It is widely understood that there are risks associated with skiing and snowboarding. But quantifying those risks is notoriously difficult because there are no specific requirements for reporting injuries or accidents at U.S. ski areas.
Safe Slopes Colorado, a coalition with the goal of increasing safety and transparency at ski areas, recently released a report detailing the number of traumatic snowsports injuries over the course of the 2017-18 ski season. The report includes data from the Colorado Trauma Registry and was compiled by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The report tallies 1,426 injuries that took place at Colorado ski areas and were treated at Level I-III trauma centers from Nov. 14, 2017, to April 15, 2018. A hospital’s designation equates to the level of care it can provide, with a Level I center capable of providing total care for every aspect of injury, from prevention through rehabilitation, while a Level III trauma center, like St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco, can provide assessment, surgery and stabilization of injured patients, among other services.
More than 1,400 traumatic injuries averages about nine for each day of the ski season.
Read more on our partner site Summit Daily.