Reminders of the importance of ski safety
I’m really fed up with hearing of out of control people hitting and injuring people. We have the Colorado Ski Safety Act, however I doubt most skiers know about it. There is no reason for these continual deaths of hitting trees. You are not allowed to drive without knowing the law so why is skiing different. I challenge Vail to do this. It’s time to license skiers. You can get a green, blue or black license. You must show the skills or take a lesson. Green license means you can only get on lifts that are green, and so on. More people need to be arrested for violating the Ski Safety Act. We can eliminate people taking friends on the mountain without skills and leaving them to fend for themselves. Properly initiated this will make skiing safer, which should lower insurance, which should lower the price of a lift ticket. Challenge Vail to do something really good for the industry. Do this plan and make the license free and be a leader in the industry. Skiing can be really safe if we want it to be
Bruce Cook
Breckenridge
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On Friday, Jan 18, an unidentified person was witnessed going under a rope along the edge of closed terrain at Loveland Basin. Shortly thereafter, other skiers came to a debris field at the bottom of this area and immediately reported an avalanche. Given the timing and witness report, there was a high index of probability someone may have been engulfed and we initiated a search. Our ski patrol, assisted by numerous guests, commenced avalanche transceiver and probe line searches and both our CRAD dog teams examined the area. Clear Creek County Dispatch was notified and the response from local agencies was impressive. Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Department, Clear Creek Alpine Rescue, Summit County Rescue Group and ski patrol with CRAD dog teams from Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Copper Mountain all responded. A thorough combing of the scene yielded no results and all agencies concurred that area was clear.
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This unfortunate incident serves as a reminder of the quantity of dedicated professionals we are blessed to have throughout our community.
Our heartfelt thank you goes out to all who came in time of need.
Rob Goodell
Senior VP and COO
Loveland Ski Area