38 replies to this topic

[skiboardwa]

Recently I saw Snoqualmie pass required some park pass for their terrain park...
Did they make this decision because of injurys or something.


http://summitatsnoqu...k_etiquette.asp

[Peter]

They made it because they had a $22 million dollar judgement against them last year. Stevens did the same thing. They require you to watch a 20-minute video to get the pass and Stevens charges $5.

This post has been edited by Skier: 22 January 2008 - 09:53 PM

[SkiBachelor]

It probably won't be long until you have to watch a video on how to ski properly down a run. I think there is a lawsuit in the works against Vail Resorts after a child hit a tree at Breckenridge because a run wasn't properly groomed...

[Peter]

It really is unfortunate that there is so little personal responsibility in the people who file these lawsuits.

[liftmech]

'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.'
-Wm. Shakespeare

[Peter]

How about kill the people who hire the lawyers to pick their fights?

[k2skier]

Is this the first time a US ski area has been sued because of a Park injury?

This is a time bomb waiting to go off, IMO. In the (very, very sad) day and age of zero accountability and litigation hungry attorneys, I think things will change even more soon.

Back in the early eighties, we'd pick a black slope, off to the side, and build a little kicker. If ski patrol saw it they would flatten it immediately! Now resorts are build jumps big enough to cause serious injury.

[SkiBachelor]

The government needs to step in and lay down rules because people aren't taking accountability for their own actions.

Why hasn't anyone tried to go after the ski manufacturers, saying that their skis did not respond quick enough when they tried turning or that their goggles got fogged up while skiing and so they hit a tree?

[Peter]

Crystal Mountain is the only major ski area that I know of with no terrain park. Now I bet they are glad they never built much of one.

[Snoqualmie guy]

Snoqualmie's park pass is free and only takes about 15 minutes. The movie that is shown was filmed last summer at Timberline I think. I just got mine last week.

[CH3skier]

Skier, on Jan 23 2008, 03:24 PM, said:

Crystal Mountain is the only major ski area that I know of with no terrain park. Now I bet they are glad they never built much of one.

Alta no longer offers one. They did have one off of Sunny side up until a couple of years ago.

[floridaskier]

Deer Valley used to have a small one off Little Chief, but they didn't build it this year, and Little Chief is never open anyway

It's interesting what Snowbird says on their site about now having the terrain park in the Baby Thunder area anymore
http://www.snowbird....pipe/index.html

[Peter]

The Resorts of the Canadian Rockies dropped terrain parks in all of their resorts this year. They will have small rails available, but no jumps whatsoever.

TERRAIN PARK Q & A


1. Is RCR going to have Terrain Parks this season?
RCR will be offering a quality Rail and Box Park program for the 2007/08 season, however we will not have man-made Big Air features in our parks. Please visit each of our resort web pages for details on the park of your choice. Significant investments have been made in all of our parks for the upcoming season.


2. Why eliminate man-made Big Air features?
This decision was based on our commitment to provide our guests with a safe experience at our mountains, and to avoid the inappropriate use of these jumps. While we cannot control natural hazards at our resorts, RCR chooses to not expose our valued guests, skilled or otherwise, to the air time involved in the use of man-made snow jumps.


3. Why not use a controlled access program?
For the 2007/08 season, our parks will have controlled access. Visitors to our rail and box parks will need to acquire a season access pass, available at all resort Guest Services for a nominal cost of $5 per person. (You will receive a season access pass and a $5 certificate good for redemption at our Slopeside Coffee Bars).
CLICK HERE for more info on the RCR Park Access Pass.


4. Why did it take so long to make the decision?
This was not an easy or quick decision to make. Input was collected from throughout the company. Details were released to the public as soon as they were confirmed and finalized.


5. Will there be events in the parks this year?
Skiers and riders can look forward to an RCR Rail Jam Series that will be happening at all of our Resorts this season. Please visit the events calendar at www.skircr.com/events for more details.

This post has been edited by Skier: 23 January 2008 - 05:51 PM

[skier691]

Skier, on Jan 23 2008, 12:53 AM, said:

They made it because they had a $22 million dollar judgement against them last year.

yes on the judgement, wrong on the amount

Several Northern MI areas (but not our park) also have either totally elimated or scaled down their jump program in the parks
I would think that videos, park passes, and helmets will be required at some point at most/ or all areas in order to usse the parks

[Peter]

Sorry, $14 million is the correct figure.

[zeedotcom]

The total judgment, I believe, was actually significantly higher, but when the percentage of responsibility was assigned, only 14 million was against the area and the remainder was against the rider.

There is actually a law before committee in the Michigan Legislature right now that would require use of helmets by ALL participants in ALL areas of ALL resorts under the threat of a civil fine.

Someone should point out that you can't legislate intelligence. Does anybody know stats (if any exist) on sever incidents that occur where a rider is skiing beyond their ability level and injuries within their ability level that could have been prevented with protective gear? In my experience, I can only think of a couple of specific cases that I have seen/been around for of people getting severely hurt who behaved themselves.

[poloxskier]

22mil was the judgement but due to comparative negligence considered in the case 14 mil was what was awarded to the plaintiff.

On the helmet issue, there was a study done on helmet use in skiing a few years ago(I'll try to find the article) that showed that helmets only helped in accidents that were under 26 miles per hour, if memory serves me correctly. And while it did help in those accidents that were at higher speeds the amount of gained confidence yielded skiers skiing faster than the helmets crash ability would handle, so in essence they may cause more serious injuries than they prevent. That being said I always wear a helmet when I am skiing because I would ski the same way with or without a helmet plus it keeps my head alot warmer on cold days.

This post has been edited by poloxskier: 25 January 2008 - 12:05 AM

[Snoqualmie guy]

Snoqualmie's park didn't get any smaller after the lawsuit. It got bigger because over half of the money made at Summit Central is because of the park.

[Peter]

And what is your basis for that?

[Kicking Horse]

Personally we can do away with the big jumps and crap. if people want to do that crap they can go into the back country and build the jumps and whatnot.

Just my .002 euros.


/me is waiting for the flame...