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The Review Online
Snow Sports
19th January 2010
As much of the northern hemisphere enjoys the full effects of winter, people are eager to experience what the snowy season has to offer. Many have been packing up work and studies, and heading to ski resorts in Scotland, the Alps and North America. Snow sports, however, such as skiing and snowboarding, aren’t all ‘plain sailing’. Emergency services are called out onto to the mountainside on a regular basis and many return home a little worse for wear.
On December 31st 2009, it was reported in American news that Kevin Pearce, a professional snowboarder, was involved in a serious, near fatal, accident which initially left him in a coma. Pearce, who was training in an attempt to gain a place on the US snowboard team for the 2010 winter Olympics, misplaced a landing and suffered severe head injuries. Sports columnist, Christine Brennan, has been calling for restrictions on ‘extreme’ snowboarding and skiing in the winter Olympics as she claims athletes are pushing themselves too far in order to attain gold medals.
However, Pearce was fully equipped for taking on the halfpipe, wearing a helmet and other essentials. In addition, many of these snowboarders and skiers go into competitions with a large amount of practice and experience behind them and don’t take what they do lightly. Pearce made a small mistake on a move that he had previously landed. The fact is that the ‘extreme’ sports in competitions shouldn’t be solely targeted as injury can occur in any sport.
As long as the right precautions are taken to keep safe, a skiing break can be one of the most eventful holidays to go on. Sometimes, the small bruises are worth it!