Everyone knows skiing can be dangerous. But is it really that bad?
Using information taken from Twitter, we’ve looked into the commonly reported injuries from the Nov 2015 to April 2016 season. Thankfully, the results show most skiing trips result in nothing more than a good time and some minor aches and pains. While most people injure themselves in spectacularly mundane and predictable ways, it’s surprising just how unfortunate some people can be.
Skiing and snowboarding
1062 injuries
The vast majority of injuries occur out on the slopes. Obviously. Skiing and snowboarding are directly responsible for most accidents, as you’d expect, with over 30% of both groups reporting ankle and wrist sprains.
But injuries aren’t just limited to slipping and sliding; three skiers were hurt taking selfies, two were hurt by an errant drone, and one snowboarder’s piercings froze up on the slope. What does that even mean? What happens when a piercing freezes over? We dread to think…
Sledding
245 injuries
Who’d have thought that sliding down a hill with no brakes could actually be pretty dangerous? Out of all the activities we looked into, sledding seemed to produce the most injuries per participant.
Alongside being a fast track to a concussion, the data also showed that sledding can be hard on the back. Just under 40% of people reported either spine or tailbone injuries.
The ski lift
15 injuries
When it comes to getting up to the start of the run, the most common hazards are twisted ankles and knees.
Unfortunately, we did also come across a few fairly bad injuries, such as the person who broke their leg attempting to jump off before the lift had stopped. Or the skier who broke an arm after being clattered by another skier while they attempted to get on the lift.
The hot tub
4 injuries
Think you’re safe once you’ve left the slopes? Think again.
The types of injuries sustained by a hot tub session gone wrong are exactly as you’d expect. All four people we came across were hurt by slipping and falling, either while drunk or while being careless. It must be said that most of these accidents do seem to be alcohol-related; so should we really have any sympathy for them?!
The car park
3 injuries
You have to feel sorry for the three people who were hurt in the car park. Our heart especially goes out to the one bloke who slipped and hurt himself before he even got on the mountain. They’d packed all their expensive gear, trained relentlessly and travelled hundreds of miles to the slopes only to come a cropper getting out of their car. How unlucky can you get?
Acknowledgements
All data taken from Sysomos.
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