Resorts Tout Skiing Safety

Jan. 19 -- Statistically speaking, skiing and snowboarding are no more dangerous thanother high-energy sports. In fact, they're actually safer than some.

Skiing and snowboarding, for example, saw about .82 fatalities per million participation days in 2000. That compares to a reported .61 for swimming, .31 for cycling and 4.0 for recreational scuba diving, in 1999, the most recent year available.

Still, skiing and snowboarding of course carry some risks—and the skiindustry is working to educate skiers in an effort to reduce them. Witnessprograms such as Vail's Yellow Jacket program, in which yellow-jacketedstaff tell skiers and riders about the skier responsibility code. (See linkin skiing tips, above left.)

From Jan. 19-25, the National Ski Areas Association is sponsoring NationalSafety Week. Resorts across the nation are holding a variety of high profile eventsto remind skiers of the need to ski and snowboard responsibly.

Heads Up!

The safety campaign, being called "Heads Up!" has activities for skiers of all ages and abilities. That includes contests to design safety posters, prominent posting of the skierresponsibility code, playing of videos about skiing responsibly, and otherevents at many resorts.

Younger skiers can also ski with resort safety mascots. For example, staff dressed up as Tuga the Turtle, the safety mascot for Alpine Meadows Resort in Lake Tahoe. And they can answer trivia questions from those mascots about safety.

Vail resort in Colorado is teaming up with the local sheriff'sdepartment, using radar guns to clock the speed of skiers. Itsinstructors will give skiers and boarders a free two-minute ski or snowboardtip. Many resorts have scheduled terrain park safety clinics, avalanche dogdemonstrations and backcountry skiing safety clinics. Others resorts arehosting sports medicine clinics.

Prevention is a major part of safety, and that often means staying fit andmaintaining equipment properly. Michigan's Crystal Mountain Resort isoffering discounts on safety tune-ups to those who can correctly name two ofthe seven responsibility codes. (To help skiers, Crystal is printing onecode each day on its lift tickets).