Wolf Creek Fatality

[beaterdit]

Bad news in SoCo.

Thoughts are with his family and rescuers. I've been on these scenes before, it's tough for everyone involved.

Though the kid wasn't really representative of the skiers and boarders here, it's still a good reminder to be careful out there.

Skier dies after hitting tree at Wolf Creek
Helmet failed to prevent death

January 3, 2008
By Chuck Slothower | Herald Staff Writer

A 15-year-old skier from Oklahoma died Friday at Wolf Creek Ski Area after smashing into a tree.

Mitchell Maltsberger of Oologah, Okla., apparently suffered head and neck injuries, though results of an autopsy were not yet available Wednesday, said Mineral County Sheriff Fred Hosselkus.

The skier was wearing a helmet, Hosselkus said.

Maltsberger was on a ski trip with family and friends. A high school sophomore, Maltsberger was to be a groomsman in his sister's wedding this week, the Tulsa World reported.

Maltsberger hit a tree on Silver Streak, said Hosselkus. Silver Streak is a "blue" run of moderate difficulty. It begins off the Treasure Chair at more than 11,000 feet elevation.

Hosselkus said it was the first ski-related death at Wolf Creek he could remember in a decade of working in Mineral County. Wolf Creek Ski Area owner Davey Pitcher could not be reached Wednesday.

Two trauma deaths have occurred at Durango Mountain Resort in the last 10 years, said spokeswoman Loryn Kasten. Neither of the deaths occurred in the last five years, she said.

Nationally, about 37 skiers and snowboarders have died per year over the last decade, according to the National Ski Areas Association.

During the 2006-07 season, 22 skiers and snowboarders died. Eighteen were skiers, two were snowboarders, and in two cases the equipment used was reported as unknown. Seventeen of the 22 skiing fatalities were males.

U.S. ski areas reported 55.1 million visits in 2006-07.

The National Ski Areas Association reports that the increasing use of helmets among skiers and snowboarders has reduced the overall rate of head injuries, but it has not affected the fatality rate.

No significant reduction in fatalities has occurred over the last nine seasons - even as the use of helmets has increased to more than 33 percent, the association reported.

Helmets have proved most successful at reducing the incidence of the least serious head injuries, such as mild concussions, scalp lacerations and head contusions, the association reported. Helmets reduce the incidence of any head injury by 30 percent to 50 percent, the NSAA said.

Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., conducted research that found fatalities were most likely to occur on wide, smooth and well-groomed intermediate-level "blue" trails.

[hutash]

Bummer. We have seen too many deaths already this season. Please be careful out there.

[Big E]

Very sad.

Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., conducted research that found fatalities were most likely to occur on wide, smooth and well-groomed intermediate-level "blue" trails.

This is an interesting finding. Doesn't make sense. I guess those groomers are just wide enough and steep enough that not-so-skilled folks get going much faster than they realize, and can't dump their speed or turn well enough to avoid obstacles? Maybe on the harder slopes, those same people are gripped enough that even when they finally give it a go, they are so cautious that they don't get going fast enough to do fatal damage.

[pappag]

Sad story.



What stuck out in the article is that 1 in 2,500,000 died while skiing/snowboarding last year.

[Bart T]

There are way more blue square groomers than black and green combined, so it doesn't surprise me that that's where most of the accidents are.

This is an interesting finding. Doesn't make sense. I guess those groomers are just wide enough and steep enough that not-so-skilled folks get going much faster than they realize, and can't dump their speed or turn well enough to avoid obstacles? Maybe on the harder slopes, those same people are gripped enough that even when they finally give it a go, they are so cautious that they don't get going fast enough to do fatal damage.

[Lurch]

There are way more blue square groomers than black and green combined, so it doesn't surprise me that that's where most of the accidents are.

That and it's the first place a beginner will get enough speed to kill them self.

[Benny Profane]

Very sad.



This is an interesting finding. Doesn't make sense. I guess those groomers are just wide enough and steep enough that not-so-skilled folks get going much faster than they realize, and can't dump their speed or turn well enough to avoid obstacles? Maybe on the harder slopes, those same people are gripped enough that even when they finally give it a go, they are so cautious that they don't get going fast enough to do fatal damage.

Pretty much. And, think about it, where do you hit mach speed most out there? On a blue getting back to the chair. Probably not concentrating as much, either....

[Tye 1on]

crap, that sucks. I really liked Wolf Creek, and you're right, this kinda thing is really rough on the whole crew...

[jrbd]

Other studies have shown that the most common fatal accident involves a male, intermediate, 30-ish skier/rider who crashes while going fast on a blue run and strikes a fixed obstacle. The lesson to learn: don't ski fast if you don't have room to crash.

[Particle]

Doesn't make sense. I guess those groomers are just wide enough and steep enough that not-so-skilled folks get going much faster than they realize, and can't dump their speed or turn well enough to avoid obstacles? Maybe on the harder slopes, those same people are gripped enough that even when they finally give it a go, they are so cautious that they don't get going fast enough to do fatal damage.

Makes perfect sense. Expert skiers are lulled into complacency going 50mph down blue groomers...intermediates get going faster than they realize...bad shit happens at 50mph when you stop instantly (tree, lift tower, rock).

[Big E]

Makes perfect sense...

