Skier safety

unedited 12/08 tahoe mt. news

Even though it doesn’t snow in Sacramento, lawmakers are keeping an eye on what’s happening at ski resorts in the state.
Information was gathered Nov. 12 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee to see if lawmakers should do more about skier safety. Ski-snowboard safety advocates, medical experts, snow sport victims and family members, and members of California Ski and Snowboard Safety Organization testified.
“My sister, Olga, was an average skier, not reckless at all,” Julia Kozberg said in a statement about her sister who died. “Olga was skiing down a hill at Heavenly Ski Resort earlier this year when she picked up a little too much speed because the run proved to be a little slick and steep. She tried to steer off to the side, but where the run split, instead were heaps of snow, trees and boulders that were not visible at all from the run. There were no signs warning her and no netting or padding cordoning off the tree well with rocks.”
A White Paper was presented to the committee by the SnowSport Safety Foundation, an arm of CSSSO. It mentioned how warning signs and devices vary from resort to resort; the lack of industry standards about when and where to use warning signs and devices; more congestion on the slopes results in more collisions; and resort guidelines for safety typically are only on the skier’s code of responsibility on lift tickets.
For more information, visit www.calskisafety.org.