurance, which would presumably cover an award against me for a ski crash (up to the limit). |
For those that just assume that their travel policy includes public liability, make sure you check it out because whilst all policies include liability cover for standard holidays, some exclude liability under their winter sports section. I changed my policy last year for that very reason.
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