On January 2, 2019 a 19 -year-old man skiing at Batawa Ski Hill, Ontario, was injured, when he fell off the trail and a piece of exposed rebar went through his leg. Local firefighters used the jaws of life to cut the rebar, which had penetrated about six-eight inches through the young man’s leg. The injured man was transported to Belleville General Hospital. He was awake and alert.

Fire Chief John Whelan confirmed that the injury was “serious,” and that the rebar was removed at the hospital and not at the scene. There is no further information on the injured party, but he was set to make a full recovery. Batawa Ski Hill continued with normal operations.

Last week, a British skier was on holiday in the French Alps.  He collapsed on the ski lift after suffering a heart attack and fell from the moving lift from a height of 32- feet.

The occurrence is not totally unusual.  At about 1:04 p.m. on Jan. 7th , the Summit County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a male skier found unconscious on a ski run at the resort. The skier, a 71-yr-old from Illinois, was transported to Breckenridge Medical Center at the base of Peak 9, where he was later pronounced dead.

And during Christmas week, two deaths took place within days of each other at Keystone Resort. An Arvada resident, 53, and a Silverthorne resident, aged 66, died at Keystone while skiing during the Christmas holiday weekend. In both cases, the Summit County Coroner determined that cardiac issues were the proximate cause of death.

There were 23 cardiac-related deaths in Summit in 2016, with 19 coming up here from lower elevations and suffering cardiac issues soon after coming to altitude.

On January 1, 2019, a man identified as 63-year-old Michael Rueckert of Utah, died after a ski accident at Brighton Ski Resort. He was skiing around a bend when he almost hit another skier who had stopped. In efforts to avoid a collision, the 63-year-old maneuvered around the person, lost control and hit a tree.

Members of Brighton’s ski patrol and paramedics administered first aid to Rueckert but were unable to revive him. The man was pronounced dead at the resort.

The light fluffy snow which has been blanketing the west has also increased the hazards presented by skiing in trees. The snow is easily fallen into, often resulting in suffocation.

On March 4th, a skier at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana became separated from his friends. Later that afternoon his body was found by ski patrol in a tree well.

In Oregon, Mt. Bachelor experienced a double-tragedy when the body of a male skier was found in a tree well early Friday afternoon, then two hours later a report of another missing skier prompted a search lasting into the night. The body of the missing female skier was found, also in a tree well.

And on the same day at California’s China Peak, a snowboarder fell in the new snow, measured at five feet, and suffocated.

Tree wells are notorious for posing an unobvious danger. Best practice is to always ski with a partner so that if a tree well is encountered, rescue can begin immediately.

An avalanche hit Friday, March 2nd at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort and caught five people in its wake.

This was just one day after a snowboarder died there during a blizzard as a winter storm rolled through California. Wenyu Zhang, 42, vanished Thursday as the region was hit by a blizzard packing winds gusting to nearly 150 mph over the ridge tops. It dumped 3 feet of snow in the mountains. His body was recovered the following day.

Squaw Valley Ski Resort said the avalanche happened just before 2 p.m. on Friday, and injured two people, one seriously. Three others escaped without being hurt from the slide. The rescue response included 100 police officers, firefighters and ski patrol members from Squaw Valley and nearby communities.

The day of the first avalanche, the National Weather Service said mountains in Ventura and Los Angeles counties could see up to a foot of new snow at higher elevations.

The forecast was accurate and resulted in a second avalanche at Mammoth Mountain. Ski Patrol were working to knock down overhangs in hopes of preventing an avalanche. Unfortunately, one was triggered and eight people were partially buried in snow. Initially the avalanche rolled down an area that was closed to skiing, but then traveled into in-bound trails.

Two guests were partially buried in the snow but were able to free themselves. Burke said they were uninjured. Six employees were also hit toward the bottom of a ski lift. They were also able to free themselves but suffered minor injuries.

Rescue crews, with more than 200 people and search dogs, scoured the area for hours to find others who might be trapped.