New Mexico ski areas offer ski helmet rentals

All of New Mexico's ski areas will now offer helmet rentals for skiers or snowboarders under the age of 18. State Sen. Eric Griego had been planning to introduce legislation to require slopes around the state to offer the rentals but the ski industry beat him to it.The issue became moot after Griego approached ski industry officials. He learned that only three of New Mexico's eight downhill ski areas—Santa Fe, Sandia Peak and Pajarito Mountain—didn't already offer such rentals. The three ski areas have since agreed to begin renting youth helmets, said George Brooks, executive director of Ski New Mexico.

"The senator and the ski areas in New Mexico have the same interests," Brooks said. "We all want the consumers, our guests, to be safe and enjoy the sport."

Geraldine Link, director of public policy for the National Ski Areas Association, said no states mandate youth helmets on the slopes but most ski areas nationwide offer rental helmets and many parents choose to purchase helmets for their children. "Through voluntary measures, we have achieved high usage rates," she said. Griego became concerned about the availability of children's rental helmets after taking his godson skiing at Santa Fe Ski Basin on Dec. 30. He had promised the boy's parents he would put the kid in a helmet.

"I got up there and found out they didn't rent helmets," Griego recalled.

So he purchased a $70 helmet, the On the same day at the ski area, a 10-year-old girl from Bushland, Texas, died after crashing and sliding into a tree. She wasn't wearing a helmet; investigators said she sustained head trauma. "My feeling was that if they're going to rent skis and snowboards, they ought to rent helmets, too," Griego said. cheapest model offered. Griego said some were selling for as much as $300.

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Ski death provokes helmet debate

The death of a woman in a highly publicised skiing collision has shaken holidaymakers and sparked debate about safety on the piste.

There has been plenty of early snow in the Alps and the ski season is in full swing. But in Kitzbuehel, the news of a fatal skiing accident has overshadowed the usual frivolous atmosphere at this time of year. People in Germany and Austria have been shocked by the recent ski accident involving a senior German politician, Dieter Althaus, and it has triggered a debate about wearing helmets.

In the accident, which happened on New Year's Day, a Slovak woman was killed and Mr Althaus, the governor of the eastern German state of Thuringia, was seriously injured when they collided while skiing. Mr Althaus, 50, was flown by helicopter to hospital in Schwarzach and he was placed in an artificially-induced coma. According to surgeons, he suffered injuries to the skull and brain. Neurologists said it was likely that the helmet that he was wearing saved his life.

Beata Christandl, a 41-year-old mother-of-four, was not wearing a helmet. She died on the way to hospital after suffering from multiple skull injuries. The accident happened at a junction of two pistes in the Riesneralm ski resort in Austria.

According to reports in the German media Mr Althaus was skiing on a red, intermediate, slope which crosses an easier slope, on which Beata Christandl was travelling. One investigator said both skiers were travelling at around 50km/h (30 mph).

Josef Schmid, a spokesman for the Austrian skiing federation, urged all those on the slopes to err on the side of caution. "We recommend that all skiers should wear helmets, it's not just young children, adults also need protection," Mr Schmid said.

"With the new carving skis, people tend to ski faster these days and they overestimate their own abilities. The slopes are very busy and it's much safer for everyone if you wear a helmet," he said. Politicians and leading figures in sport have called for the wearing of helmets to be made compulsory for skiers and snowboarders in Germany and Austria. In Italy, it is compulsory for all children under the age of 14 to wear a helmet on the ski slopes. And the idea has support from among skiing's elite." A helmet would help to reduce the severity of injuries," said Hilde Gerg, the 33-year-old German Olympic slalom champion, who has now retired from professional skiing, in an interview with Bunte magazine.

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