Other hazards exist on Big Mt

The recent collaborative effort to improve safety and reduce risk by limiting uphill traffic at the Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort by the Forest Service and the resort's administrative staff begs the question: What are the true risks of skiing and snowboarding on Big Mountain?

According to a recent commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "Of the 600,000 skiing and snowboarding related injuries each year, an estimated 15-20 percent are traumatic brain injuries, which are the leading cause of hospitalization and account for 50-88 percent of total deaths in skiers and snowboarders. The U.S. consumer product safety commission estimates that 44 percent of the head injury sustained during skiing and snowboarding could be prevented by the use of helmets and that the use of helmets for children could reduce head injuries during these activities in this group by 53 percent. More recent studies indicate an overall reduction in risk of 60 percent in the skiing population."

Despite the evidence that helmets reduce injury and save lives, less than 40 percent of skiers and snowboarders wear helmets. Significantly, ski patrollers and ski instructors at the resort do not wear helmets on a regular basis. As significant role models and ski educators, they have a responsibility to teach by example. Helmets should be standard equipment provided to these valued employees and worn all the time.

Significant contributing factors to injury and death on ski hills are almost exclusively limited to excessive speed, poor slope visibility, especially on the part of snowboarders, and poor judgment. To my knowledge, there has never been a significant collision involving uphill traffic on the Big Mountain during daytime hours. Anecdotally, there are countless incidents of out-of-control snowboarders and skiers smashing into other snowboarders and skiers resulting in significant injuries.

Inherently, uphill traffic during the day time operation does not pose any significant threat for injury and death when compared to the dangers of not wearing a helmet, skiing and boarding in crowded areas with excessive speed, poor or no slope vision on the part of snowboarders primarily, and flawed human judgment.

The most compelling argument for limiting uphill traffic on Big Mountain is to allow the groomers to do their job without the risk of injuring or killing uphill recreationists. This is a 100 percent legitimate argument and the public needs to respect and adhere to these restrictions. We depend on the groomers everyday for our safety and enjoyment. Let them do their critical work without the distraction of worrying about hurting or killing one of us.

Doug Pitman M.D., lives in Whitefish.