Yeah, I pretty much talked myself into it, just forgot to edit out my first thought...

[klaxed]

Very sad.

This is an interesting finding. Doesn't make sense. I guess those groomers are just wide enough and steep enough that not-so-skilled folks get going much faster than they realize, and can't dump their speed or turn well enough to avoid obstacles? Maybe on the harder slopes, those same people are gripped enough that even when they finally give it a go, they are so cautious that they don't get going fast enough to do fatal damage.

That makes sense though. I have experienced the being very careful at what I am doing on a sketchy slope. It seems when the pucker factor of the run or section of the run increases, the slower you go.

[jon turner]

Another fatality in Colorado today at Breckenridge:

This sucks. Too many ski related deaths already this year.

11-year-old dies skiing at Breckenridge

BRECKENRIDGE — An 11-year-old boy from the United Kingdom was pronounced dead at the Breckenridge Medical Center Thursday after a ski incident on the blue intermediate trail, Bonanza, on Peak 9 at Breckenridge Ski Resort.

A call came into Breckenridge Ski Patrol at approximately 9:31 a.m. and ski patrol responded immediately, according to a press release from the resort’s communications office.

Also included in the release:

• Ski patrol provided life support and transported the patient to the Breckenridge Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The skier was wearing a helmet at the time of the incident.

• Breckenridge Ski Resort, the Breckenridge Ski Patrol and the Vail Resorts family extend their deepest sympathy and support to all of his the family and friends.

The coroner will release more details once next of kin has been notified, Coroner Joanne Richardson said.

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

Makes perfect sense. Expert skiers are lulled into complacency going 50mph down blue groomers...intermediates get going faster than they realize...bad shit happens at 50mph when you stop instantly (tree, lift tower, rock).

This exact thing happened to a ski instructor at Snowmass a year or two ago in the Big Burn area, the worlds widest groomer. He somehow caught an edge and hit a tree with his head and that was all she wrote.

[FrankZappa]

This exact thing happened to a ski instructor at Snowmass a year or two ago in the Big Burn area, the worlds widest groomer. He somehow caught an edge and hit a tree with his head and that was all she wrote.

Biggest baseball slide I ever did was on the BB. Musta been 200-300 yds long. It's spooky headin for a tower layin down at 50 mpg, scramblin to spin around to set a lil edge to get by it.

[pechelman]

Another fatality in Colorado today at Breckenridge:

This sucks. Too many ski related deaths already this year.

11-year-old dies skiing at Breckenridge

just heard this on the radio

[Munch]

horrible news...absolutely terrible

[Tips^Up]

one in breck today too? anybody have any info?

[StroupSkier]

They also had another kid who has a spine injury with a possible broken neck today at Breck. Not a good day for them.

[jon turner]

one in breck today too? anybody have any info?

Click on the link to the Summit Daily article posted above.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I think we've learned from this, that flat-landers shouldn't ski.

[SkiOrDie]

I really think that the increase in deaths on Blue runs is directly correlated to the significant increase in groomed runs. I am going to sound like the old fart I am now: but, when I was younger very few of the blue runs were groomed. As a result, when you got going fast you crashed on a bump. Now, with wide open groomed runs, like the Big Burn and almost every run at Dear Valley, folks are flying along at 50+ MPH without a care in the world, until they hit something.

I certainly enjoy carving groomers and flying - but, it's clear to me that I've got WAY more speed than I would have ever carried in past years and that I'm going way way WAY faster than I ski black runs. Bumps slow you down. As a result, I would respectfully suggest that ski areas would serve their customer better by leaving a few bumps in those runs, saving massive amounts of fuel that they currently burn grooming runs, and saving some lives and a lot of injuries.

I'm certain no one will actually do this - but, there is certainly a moral case for including just enough bumps to keep the speed down to something reasonable. All you have to do is be one of the first folks down Ball Room at Alta on a hard fast morning to understand exactly what I'm talking about - I've been passed when I was doing 60 by a young man who was splattered all over Corkscrew a few minutes later.

Be safe.... skiing is an endurance sport not a sprint... the finish line is your 85th birthday not the end of the run.

[BigDaddy]

Very sad stuff. Who hasn't been bombing a groomer, caught an edge and gone down hard? I should be dead after taking a dive head first off Wildfire at Kmart. I caught an edge, saved it, then relaxed and caught it again. All I saw were trees whizzing by my head at 50 mph and then I was barely able to dig in my elbow are veer past a sure hit. I swore off trail edge bombing after that... tree skiing, now that's another story!

[Benny Profane]

I once watched someone slide 85% of the distance of Outer Limits after it was nicely flattened and frozen. It was not a nice thing to watch. But he lived.

[lifts4turns]

I agree that its entirely a speed factor. I've seen people who cannot control themselves at all but it feels safe and easy to go way too fast on a properly groomed run. IMO it isn't in anyway the fault of the ski hill but rather the recklessness of the skier (notice a trend of teen/preteen boys?)


That being said we all have our embarrassing stories about crashing at mach 3 on a groomer... I caught an edge skiing mens downhill at Louise a few years back. It was about 2 turns into the steeper section and I super man slide down to the flatter merge. Thinking back its more of a miracle I didn't dislocate my shoulder or break my wrist than anything else.