What Should Be Done About Out-of-Control Skiers & Snowboarders?

The incident took place in 2022 as the young girl was at the back of a ski school group.

An out-of-control skier hit her at speed – around 60km/h (37 mph).

They travelled a ‘considerable’ distance down the slope after impact.

The child received first aid at the scene and was taken to Sallanches hospital where she was pronounced dead.

In court, the defendant acknowledged that his speed may have been inappropriate for the conditions.

The 43-year-old man was given a 12-month suspended sentence by the Bonneville judicial court in Haute-Savoie.

He was ordered to pay €165,000 (£142,000) in damages to the child’s family.

Further details of the incident and the court case can be found here in our news report on the case and our coverage of the incident as the time:

• Skier who killed British child in collision found guilty of manslaughter

The post provoked much comment from PlanetSKI readers who have proposed a wide variety of measures to deal with what is clearly a growing problem and certainly one of wide concern.

We reproduce some of the comments below, and do feel free to add your thoughts on the issue  on the PlanetSKI Facebook page:

Lena Haurits Nielson: It’s not just about people skiing out of control. A major issue is those who are technically in control but choose not to slow down in busy areas, weaving through others as if they’re obstacles instead of people. They may feel skilled and precise, but they’re ignoring the most important part of control: adapting speed and space to the environment and the unpredictability of others.

True control isn’t about being able to turn around people—it’s about skiing in a way where no one else has to react to you at all. If your line or speed forces others to adjust, flinch, or feel unsafe, then it’s not responsible skiing, no matter how smooth it looks.

Yvonne Murray: I have seen too many straight line skiers and boarders over last few years thinking they are invincible . Such a tragedy when a little child is the victim of such mad irresponsible behaviours on the slopes .

It takes more skill to use turns and be safe and create a safer environment for everyone on the slopes .

It is unimaginable the sadness and grief and loss of this poor family .

I would like to see ski patrol taking lift passes off these people. Also I do know that many people use these speed tracking apps and in competition with each other to be the fastest .

My ski group all use helmets and most others on slopes do also . It is rare to see people without them , however The French ski instructors do not wear them . I think that is a bad example to people. Especially the teenagers who think they do not need them. When I learned to ski 29 years ago , myself and others in group did not wear helmets first ski trip but after that I first week I got a helmet when I witnessed so many accidents of this nature and mostly on blue and red runs where most people are skiing .

A ski helmet is not enough to save you if you are 5 and smacked into by someone bigger at great speed . Absolutely a sad story.

Jackie Jones: My daughter was killed by a french boarder in the alps many years ago he came over a ledge and jumped into her sent her flying multiple injuries caused her death on the slope he was in a coma dor a week and was charged with homicidal manslaughter. As an avid skier I was never as confident after that. She was a good skier never stood a chance 18 years of age. The slopes need secret ski patrols to monitor safe skiing anyone skiing recklessly should have their pass confiscated no excuse.

Ellie Fennessy: Reading the article it doesn’t sound as if he was out of control. To me out of control is someone who isn’t able to stop. It says he was an experienced skier who was going too fast. That’s not out of control, that’s irresponsible. There is a difference.

Lara Webber: Lots of people saying 60km is wrong. I would say, do you actually know how fast you are going, because in a v small closed off area for kids essentially, there was a speed gun. My 7 year old managed about 58km/hr, me around 60km/hr. My point is it doesn’t take much to be doing that speed. The bigger point is the number of totally out of control skiers, people jumping from off puste to on without looking uphill people making sudden turns immediately infront of you right across the slope with no perception of those around them. There do need tighter restrictions and q honestly a basic tested level of safety to use the slopes as numbers of users increase year on year.

Glenys Vargas de Sorrentino:

Should the piste patrol take a more proactive approach to people who ski out of control? YES
Should speed limits be INTRODUCED? YES

Should lift passes be taken AWAY? YES

Should so-called ‘piste police/ be INTRODUCED? YES

Should people be BREATHALYSED? YES

Should more there be more signage and safety BARRIERS? YES

Should more education be rolled OUT? YES

If you are skiing too fast to stop, then you are skiing too fast.

Pete Croney: I skied and snowboarded for 83 days this season.

