Safety awareness campaigns try to reduce skiing, snowboarding injuries

This is a biweekly column about all things skiing and snowboarding in New England.

A push to remind skiers and snowboards to show fellow athletes a little courtesy, give them a little space and to be aware of their own limitations ended in January, but everyone is hoping the message stays through the end of the season.

Traditionally, National Ski Safety Month is celebrated in January but in the past few years especially there has been a bigger focus on injury prevention.

National Ski Areas Association statistics show catastrophic injuries or deaths are still rare, but the number has ticked up over the past five years, even when taking into account the number of visits has increased. During the last season, 63 people died or suffered catastrophic injuries such as full or partial paralysis or severe head trauma, which was a rate of 1.02 skiers and riders per 1 million skier visits.

The lowest rate in a 10-year-period was recorded in the 2018-2019 season, when there were 0.52 deaths or severe injuries per 1 million skiers, followed by the 2016-2017 season with 32 deaths or severe injuries, or 0.58 per 1 million skiers.

“I think it is really the ski areas stepping up. One collision resulting in a death is one too many,” said Melody Nester, assistant director of Ski New Hampshire, talking about the additional awareness about safety.

January is also considered the start of the ski season and learn to ski and ride month so that fits in perfectly with safety awareness, said Bryan Rivard, communications director for Vermont Ski Areas Association.

While a lot of the focus is about preventing collisions the message goes much farther. It is about making sure people take steps to prevent injuring themselves by not skiing or riding far above their ability, moving so fast they are out of control and cannot stop and even little things like taking care to prevent frostbite, Nester said.

“One of the best things is if you are a beginner is to take a lesson,” she said, adding instructors do go over the code and give people other tips to keep them safe such as gradually graduating to more difficult trails so they don’t end up in a spot they don’t have the ability to navigate.

In 2022, the National Ski Areas Association modernized the responsibility code that was first created in 1962 and has been revised periodically. The updated advisory was expanded from seven to 10 points, adding recommendations to not ski or ride when impaired by drugs or alcohol and to share contact information if involved in a collision. Another one was divided into two points.

Some of the basics remain in place, including staying in control, always look uphill before starting to avoid cutting off people coming downhill. It also reminds skiers and riders those downhill always have the right of way.

But there is also a new and simpler code called the Triangle of Safety with each side marked Speed, Self and Safety. That reminds people to keep speed under control and leave plenty of space between other people. The third is basically a self-check to call it a day or take a break if tired or not feeling well, said Rivard.

“When you give people a block of text, we know they are probably not going to read it,” he said, explaining why the simplified triangle works.

Years ago, the safety code was printed on the back of every ticket and on many ski cafeteria napkins. Now it is harder to reach people since more tickets are RFID cards stuck in pockets.

Ski areas are coming up with new ways to reinforce the rules. Sugarbush in Vermont, for example, has posted different parts of the code on lift towers so people will read it when on the lift. Bretton Woods and Attitash, both in New Hampshire, have posted the code on trails and others have placed signs in lift lines.

Both New Hampshire and Vermont have also partnered with the Snow Angel Foundation, which promotes ski safety through personal messages. Chauncy and Kelli Johnson visit schools and ski areas telling how their 5-year-old daughter was killed when a snowboarder speeding down a slope at about 50 mph slammed into her and her mother. Kelli Johnson also suffers from lasting injuries from the collision.

Those stories often hit home and help even more than reading the responsibility code. Rivard said Ski Vermont also tries to enlist race teams as ambassadors of safety.

“We tell them they are looked up to and they are on stage so it is important how they approach safety,” he said.

Helmets are now a recommended piece of safety equipment and most wear them, with usage increasing from some 25% of people in 2003 to 90% of people in 2024. People must to realize they may reduce or prevent an injury in a slow-speed crash but have limitations, especially in a high-speed crash with another person or an object.

Multiple studies show a helmet will protect a skier’s head if they are moving up to 12 mph, the flaw is most people ski or ride faster than that. The idea is helmets should be considered a tool in the effort to make skiing and riding safer but they should not be worn in lieu of skiing in control and following other guidelines, officials said.

In other ski news:

With the Olympics kicking off this weekend there are two women racers with local ties to watch. Phenom Mikaela Shiffrin, who has family ties to Lanesboro, will be competing in the slalom, giant slalom and team combined this year.

Her teammate Paula Moltzan will also compete in the three races. Moltzan grew up in Minnesota, has ties to the Berkshires having worked as a nanny to the Schaefer family who own Berkshire East. Her husband Ryan Mooney, a full-time ski tech for the U.S. Ski Team, grew up in Charlemont where his family runs a whitewater rafting business.

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