To Live (and Die) on the Mountain

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men
as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer
in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

–Helen Keller

Peering over the precipice, externalities dissipate, the corners fade, consciousness unravels, connecting to a familiar: the continuous space from whence we came and to which we shall invariably return. Is the skier’s objective to reach the bottom of the mountain? No, the skier’s objective is to live.

But while that may be, each year, this sport claims lives. And with that we leave you with these statistics lifted from unofficialnetworks.com (who lifted them from the denverpost.com) to better illustrate some of the statistical risks of skiing at the resorts.

• Men account for more than 80 percent of ski deaths in Colorado. The average person to die on skis is a male of 37, wearing a helmet who loses control on an intermediate run and hits a tree.

• Researchers at Johns Hopkins estimates that around 600,000 people nationally are injured each year while skiing and snowboarding.

• Last season out of 51 million ski visits, 54 skiers and snowboarders died at ski areas within the U.S.

• The majority of deaths — 54 percent — occurred on blue, groomed runs, while 31 percent were on expert trails.

• The increase in the number of people who wear helmets hasn’t resulted in fewer fatalities. Helmets are designed to protect riders at about 12 mph, while a skier or snowboarder who collides with a tree or another rider is typically going 25 to 40 mph.

• Estimates are that about two injuries occur per 1,000 skier visits  — a decrease of 50 percent since the mid-1970s.