Why do they keep letting people ski if it's this dangerous? I mean, we've already lost Sonny Bono and Natasha Richardson this way.  :\'( We should just stop with the skiing completely. It's just sad and needless. People are supposed to be able to play in the snow, make snow men and snow angels and go home and drink hot chocolate.
Not step on oversized tongue depressors and possibly die or be maimed for life.
I feel terribly for this man and his family regardless of what happens because either way, they will ALL be changed.

It's sad. I've never skiied...and won't ever.  :-\\

Why do they keep letting people ski if it's this dangerous? I mean, we've already lost Sonny Bono and Natasha Richardson this way.  :\'( We should just stop with the skiing completely. It's just sad and needless. People are supposed to be able to play in the snow, make snow men and snow angels and go home and drink hot chocolate.
Not step on oversized tongue depressors and possibly die or be maimed for life.
I feel terribly for this man and his family regardless of what happens because either way, they will ALL be changed.

It's sad. I've never skiied...and won't ever.  :-\\

Investigators probing the accident said Schumacher had been going at the speed of "a very good skier" at the time of the accident in the resort of Meribel and he had been skiing eight metres off-piste when he fell.

Why do they keep letting people ski if it's this dangerous?


Same reason as "they" keep "letting" people drive cars on racetracks at 200 miles per hour.

It's fun, and everybody on the slopes and on the tracks knows that they signed up for the risk when they decided to have some fun.

Meet Jeb Corliss. His idea of fun is to drop like a rock, gains enough speed to fly like a bird at a hundred miles an hour at an altitude of three or four feet, and then sails off into empty space before pulling his chute and landing safely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k

About two years ago, he crashed in South Africa (don't worry, I'm not linking to that one.) As you might imagine, most crashes in this sport are instantly fatal. Corliss was lucky; he "only" suffered multiple broken bones, a torn ACL, and needed skin grafts. After his recovery, he went to China and did this video last fall:

8ige-atxPKI

By the numbers, the most dangerous thing - by far - that I've ever done is drive back and forth to work in an automobile, and I do it every day. To make my commute fun, I listen to music. Yeah, I'm hardcore like that...

I'm not sure if there are words to describe the amount of fun Corliss has. (I'm also not sure if I have words to describe the weeks/months of preparations he goes through on a big jump, nor the amount of work he's put into his 15+ year career.) What I am sure is that he's had more fun at his job of being a professional BASE jumper and wingsuiter than I've had during my career. I had more fun watching Jeb Corliss having fun for ten minutes while making this post than I did all day. You can't make life 100% safe. Sometimes the risk is part of the fun.

Thank God for internet. Aside from a few sore fingertips and eyestrain, my limbs are all still atatched to me. I'm to scared to race, jump or ski. (Although I would look darling in a ski outfit.)

I actually looked at that jumping video and it made me sick with vertigo. I don't understand. It's illegal to leap off a bridge or building to commit suicide, but you can don the bat suit and tape the leap of faith.  ::)

I actually looked at that jumping video and it made me sick with vertigo. I don't understand. It's illegal to leap off a bridge or building to commit suicide, but you can don the bat suit and tape the leap of faith.  ::)


Jeb's been training for 15+ years.  He's broken a few laws by jumping off things he probably shouldn't have, but as a professional, he does it legally now.  You can jump out of a lot of things as long as you file the paperwork ahead of time.  The reason it's illegal for most people to jump off buildings isn't because they might land on other people (they might), make messes when they land (they might), but because if either of the two bad endings happens, someone might sue the owner of the building for not properly securing the door to the roof.

Give the owner of the building, or the rock formation, or whatever, enough money, and sign some forms that say you're liable for whatever happens (and that you'll cover the costs of your own rescue if you screw up), and have a track record that says you know what you're doing (this guy has trained for decades and has spent the past 10+ years helping engineers develop the wingsuit that he, and others like him, flies), and you can go for it.

Flying a wingsuit is probably a few hundred times more dangerous than driving to work.  Out of ten thousand wingsuit flights, someone's gonna die (and several have.)  Most people can commute back and forth to work for 30 years, 10000 days, and not die.  A bunch of them will have had at least a fender-bender, though.  Driving to work is a few hundred times more dangerous than things like roller coasters or other amusement park rides.  You hear about the one or two people who get stuck at the top of the hill or who manage to find a way to crawl out of the ride at the top of the loop.  You don't hear anything from tens of millions of happy riders except squeals of glee.

The safest mode of transport is not to drive.  (Source)  If the plane goes down, either everybody dies or almost everyone lives.  But most planes get you from A to B in perfect safety.  Buses crush pedestrians and most other cars beneath a 10-to-1 weight ratio.  Commuter trains turn pedestrians and automobiles alike into hamburger with a 10000-to-1 weight advantage.  (If you're on a train, it's almost impossible to get killed!)

http://www.besthealthdegrees.com/health-risks/chances-of-dying.jpg

Base jumping: 1/60 (pretty damn dangerous)
Grand Prix racing: 1/100 (also pretty dangerous)
Climbing Mount Everest or K2: 1/167
Driving a car: 1/6700
Airplanes: 1.27 deaths for every 100,000 hours you spend in the air. (So, about one death every 78000 hours - every ten years - you spend in the air.)
Skiiing: 1/1,400,000 participants.

Now I'm frightened of all modes of transport.  ::)

Michael Schumacher has shown "moments of consciousness", according to his agent. Sabine Kehm said in a statement to the media that he was "making progress", adding: "We remain optimistic." The seven-time Formula 1 world champion suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps on 29 December and has been kept in a coma to help reduce the swelling in his brain.

Michael Schumacher has reportedly been moved out of intensive care and into a rehabilitation ward prompting fresh fears about his recovery from an horrific skiing accident.       

Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm has not responded to the latests report in Germany.

But if true, it means that Schumacher, 45, is out of danger from dying from his injuries.

Medical sources always said that there would come a point when doctors would have to inform his wife Corinna, brother Ralf and father Rolf that there is nothing more they can do for him.

A rehab ward means he will still receive the same massage therapy and muscle toning that he has been getting daily but that doctors no longer expect significant improvements - certainly in the short term - in his condition.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/michael-schumacher-moved-intensive-care-3686907#ixzz34WDyrDo0

Michael Schumacher has reportedly been moved out of intensive care and into a rehabilitation ward prompting fresh fears about his recovery from an horrific skiing accident.       

Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm has not responded to the latests report in Germany.

But if true, it means that Schumacher, 45, is out of danger from dying from his injuries.

Medical sources always said that there would come a point when doctors would have to inform his wife Corinna, brother Ralf and father Rolf that there is nothing more they can do for him.

A rehab ward means he will still receive the same massage therapy and muscle toning that he has been getting daily but that doctors no longer expect significant improvements - certainly in the short term - in his condition.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/michael-schumacher-moved-intensive-care-3686907#ixzz34WDyrDo0


That is so sad.  :(

F1 champion Michael Schumacher has left hospital in Grenoble and is no longer in a coma, his family says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27868787

A German newspaper is reporting that Michael Schumacher is now able to respond to the sound of his wife’s voice.

A lawyer for Michael Schumacher has told a court in Germany that the former Formula 1 world champion "cannot walk" following his skiing injury.
Felix Damm was detailing the extent of Schumacher's injuries in a lawsuit against German magazine, Bunte.
The magazine had reported last Christmas that the seven-time world champion could walk again.
But Mr Damm said that Schumacher, 47, was unable even to stand with the help of specialists.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37406977