It’s not speed that is dangerous, it is inappropriate speed that is dangerous. 60+kmh can be fine on an empty slope, half that can be dangerous if there are lines of ski school kids snaking across the piste. Instructors who snake from piste edge to piste edge only make this worse and in the reported accident, the instructor was leading at a speed that was too fast for the young child.

I am all for handing out a printed copy of the FIS code with every lift pass. Speed is a problem, stopping over crests, setting off without looking behind and joining a piste without looking are all bigger causes of injury. The vast majority have no idea that there are rules for each of these scenarios.

Sheila Frampton: There should be more checks. On one occasion I was skiing on a black piste, went over a ridge only to find a whole group of children with a Polish ski instructor – none of whom should have left the blue slopes. They were scattered across the piste – not one of them on their feet. It was like an obstacle course. Luckily I am a cautious skiier.

Emily Baraclough: I’m in my dotage now and still skiing! I’ve pretty much given up skiing in France – too many idiots. So, I now ski in Sweden. Way better, but, this year I inadvertently ventured into a resort where British tour companies go and guess what, mayhem and madness again! I think I’ve discovered the problem (sadly I’m British – I honestly felt ashamed).

Kimberly Sims: Not sure how he got off so lightly with a suspended sentence. That’s is no justice for the little victim and her family.

Andy Dickinson: I agree with the many comments regarding safety and ski patrols one thing I would add is people using ski apps. I believe a lot of people (mainly teenagers and young men) go all out to achieve a fastest speed on the app which is why you see people straight lining runs barely in control. Not sure what can be done about this but I do believe it’s a contributory factor.

Erika Byrne: I had a small family standing in the middle of a slope creating a hazard and had to try get around them it was so narrow and ice as well made it a mess, I went into the guard rail and fractured my knee in 3 places. Maybe there should be separate family only areas, I’m still in physio and mentally it will be a battle to go skiing again but I’d take the injury any day over killing a small child.

Noreen Andro: Too many beginner skiers think skiing is about pointing your skis downhill and hanging on. They do not think about evading other skiers or braking to avoid collisions. One of my colleagues boasted about “doing a black” on his first week skiing. I told him if he hit one of my kids I would have beaten him to death with my ski poles. It is like boasting you can drive without being able to break or steer.

Gareth Tinker: Every year I feel dangerous and reckless skiing get worse. It is not YOUR mountain it is for all and you must respect everyone. Heartrenching about this young skier. Geo tag the passes, use Ai to determine close passes and excessive speed in danger areas, automatically pause their skiing and flag it to the lift attendants for review.

Matthew Badger: Good, there are way too many out of control idiots out there.

Sean Marks: 60km on a blue slope. I’m sorry, that’s too fast unless there’s nobody else around, which obviously wasn’t the case.

Vickie State: I was taken out by an out of control skier in the Grand Massif. 6 broken ribs and a pneumothorax. I’m just glad the young lad hit me, because had it been a child, it would certainly have been another death

William Barrie Fairhurst: This breaks my heart, the little girls family must be devastated. When you see a line if little ones in their high Viz vests you take extra care.

Jan Verbeeren: More and more ski out of control. Bragging about the speed on their Strava is all that counts to them.

Anika Louise York Stewart: Just like in every area of life now, there are self-centred people who lack common sense. Reckless people who believe they can do no wrong and there are no consequences to their actions. Zero tolerance to dickish behaviour from a well staffed ski patrol would help.

Toria Hyder: This is so scary and can happen so, so easily because so many adults ski out of control and couldn’t stop quickly if they had to.

Resorts need to be upping their ski school ratios, Europe particularly you see groups of young kids with one instructor and often the kids at the back are a really long way from the instructor at the front. The european slopes are so busy too, compared to Canadas resorts.

I think resorts also need to have a lot of plains clothes resort staff skiing the slopes every day picking off these people who are skiing dangerously, it would be pretty easy to use a few eyes, walkie talkies and catch up with skiiers using a description of reports come in.

Ski passes can be removed from anyone warned more than once. Members of the public can also report skiers who they’ve seen skiing dangerously to resort staff.

Every day you see someone who should be stopped and reprimanded but no one ever does anything about it. When you’re skiing with a small child it’s scary.

