What are the commonest causes of snow sports injuries?
The vast majority of snow sports injuries occur as the direct result of an isolated fall, by which I simply mean something goes wrong and the person falls over. In turn the majority of these occur because of user error. Most of the time the injured person has lost control, often travelling too fast for the prevailing conditions and/or on a slope inappropriate to their ability level. About 10% of accidents result from a collision with another person or object, 5% are lift related and 5% occur as the result of equipment failure (i.e. bindings release inadvertently). Secondary factors are of course important – for example impact with solid snow or ice. It should be remembered that most of these figures rely on an accurate report of what happened from the injured individual!!
