Jackson Hole death spurs helmet debate
A debate over ski helmet use is heating up after the Wyoming Department of Employment cited Jackson Hole Mountain Resort for not requiring ski patrollers to wear helmets. The citation was issued in the wake of an accident last winter that led to the death of Jackson Hole ski patroller Kathryn Miller.
According to a report in the July 22 edition of the Jackson Hole News & Guide, Miller suffered a severe head injury when she fell in a steep and rocky out-of-bounds area known as Spacewalk Couloir. Miller was not wearing a helmet while checking the ski conditions as part of her patrol duties.
According to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort spokeswoman Anna Olson, the citation was for not “not providing and ensuring head protection to help prevent or reduce the severity of head injuries.”
Scott Horn, the chief administrative officer of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, said that as part of the investigation the state’s Department of Employment issued the citation on June 18, but would not disclose the amount. That agency did not return a call by press time.
The Jackson Hole News & Guide said the resort intended to appeal the citation on grounds that there were no policies at any U.S. ski area that mandated the use of helmets for employees.
But in an interview, Horn said such an appeal was not certain. As part of the state process, the resort would conduct a number of “informal conferences” to see if the issue could be settled. Horn said that the result of these meetings would determine if the resort would appeal the fine.
Regardless of the outcome, the action taken by the Department of Employment is fodder for the arguments surrounding the use of helmets in the sport.
“We always look at safety issues,” Horn said.
But he also said that Jackson Hole has no plans to implement a policy requiring its patrollers to wear helmets.
Vail Resorts announced in April that it would require any employee at its five mountains participating in skiing or snowboarding to wear helmets beginning in the 2009-2010 season. Vail Resorts owns and operates the Colorado resorts Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone, as well as Heavenly in California. These will be the first mountains to have such requirements in the United States, according to Dave Byrd, the National Ski Areas Association’s director of education.
“From speaking with executives at Vail, the reason was to serve as leadership example to guests on mountain,” said Byrd. “So far, we haven’t seen efforts from other resorts to adopt similar policies.”
Sun Valley Resort is in line with Jackson Hole in not requiring helmet use from employees.
Click to read the Sun Valley Guide magazine online
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Sun Valley Resort spokesman Jack Sibbach said the issue over helmet use has not been a subject of staff meetings, although it has been discussed with the company’s insurance representatives.
“As of now, we have no plans for any kind of policy yet,” Sibbach said.
One possible hesitation would be the cost of providing all on-mountain employees with helmets. Sibbach said there are hundreds of employees who take to the slopes every day, including ski patrollers, mountain ambassadors, lift operators and food service personnel.
Byrd said the issue of helmet use was highlighted this past winter after actress Natasha Richardson’s death on a beginner’s slope on Mont Tremblant, in Quebec, Canada.
“Whenever there is a death of a celebrity at a resort, it raises a lot of media attention,” Byrd said. “She wasn’t wearing a helmet and died of a head injury, even though she was on a green ‘bunny’ slope.”
Helmet use has increased exponentially over the past seven years, Byrd said, rising from approximately 25 percent during the 2002-2003 season to just under 50 percent during the 2008-2009 winter. Some 77 percent of children 9 and under wear now helmets when skiing or snowboarding, he said.
A run down Bald Mountain in winter shows that, in the case of the Sun Valley Ski Patrol, helmets and hats still vie for popularity.
In 2006, former Smith Optics employee Teresa Hukari fractured several vertebrae and sustained severe injuries to her spinal cord after she suddenly lost control on the I-80 cat track and hit a tree. In the aftermath of the injury, the company offered free helmets to members of the ski patrol.
“We looked around, noticed a lot of patrollers weren’t wearing helmets, so we made them available,” said Joe McNeal, director of research and development for Smith. “Some took us up on it and some didn’t.”
McNeal said that helmet sales have become an important piece of the company’s business over the past few years, due in large part to the advances that have been made in helmet construction and design.
“They’ve become quite fashionable and the reasons not to wear them are becoming less and less,” McNeal said.
While Byrd and his organization are for helmet use, he declined to take a position on whether or not patrollers should be required to wear them.
“A lot of them have been patrollers for decades and are old-school skiers that have deep and abiding love for the sport,” Byrd said. “There are some that wear helmets and some that don’t, and I don’t know if more will start.”
Byrd also noted that research shows that while helmet usage has increased, there has not been a corresponding decrease in fatalities or serious head injuries.
“There are limits to what a helmet can do. Helmets are rated up to 12 or 13 miles per hour, but people often ski at much faster speeds,” Byrd said.
Byrd explained that in deaths in which the victim was wearing a helmet, the cause of death can shift from “head injury” to other reasons, such as a detached aorta or internal bleeding.
He worries that helmets might even lead to riskier behavior.
“We encourage people to wear helmets, but to ski as if they are not wearing helmets,” Byrd said. “A helmet can give a false sense of security. In other words, it can be a risk enabler. Maybe you will take a jump you wouldn’t normally take or ski in more difficult terrain than you should.”
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
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