The first quote seems to suggest that swimming is 15 times more dangerous than skiing/snowboarding. The second quote scales things back to a more reasonable 1.6 times as dangerous. But that still doesn’t take into account the likelihood that skiers suffer more serious non-fatal injuries than swimmers. Not too many broken legs or snapped ACLs in the swimming pool, I would have thought.
What’s trekking?
I’m just really sad about Richardson’s death. She seemed to have a really solid marriage and family. And she was such a gifted and beautiful actress.
You just never know when today is going to be your last…
I had my nose broken by a midget named Pigg while swimming laps in a pool (he got it in his head to swim across the pool and surfaced from underneath me.
Leg and acl injuries are few and far between for recreational skiers these days due to improvements in release bindings. ACL injuries are not uncommon for racers and high end skiers. I am not aware of any similar injury problems for competitive or high end swimmers. My best guess is that wofuks, be they swimmers diving into a murky shallow pond head first, or skiers tucking down a run out of control, will tend to kill themselves out of all proportion to other skiers and swimmers. Folks who take reasonable precautions in both activities will usually not be harmed. People who are not reckless but also are not particulalry aware of the risks of what they are doing are probably better protected by equipment in skiing than are swimmers outside of pools and supervised swimming areas, but once skiers venture out of ski areas, their risk increases significantly, so I have to wonder if the risk to swimmers being higher than the risk to skiers is simply a reflection of how skiers tend to ski in-bounds at ski areas, whereas swimmers tend to swim just about anywhere, be it a supervised area or not. At the elite level, skiers will have a significantly higher injury rate than swimmers. Just my best guess though.
Apparently she was taking a lesson on a beginner slope when she fell, there was no collision with anyone or anything, and she did not take a hard fall.
For folks who are not familiar with skiing, this sort of fall would be similar to falling while walking on a sandy beach.
That makes me wonder if she may have had some sort of pre-existing condition, or if it was a truly freak accident in how an otherwise gentle fall hurt part of her body.
In any event, it is a terrible thing for her and for her family.
Hiking.
Sampiro - The best way to tell you what’s special about skiing is for you to get up here sometime between mid-December and mid-March. We’ll have a skiing dopefest, preferrably in or around Ottawa, Québec or Montréal, but Collingwood, Sault Ste. Marie or Thunder Bay would do nicely also. Come to that, Banff (near Calgary), Jasper (no so near Edmonton) or Vancouver have longer seasons, but I wouldn’t recommend them anywhere near as much for an absolute beginner.
It’s the combination of speed and control, the grace, the occasional jumps, the surprising exertion (you wouldn’t think it would take that much muscle to go downhill, but it does. Ohh, it does!), the smell of the fresh air, the taste of the food (even the overpriced shit in the food court tastes like cordon bleu - hunger and exercise are truly the best condiments!).
When I ski, there is a roar in my ears like an ocean, and it is the cry of my heart. It is as though my soul is a ship, and every beat of my heart is a joyful shanty. I feel like my heart will burst, and I soar like an infinite melody over hissing of the snow. How is it possible that this feeling can be sustained, and yet, it is.
That’s a pale intimation of the feeling. Whitman might have been able to nail it; I can only aspire to it. And I can only imagine what it must feel like to be an olympic skier trying to shave hundredths of seconds off a run, or trying new acrobatics in the half pipe, or trying to squeeze just another foot off the jump before gravity’s harsh embrace scolds you as a mother scolds an errant child for daring too much…
Must the spring come so soon?
Well, that’s a simplification really. You could certainly slip while skiing and whack your head greatly. The snow conditions at this time of year shouldn’t have caused any problems, i.e. no ice.
However, it certainly would be possible to slip and whack your head similar to falling on a slippery driveway, etc.
A driveway is one heck of a lot harder of a surface than a typical Tremblant beginner slope in mid-March.
Unless you hit ice. Unless you hit your own ski. Unless you hit … well, who knows really?
A flock of little kids. (When I was teaching a fellow in his 80s how to ski, a group of little kids hovered about him, so that every time he was about to tip over, one or more of them would dive to the ground under him so that he would land on them rather than the snow. Obviously it didn’t help at all, but everyone had a blast.)
Considering the dynamics of each sport/activity, for example in the case of swimming versus skiing, skiing all things considered is pretty darn safe. Who here hasn’t had a near drown in a pool as a kid? Hit themselves against the side of a pool? Swimming in the ocean - can be very dangerous. Roughhousing pool side someone slips, etc etc.
All this reflects something very simple. If you “swim” under safety guidelines, the odds of being injured or dying, are slim to none. If you go skiing and obey the rules and advisories, the odds of being injured or dying are slim. You could hurt your ankle, fall, etc - but not much worse than say, playing tennis (I played a lot of tennis in my time, and boy can it be dangerous).