It would be like being hit by a car at the speeds some of them are doing, big, heavy 6ft plus men vs a 20kg kid.

Dixie Dean: The Italian local police are now patrolling some snowsports resorts and issuing fines to people skiing or boarding recklessly or under the influence of drink or drugs.

Alison Biden: When you learn to drive a car, you learn all about steering, braking, stopping and starting, parking, etc. AND the ‘Highway code’ as well as practising with an experienced driver so that you learn to ANTICIPATE dangers. When you learn to ski you get none of the ‘peripheral’ rules of the slopes, just how to go down a slope on skis. Much more education is needed, and as a requirement before people set off. I have been hit twice and seriously injured in France, with no redress, and seen countless acts of selfish carelessness.

Lesley Benson: What a tragedy and yes I agree with all points noted,however no matter how vigilant the ski instructor is they don’t have eyes in the back of their heads. I think they should have an adult at the rear of the class (as they do with any school outdoor classes) This does not need to be a qualified instructor just a vetted, responsible adult even on a voluntary basis.

John Dash: I hope ski tickets will have gps chip or something that will stop the ticket working for people speeding up and speed limits per experience/slope/how busy the slope is, you want higher speed limit, go have a lesson where ski instructor will approve or whatever.

Callum Michael: I know this piste like the back of my hand, it used to be even more dangerous a few years ago due to the rollers, ski school trains often wouldn’t be obviously visible when going over and if going at speed crashed would occur. This was a tragedy waiting to happen.

The run in question has a steep pitch coming down before the roller section that realistically would classify it as a red anywhere else but due to the lack of other blue pistes coming down from the top would push the choke point onto the adjacent Cristal piste. I can see how it was very easy to get up to those speeds for the crash to occur.

Steve Prince: I ski for about 70 days each season. The recklessness of MANY people, not just a few, is totally out of order. There should be ski police to suspend ski passes of such people.
Resorts should also be forced to limit the amount of people on the slopes. Alcohol should be banned from mountain restaurants. If people cannot go 7 hours without alcohol then they shouldn’t be skiing.

Chris Vernon: America’s /Canadas slopes are patrolled better than Europe, in all my years skiing in Europe I have never seen a ski patrol person stop anybody for skiing to fast/dangerously on any kind of slope in fact never seen anybody pulled for to many beers at lunch time.

Daran Rahill: 60km on a blue slope is wrong.

Lara Webber: Lots of people saying 60km is wrong. I would say, do you actually know how fast you are going, because in a v small closed off area for kids essentially, there was a speed gun. My 7 year old managed about 58km/hr, me around 60km/hr. My point is it doesn’t take much to be doing that speed. The bigger point is the number of totally out of control skiers, people jumping from off piste to on without looking uphill people making sudden turns immediately infront of you right across the slope with no perception of those around them. There do need tighter restrictions and quite honestly a basic tested level of safety to use the slopes as numbers of users increase year on year.

Kay Bates: I would welcome many of the things mentioned at the end of this article – piste patrols checking speeds and taking away ski passes, also signs about FIS code with perhaps a FIS code leaflet given with every ski pass sold. Many people are not in control when skiing and going far too fast. Too many people think that once they can move they no longet need lessons and ski outwith their capabilities. I watch everyone skiing from the chairlift as I ride uphill. I used to be one of GBRs world cup mogul ski judges so I can recognise the faults people make when skiing which could be improved by lessons. Please ski in control at all times, it is not clever to tuck down a crowded slope to see how fast you can go.

Victoria Brooks: I appreciate that we don’t have full information, but how is skiing at 60kmph on any piste that isn’t a closed race piste deemed anything but deliberately dangerous and likely to cause harm? And how is the sentence suspended – isn’t it like drink driving over a school crossing?

Case Study:

In 2015 one of our reader/reporters, Clare Meaney, was hit by an out-of-control skier in Val d’Isere.

The person fled the scene.

She received life-changing injuries and has courageously battled back.

We reproduce a selection of her articles for us and she made her recovery to show the reality of the issue:

January 2015: Hit and Run

February 2018: Back on Snow

January 2010: Back on Skis after Serious Injury

February 2024: PlanetSKI goes Adapative Skiing

Feel free to comment on the issues over on the PlanetSKI Facebook page.

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