Why we must elevate safety in the ski industry
By Chauncy Johnson at The Snow Angel Foundation
My wife Kelli and I grew up together and experienced our first day skiing in the 5th grade on a school ski trip. I started snowboarding shortly after and Kelli became passionate about skiing. We continue skiing and riding with our kids to this day. From time to time I’m asked why I still ski after the tragedy that struck our family several years ago.
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve 2010, Kelli and I took our kids—Elise, 5, Milli, 3, and Logan, 4 months—to our local hill in Casper, Wyoming, where we lived at the time. I had started the afternoon skiing with Elise and then asked Kelli to ski with her so that I could look after the two youngest. What happened next would change our lives forever. While skiing together, Elise’s ski came off. As Kelli was helping her get her ski back on, a speeding snowboarder violently collided with her and Elise. The snowboarder was a 23-year-old local man who frequented the ski area. He was riding at approximately 50 miles per hour when he collided with my girls. Kelli doesn’t remember anything from the moment of impact.
I remember overhearing from ski patrol that there’d been a terrible collision, that three were down, and only one had a pulse. I didn’t know that my girls were involved until a young man brought me a helmet and asked if it was my daughter’s. It was Elise’s helmet, the inside of it shattered and the shell broken. Shortly after, ski patrol and other first responders brought Elise on a sled, followed by the snowboarder a few minutes later and finally my wife Kelli. I would soon learn that the collision killed my daughter Elise and the snowboarder, and left Kelli with multiple injuries including a severe traumatic brain injury. It was an unprecedented tragedy. No one in the ski industry could recall a skier-skier collision resulting in the death of two people.
The following week, I would have a funeral for my daughter and begin to learn what I could do to help Kelli heal. She would spend three months at Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado; a hospital that specialises in spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. She was placed in an induced coma and when she was brought out of it, would learn to walk, talk and swallow food again. She could not remember for twenty-four-hour periods until a month after the accident. At that point, I was finally able to tell her what happened.
A year later to the date, I would get back on my snowboard, full of paranoia and anxiety with scenes from the aftermath of the accident rushing through my mind as I made myself get on the lift. Luckily the 10 inches of fresh snow eased my tensions a bit and allowed me to feel better about being on the mountain, but it wasn’t the same. I realised quickly that getting back into snowboarding would include efforts to improve the safety culture.
I decided that I needed to promote collision awareness and do everything I could to prevent this kind of accident from happening to somebody else. So I made a nervous phone call to the National Ski Areas Association who were very welcoming and agreed to partner on what became the Ride Another Day safety campaign. After receiving invites to speak at ski resort employee orientations and getting through the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2023, my wife and I formed the Snow Angel Foundation. Through the Snow Angel Foundation we provide slope safety training to school children and teens, ski clubs and ski area employees. Through education and intervention tools, we believe that we can bring everyone together to change the culture and become better mountain citizens.
Over the past several decades, skiing and snowboarding have grown in popularity, steadily bringing more and more people to the mountains. This is great news! Not only are more people getting outside, gaining the health benefits of winter sports and enjoying the grandeur of the mountains, but the industry needs a constant supply of new enthusiasts to sustain itself as well. We are witnessing a growing population of people from more diverse backgrounds coming to the mountains because of better outreach and inclusion efforts. It is an exciting time to be sure, but what training and resources are we providing guests to ensure that their enthusiasm continues? How do we help people exercise good judgement with the inherent risks that they take on? Are we providing a welcoming environment, or one that shouts, get out of my way as soon as they start down the mountain? As an industry and community, we must educate skiers new and old with knowledge to reduce the inherent risks of skiing and create a safer environment.
There is a lack of education that the skiing public receives and internalises before hitting the slopes. Providing effective education from basic etiquette to the effects of speed on stopping distance and what it means to be in control is in everyone’s best interest. Some would argue that skiers will figure these things out over time on their own. While time on the hill improves knowledge and skill, there is a gap in basic safety understanding. Don’t believe me? Look up ski or snowboard collisions on Instagram or Tik Tok and read through the comments. For experienced skiers who know the code, prepare to be shocked by the lack of understanding exhibited as skiers and riders chime in on who is at fault.
Fear for personal safety is increasing. Inquiries have come to our organization from across north America and Europe from individuals and organisations asking what can be implemented to reduce fear of other skiers’ reckless behaviour. Are these concerns real or perceived? They are quite real. In fact, surveys from a major US ski area insurer indicate that a guest’s biggest fear while skiing is being hit by another skier. This level of fear among skiers indicates that more must be done to improve the on-hill environment. Healthy fear of challenging terrain or learning the trails on a new mountain are to be expected, however, fear of others’ behaviour shouldn’t top the list of safety concerns and can be reduced through concentrated efforts.
We tolerate disrespectful, dangerous behaviour and we shouldn’t. We all love the thrill of skiing and that keeps us coming back. However, ask anyone that skis regularly if there is anything that they dislike about it, and you will hear some variation of other skiers and riders skiing too close to them when passing or being used as human slalom gates. The only reason that these behaviours persist is because we tolerate them and don’t intervene when they happen. It’s understandable; in those moments, it’s hard to intervene as the other skier flies by, perhaps not to be seen again. These risks can be mitigated with appropriate intervention strategies when they are reported or seen by mountain staff. Education prior to this behaviour occurring is even more powerful and there are several mediums that could be used to provide it.
At a recent training at their ski area, I asked a group of staff how many had ever seen something unsafe in their life happening, but didn’t intervene. All the hands in the room went up, including mine. If you’re a living, breathing human being, you’ve witnessed something unsafe or you’ve sensed that something was headed in the wrong direction and never said anything. Hopefully in that situation, the outcome wasn’t tragic.
Why is the intervention question so important? Because it’s necessary to ask ourselves why we don’t step in when action is needed. I don’t believe that it is a matter of not caring for others, but it can be uncomfortable to confront unsafe situations.
I lost my 5-year-old daughter in a tragic ski collision that could have been prevented. I wonder how the outcome could have been different had staff or guests checked in with the snowboarder after noting that he appeared inebriated and was known to ride recklessly.
To be clear, I don’t harbour any ill-will toward those involved the day of our accident. After all, these were also staff who assisted in saving my wife’s life and did everything they could to save my daughter and the snowboarder. Had they known that something so tragic was about to occur, I am certain they would have done everything in their power to prevent it.
I believe that there is day in the future where skiers are looking out for each other’s safety and the mountain experience is even more enjoyable. There is a day that avoidable collisions are a thing of the past. Let’s make sure that everyone feels like the mountain is theirs to enjoy, no matter their skill level or background. Let’s make the mountain more inviting to come back to day after day by improving the safety culture so that we can all Ride Another Day!
Chauncy is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Snow Angel Foundation Inc. Discover more at snowangelfoundation.org.
A Note From Amie:
As many Morzine Source Magazine readers will know, I started a piste safety campaign with my friend Louise following a tragic incident in a nearby resort in early 2022. Louise and I were desperate to remind skiers and snowboarders about the well-established rules of the piste in an effort to make everyone safer. We called our campaign the Piste X Code and we very quickly discovered Chauncy, Kelli, their family and their story. Since then Chauncy has been an irreplaceable source of knowledge, inspiration and motivation for us. The Snow Angel Foundation is a phenomenal campaign, the family have made significant and impactful progress, which has undoubtedly prevented accidents. Louise and I want to take this opportunity to thank Chauncy, Kelli and the Johnson family for sharing their story and for blazing a trail that we both follow.
