Yesterday we brought you a report on a deadly collision on Aspen Mountain, Skier Collision at Aspen Leaves One Dead. It is being reported that Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the collision and that the skier who caused the collision could face a hefty civil lawsuit even though she obeyed the Skier Safety Act by staying at the scene of the collision.
Crash site: The collision took place on the Spar Gulch run under expert terrain called Jackpot
If you go back and ready every post about deaths at ski resorts for this season, you’ll note that every one at a US resort involved the resort getting sued, and now this one here is someone involved getting some legal trouble.
The deaths at Canadian ski resorts this season (a guy falling off an in bounds cliff at whistler, and a skier who died in the cypress backcountry) are sad, but nobody is getting sued.
Skiing and snowboarding are dangerous sports, accidents happen. Why does someone always have to take the blame rather than it just being accepted as something that can happen when people choose to fly around at car speeds on metal edges sliding on snow and ice through obstacles such as cliffs, trees, bumps, fog or other visibility problems, etc…
“Why does someone always have to take the blame rather than it just being accepted as something that can happen when people choose to fly around at car speeds on metal edges sliding on snow and ice through obstacles such as cliffs, trees, bumps, fog or other visibility problems, etc…”
Seriously? You think getting hit and killed by another rider is acceptable? It’s manslaughter.
We have lots of lawyers here
Totally. I was booting around in my Acadian the other day and I slipped on an icy patch and ran a red light and smashed this guys car. I think he was hurt or something. The dude I hit was like “I’m going to sue you”.
So I’m like “Why does someone always have to take the blame rather than it just being accepted as something that can happen when people choose to drive around at car speeds in, well, in cars, when there’s like ice and shit on the road.”
I learned years ago when a Vail employee hit and killed a skier and was actually jailed while the lawsuit was pending – leave the scene. If I am involved in a skier collision, I would call Patrol and get the fuck outta there.
But what if you could save the victim’s LIFE by staying ? There is nothing worse than an unconscious person waking up abandoned, and doing more stupid sh*t in a state of confusion !
Canada has universal health care.
The United States does not.
The lawsuit industry likes it that way. We have an entire class of business professional which makes its living pursuing a cut of the award settlements to pay for the expenses of emergency medical care, which is high percentage trauma caused by accidents. We have so far, in the USA, accepted rather passively that it is better to have Juris Doctorate liberal arts graduates fighting over who pays for this, instead of educating more medical professionals to treat accidents efficiently and humanely, instead of casting people and survivors into some sort of medical debt hell.
Wait until some county jurisdictions start trying to charge you for responding to fender benders on the freeways that fall within their city limits.
there are no ‘accidents’
you either know the code or you dont.
expect people to be stopped where they ‘shouldnt be’
expect people to ‘make unexpected or “stupid” turns’
no excuses
If you go back and ready every post about deaths at ski resorts for this season, you’ll note that every one at a US resort involved the resort getting sued, and now this one here is someone involved getting some legal trouble.
The deaths at Canadian ski resorts this season (a guy falling off an in bounds cliff at whistler, and a skier who died in the cypress backcountry) are sad, but nobody is getting sued.
Skiing and snowboarding are dangerous sports, accidents happen. Why does someone always have to take the blame rather than it just being accepted as something that can happen when people choose to fly around at car speeds on metal edges sliding on snow and ice through obstacles such as cliffs, trees, bumps, fog or other visibility problems, etc…
someone dies and they want money… sounds about right.
Just another reason to not ski in America, Especially Aspen, and Colorado to say the least.
Aspen is in Colorado.
^whistler gets sued all the time
Yeah….. By Americans. Jerkoff lawyers can take a long walk off a short doc.
The US is retarded.
Ski at your own risk. Until you get hurt or even worse. Money will make it all better. And if it doesn’t, we’ll, at least someone else is to blame.
Yes, skiing is dangerous. People writing off the responsibility of others is utter fail. The lady died because someone hit her, not because she hit something.
Does anyone here really go to the hill and think: Gee, I accept the consequences of other people hitting me?
She’s beautiful…how sad.
She was hit by another woman skier from the East coast (NYC) on vacation, according to other media I’ve read. Two well off professionals from major urban areas…. an accident…. that’s ambulance- chasing prime territory. I would be shocked if there was NOT a civil (not criminal) lawsuit against this person, hoping that they had some sort of umbrella liability insurance, filed by the victim’s family and/or boyfriend, who will probably quickly turn into a “fiance.”
A tragedy among the upper classes almost always turns into a pissing match between two lawyers and a judge these days. If they try to drag the ski resort into it somehow, then it gets expensive for everyone.
Have you noticed the fashionistra trend towards wearing all one color, dark, neutral color ski clothing as if you were dressing for the malls and city commuting in the winter – a really BAD IDEA, folks. It’s better to be noticed. It is WAY better to be noticed. Embrace your inner dorkiness. Black. Grey. Brown. It’s the new camo, and it could kill you.
What was that saying, that I’ve read here and taken to heart, the last run you take should be the last one before you are really tired. Tired people makes mistakes.
Stay off ski the hill, it’s retarded people with ridiculous ideas that create drama. Nobody likes drama, wear your dayglo one piece if it makes you feel safe but don’t spray your innocuous crap where some unsuspecting impressionable gaper might take it to heart!
“People suing ski areas should be shot.” -Scot Schmidt
Scott I agree with you in principal about assumption of risk. However if the other skier was skiing at high speed and without control then they are at fault for causing injury, or in this sad case death. Spar Gulch used to be a dangerous freeway of activity back in the 1970s when it was the major way down Aspen Mtn. Now most people who ski Aspen take the Gondola down at the end of the day, while digesting their Brie and Wine. Having said that it is no longer a heavily skied run. So it is very sad an ironic that there was a collision from a skier coming down Jackpot hitting the woman who had stopped on Spar Gulch. Very sad for everyone involved. The tragic part is that there was probably more than ample room to avoid this situation if the uphill skier had been in control.
I should have said in Principle. It is late…
But… the ski area isn’t getting sued.
I was worried about lawsuits when I went skiing in the US. So what I decided to do is not ski like an asshat. It worked really well and I didn’t get sued. Not even once.
Sounds like the TV station is encouraging a law suit…no one has filed any law suit…all that was said was “could face a hefty lawsuit”. WTF…is the Channel 5 station manager married to a accident law firm partner?
Check their late night wee hour advertisers…. this message brought to you by Dewey Cheatem & How, Esq.
When I am skiing I accept the risk of my own behavior and as such would not sue a ski resort, but I do not accept the risk of another person’s negligent behavior. We have all seen idiots skiing beyond their ability who put others at risk.