Tracy Boland, 46, suffered fatal injuries when she collided with a 26-year-old Dutch woman on the Kitzsteinhorn mountain in Kaprun, Austria.

Her husband, Paul, was skiing with her when the accident happened just after midday on Tuesday. Their children were at a nearby ski school.

A doctor was on the same ski slope and arrived within minutes but could not revive Mrs Boland. She was declared dead on the mountain. The other skier was also injured but is due to be discharged from hospital. Neither woman was wearing a helmet, police said.

A police spokesman said: “The accident is a mystery. There are no witnesses and we do not think that the two skiers were skiing very fast. They were in a relatively easy ski area and the conditions were good.

“It was a very fine day with a clear sky and there was no snowfall. There were not many people on the slopes. This slope is very broad and is not for advanced skiers, just beginners.

“The British lady was skiing behind her husband. He did not see what happened. He heard the crash and he looked back and his wife was on the ground. The Dutch lady has not been able to explain what happened. She has spinal injuries but they are not severe. She is being released tomorrow and we will interview her then.”

In Austria skiers are advised to wear helmets but they are compulsory only for children.

Mrs Boland, described as an experienced skier, is understood to have flown to Austria last Saturday for a week-long break with her husband and their three children, Charlotte, Patrick and Philip, aged from 8 to 12. It is believed that another British family accompanied them.

A post-mortem examination carried out yesterday showed that she had suffered a severed aorta.

Mr Boland and the children were preparing to return to their four-bedroomed detached home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire today. Pat Payne, who lives next door, said: “They are just a really lovely couple and she was a lovely caring person.”

The Foreign Office said that it had received no formal request for consular assistance for the family.

The Kaprun resort is where 155 people died when fire swept through a funicular railway ski lift in 2000.

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Lower Austria made it compulsory last season and now Upper Austria has followed suit. The provincial parliament passed the new law this week.

It follows the death of a woman last winter who was hit by the German politician, Dieter Althaus. It was a big story in Austria and caused many to buy a helmet and some areas to make it compulsory to wear one.

Read about the accident and the background to the story here.

There was also the death of the actress Natasha Richardson in Canada that received worldwide publicity and we covered it extensively on PlanetSKI.

Not all are in favour of compulsion though.

One Upper Austrian politician, the green Party leader Rudi Anschober, said most children wear a helmet and that compulsion is not a good idea.

Parents in Austria have been made responsible for ensuring that their children wear a helmet, but it is unclear what the punishment for not wearing one may be.

Last winter there were numerous threads and debates in chat forums about whether wearing a helmet should be made compulsory. It would be interesting to see if views are changing.

Here at PlanetSKI we are in favour of wearing a helmet, but against compulsion.

Please fell free to offer your views in the comment box below.
Should we all be made to wear a helmet for our own protection?

Source: http://www.planetski.eu/news/1070

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