To rehash my earlier point: any activity, including taking a shower, if done the wrong way, can be dangerous and lethal. Skiing, considering the lifts, the speed, the trees, etc - is pretty darn safe.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090319.RICHARDSON19/TPStory/National : “She showed really no visible sign of injury and she was talking and showed absolutely no sign of confusion,” Ms. Lortie said. “It was right in the middle of the slope so she didn’t hit anyone or a tree. It was a fall as anyone can do. It wasn’t a violent fall at all.”
The article also notes that she was not wearing a helmet.
Epidural hematoma or cerebral aneurysm perhaps? If the former, a very great pity that she was not wearing a helmet.
Cross-country or downhill?
I’ve done both. Cross-country is more fun, since you can do it anywhere, it costs far less, and it’s better exercise. It’s also far more safe; you’d need to work pretty damn hard at it to get anything that puts you in the hospital. The classic “skiier’s broken leg” is impossible*.
Downhill is OK, but only fun when there’s no one else on the slopes and you don’t have to wait for a lift.
*Different boots. The downhill skiers break their legs because the boot immobilizes the ankle. If you hit something and the boot doesn’t release properly, it’s in the proper position to break both tibia and fibula. Cross-country boots are designed more like sneakers, ending below the ankle. The boot doesn’t have a quick release, but there’s much greater range of motion (the heel, for instance, does not attach to the ski – just the toe).
What’s the appeal?
A picture is worth a thousand words
But here’s a few words anyways. I ski inbounds and out of bounds; telemark, backcountry, and cross country; mid-winter frozen and spring corn harvest; big mountains and tiny hills, deep powder and New England hardpack; and I rarely have a day where I don’t end up smiling from ear-to-ear at some point. That’s why I ski.
I’m pretty much surrounded by world class ski areas. Heck, I drive under the gondola at Breckenridge every day (it goes over the road).
I don’t ski. I used to tele. But never did get very good at it. I took lessons and the whole shebang. Turns out that I just don’t enjoy it. It’s really kind of a shame.
I cross country ski once in a while. My snow shoes are more for practical purposes than for exercise.
I would much rather scuba dive or dirt bike. I got all the snow I need right out my front door.
When done properly it really is a bit of an artform. The basics are easy enough to master but getting to the point where you’re in control no matter what speed, terrain or conditions may exist can require years of practice and a good bit of athletic skill. When you get to that point and work symbiotically with the slope and gravity to beautifully carve your way down a mountain making perfect cuts, absorbing the moguls and winding through trees, well, there’s nothing quite so satisfying to so many of your senses. Ski mountaineering, cross country, downhill, I hope I can still participate in them all when I’m too old even for golf.
I think humans are natural “thrill junkies”. For most, “going fast” is thrilling. Be it the mere sensation of going fast, or that there is an element of danger in going faster than you regularly travel. Many activities from rollercoasters to flying to simply driving attest to this appeal to go fast.
So add “going fast” with “little or minimal body protection” (you have no car surrounding you, yet you are doing car speeds). Which, in most circumstances, would be considered “extremely dangerous” or even “crazy” (think street luge). But now add “in a forgiving enviroment”. Yes, snow is a very forgiving media (ice, not so much, but snow, yes). I think it would be safe to say that every skier has fallen multiple times. And probably 99% of the time, the skier has dusted himself off, popped on his skis, and continued. There aren’t many “media” that allow you to “go fast” with minimal body protection, and recover fully from lots of falls. And this is what skiing allows.
Put simply:
skiing = going fast + with minimal body protection + in a forgiving enviroment
And that equates to (relatively) safe fun !
So that’s just for starters. Now add:
- typically in very scenic, mountain locales
- gravity and chair lifts do most of the work (although skiing does require some physical effort)
- ski bunnies
- paying $8 for a mediocre, cold cheeseburger at the lodge…oops
Yes, people break their legs (although I would guess this has dropped significantly as equipment has improved) and even die. But I would guess that statistically it is “safer” than driving your car. 1000’s of people go skiing all the time, and take lots of falls, and come home with happy memories of the trip.
Because tear-assing down a mountain is a lot of fun.
I mean why does anyone do anything potentially dangerous? You have to die from something and I’d rather it not be from diabetes from weighing 800 lbs because I spent my life watching TV and sitting on the couch. It’s a calculated risk. The way you mitigate that risk is you learn how to ski with control and only go on slopes you can handle.
Richardson’s case is unusual in that it was such a relatively minor fall and probably points to a pre-existing condition.
Wearing cute sweaters, watching boys in cute sweaters, drinking hot chocolate and whiskey sitting on a really comfortable leather armchair in front of a roaring fire on a cold day, what’s not to like?
I hear some people also like going down hills or something, but to each his own.
applause
I’m not a skier, I’ve been snowboarding since 1988 but this is one of the best descriptions I’ve read to answer “why?”. Bravo!
MeanJoe