“Second Skier Death at Mount Snow” was a front page headline in the January 24th, 1992 issue of The Deerfield Valley News in West Dover, Vt. According to Steve Goldfarb, skier education supervisor at Mount Snow, six skiers met their deaths in Vermont before the 1991-92 ski season had ended, despite intensive efforts to educate skiers about the inherent risks of skiing.
According to a study by Jasper Shealy and Rebecca Williams of the Rochester Institute of Technology, N.Y., 35 skiing related fatalities and 40 other catastrophic injuries occurred during the 1991-92 ski season in the United States. Historically, the majority of ski-related deaths and serious injuries occur among younger male skiers.
Members of the Mount Snow staff wondered whether information about skier deaths and injuries was widely known among skiers and if so, whether it affected their perceptions or behavior. To find out, in February, 1992 conducted a survey of 542 President’s Week skiers at the Mount Snow base lodges and at the Sports Center of the adjacent Seasons-on-Mount-Snow condominium development. A survey form was prepared and included data on demographics (age, sex, etc.) as well as a request to rate the “dangerousness” of skiing on a zero-to-ten point (0 = very dangerous) scale. In addition, skiers were asked if they had heard about any recent skiing accidents and, if so, how severe the injury was (from “very mild” to “fatal”). Finally, if they had heard about a recent skiing injury, they were asked the extent to which this resulted in their taking fewer risks while skiing (that is, skiing more slowly, avoiding trails that are too difficult, etc.). We excluded skiers under the age of 10 years.
The sample consisted of 265 females (49 percent) and 277 males (51 percent). Of the 542 subjects, 412 (76 percent) had heard about a recent skiing accident. A somewhat surprising 285 (53 percent) had not heard about a recent skiing fatality. The sample as a whole, rated the dangerousness of skiing as 5.81 (with 5 being the midpoint of the scale).
Dr. Bernard Gorman, a research psychologist and professor of psychology at Nassau Community College, N.Y., did a statistical analysis of the data. He compared those who had heard about a skiing fatality with those who had heard only of a skiing injury that did not result in a death. Those skiers who had heard about a death rated the sport as significantly more dangerous than those who had heard only about an injury (including severe injuries). In addition, the subjects who knew about a recent death reported that they engaged in less risky behavior on the slopes than those who knew only about a non-fatal injury.
Given the information cited above, which shows that most of the ski-related deaths involve younger males, we then looked at age differences in the data. Subjects were split into two groups: those 25 years of age or younger (251 subjects) and those 26 and older (291 subjects). Statistical analysis showed that younger skiers see themselves as much more advanced in skill (compared with their older counterparts), while in reality, they have significantly less experience skiing (an average of 6.7 years versus 13.1 years). Closer analysis revealed that only the younger male skiers viewed themselves as more expert than their elders. Of even more interest was our finding that there was a statistically significant difference between the age groups in regard to knowledge of skiing fatalities. We discovered that the younger group was much less likely to know about any recent ski-related deaths.
These findings at Mount Snow reveal some important trends. We now know that young male skiers believe they are more advanced skiers even though they may be fairly inexperienced. We found that those who know about a skiing death perceive skiing as more dangerous and report taking fewer risks while skiing. Finally, we discovered that younger skiers are the least likely to have such important information about a skiing death.
Coincidentally, a section of the August 1992 issue of The American Psychologist magazine was devoted to the question of injury control. Several authors point out the critical role of psychological variables such as perception and learning in reducing behavior that may lead to injury (Spielberger and Frank, 1992) and noted that injury is the leading cause of death for children in the United States (Peterson and Roberts, 1992).
In another article in the Journal of Social Issues in 1987, Pless and Arsenault wrote about research that indicated that brief educational messages to children have been ineffective in reducing their risk of injury. This would seem to indicate that messages such as “Be Aware, Ski With Care” may be a good reminder, but probably do not alter either the perceptions or behavior of most young skiers. However, movies such as “Tony’s Flight,” which is a documentary about a young male skier who was killed in a skiing accident, may be an effective educational tool that will work to reduce the types of risky skiing behavior that lead to unnecessary injury and fatalities.
A 1985 study by R. Grieve and reported in the British Journal of Development Psychology, showed that the younger a child, the less he or she is able to perceive danger from events that could involve accidental falls. Younger skiers, especially males, have relatively little awareness of ski-related deaths and think they are quite expert.
The message to ski resort managements is that they may be able to enhance ski safety by helping to transmit news about ski-related fatalities, especially targeting younger skiers who are the least well-informed about such events. Research suggests that brief educational messages about ski safety are unlikely to be taken seriously by younger skiers. Direct, correct, factual information about ski-related fatalities is a crucial element in changing perceptions of actual danger and perhaps, in altering risky ski behavior.
