Head Injuries, Getting Lessons & Don’t Ride Alone

Then there’s head injury. Snow is not always as soft as you expect. “We encourage the use of helmets”, says Peter. “I went to help a guy who’d smashed his head against a rock buried just below the snow. It wasn’t a bad injury, it required stitches, but if he’d been wearing a helmet I wouldn’t have been there at all.”

His best tip for staying safe is “ski, or board, to your ability, and read the Alpine Responsibility Code. It’s common sense, but it’s surprising how many people leave that behind when they get on the snow.”

The statistics prove the best way to improve your ability quickly is to get a lesson. There’s an added benefit, the incidence of injury declines dramatically with experience, so sign up at the ski school now.

The other golden rule of snow safety: never ski alone. If you’re injured, your partner can go for help. Get them to ski down to the nearest lift and ask the operator to call ski patrol. They have radios with a direct link.

Just remember where your injured buddy is, so you can give precise directions to the location.

“Remember the name of the trail you’re on. You need to be able to cross reference your location. All the lift towers have a number, look around for the nearest one”, says Peter.

“If we know exactly where they are we can get there in two minutes, but we often waste a lot of time trying to find the injured skier because of bad directions”.