Fact Sheet
Safety is #1 Concern in Colorado Ski Country USA
"Safety First" is not only for the Boy Scouts, Colorado Ski
Country USA believes that a safe skier is a happy skier. From Ski
Patrol safety displays to free helmets and Yellow Jackets roaming
the slopes, here are just a few of the programs that CSCUSA resorts
initiate to maintain enjoyable on slope experiences.
Arapahoe Basin, www.arapahoe.com
- Children receive free helmet rental with ski school.
- Ski patrol assembly at Summit Middle School during early season.
- Ski Club Arapahoe ski safety program-Ski Patrol puts on avalauncher, search and rescue and avalanche dog displays.
- Safety talks by ski patrol to visiting groups.
Aspen/Snowmass, www.aspensnowmass.com
- Helmets are required for children 12 and under participating in Aspen's Ski & Snowboard Schools.
- "Safety Tip of the Day" program: Each day's tip is posted at
all four mountains and is announced on the local RSN television
station, Channel 16.
Beaver Creek, www.beavercreek.com
- Yellow Jackets patrol the mountain, helping to educate guests and enforce Your Responsibility Code, monitor speed in high-traffic areas, and assist guests with questions or needs. Beaver Creek's Yellow Jacket team is proactive in rewarding positive displays of points outlined in Your Responsibility Code.
- Space Not Speed: Vail Resorts introduced this new slogan during the past winter season, sparking renewed awareness of on-mountain safety among skiers and riders. Space Not Speed means give other skiers, riders and objects space on the mountain and maintain a controlled speed at all times.
- Increased Signage: Designated on-mountain Slow Zones and terrain parks received a boost in signage to help increase awareness.
- Education: Continued teaching of responsibility on the mountain in all ski and snowboard group and private lessons through the Beaver Creek Ski and Snowboard School. Children get help with learning about safety and responsibility from Dusty the Safety Eagle, who visits the Children's Ski and Snowboard School Center.
- Beaver Creek Safety Posse: the largest ski resort Safety Posse in Colorado, deputizing nearly 4000 guests and resort employees with custom-designed hats, badges and buttons promoting safety on the mountain. Safety Posse hats, badges and buttons will be given to guests throughout the weekend.
- Presentations by the Eagle County Safety Alliance: The Eagle County Safety Alliance represents a partnership between several local law enforcement and medical entities, including Avon Police, Vail Police, Eagle River Fire Protection District and Vail Valley Medical Center. The alliance works in conjunction with Beaver Creek's Yellow Jacket on-mountain safety patrol to educate mountain users on "Your Responsibility Code" and skiing and riding etiquette.
- Awards: Best Use of Community Volunteers and Safety
Posse, Safety Alliance, Think First
Breckenridge, www.breckenridge.com
- Breckenridge Safety Challenge: The program is directed toward individual departments or teams, encouraging them to create a program for safety week, including decorations, contests, games, activities, and messages. The purpose of the program was to promote guest and employee safety awareness around the resort.
Copper Mountain, www.coppoercolorado.com
- Extensive Slope Watch Program designed to promote and educate visitors about safety on the slopes.
- Ski Patrol visits classrooms at Summit County Elementary to
educate kids on the Skier Responsibility Code.
Durango, www.durangomountain.com
- Enforcement of slow zones by paid staff and volunteer Mountain Safety Personnel.
- Increased placement of slow sign and banners by 40 per cent.
- Promotion of National Skier Safety week with pins, buttons and
literature regarding the Skier's Responsibility Code.
Loveland, www.skiloveland.com
- Participation in the NSAA's National Safety week every year in January.
- Involved in NSAA's Ski Safety program by displaying banners and
posters and distributing info cards.
Steamboat, www.steamboat.com
- School Poster Contest: Steamboat's Ski Patrol works closely with area schools in Routt County highlighting the importance of safety on the slopes during the 2004/05 safety poster contest. The patrollers visit individual classrooms while encouraging participation in the NSAA Safety Poster contest. In 2003, Steamboat awarded the 1st, 2nd, 3rd at each participating school. The overall winner is then submitted to the national NSAA Safety Poster Contest. All posters are then displayed at the top of the gondola.
- AED: Having already been credited with saving the lives of several individuals, the resort added an additional automated external defribulator (AED) unit last year to its rapid response medical arsenal within Ski Patrol. This unit is capable of viewing and recording cardiac rhythms as well as administering life-saving cardiac shocks. It replaces the Life Pak 300, which the resort first obtained nearly ten years, and rounds out a system that currently includes three AED units.
- Doctors and Paramedics on the Mountain: Seven local physicians and another five local paramedics exchange being on-call on the slopes through the resort's mountain/ski patrol radio network for free skiing privileges. Steamboat's program of putting local doctors and paramedics on the mountain is 20 years old. Dr. David Cionni, who heads the Advanced Life Support program at Steamboat, says at least one physician or paramedic is on the hill "almost 100 percent of the time."
- NSAA Programs: Steamboat participates in the National Ski
Areas Association's (NSAA) National Safety Awareness Week, Lids On
Kids Program and Head's Up Safety Initiative. To promote this
industry-wide safety initiative, Steamboat has developed creative
safety programs unique to its operations that will be implemented
during Safety Week. These include safety demonstrations,
on-mountain contests, Boeri helmet promotions, redeemable coupons
for guests who can recite parts of Your Responsibility Code, ski
school safety demonstrations, employee competitions, and
participation in the Kids' Safety Poster Contest, a local contest
that invites elementary-aged children in resort communities to
design safety-related posters.
Vail, www.vail.com
- Kids safety poster program will become more of a season long program and further create, promote and support children's safety programs, creating life-long safety soldiers for the future. Kids safety elements will cover park and pipe as well as all mountain safety.
- Vail will continue to invest in new signage, portraying messages in a fun yet, educational manner. (Last year one of our signs said "No Wake Zone".)
- The Yellow Jackets: An arm of the Vail Ski Patrol that is purposely visible on the mountain providing daily monitored slow runs and increases guest awareness of mountain safety. The Yellow Jacket patrol has become a revered job. Mountain Information staff ski around the resort, supporting ski patrol, providing guest transportation and offering information and directions. The volunteer Community Host program greet guests at the main base areas and offer daily grooming reports, helpful tips and general support to ensure guests have swift and easy access to the slopes.
- Awards: For the fifth year in a row, Vail was recognized by the
NSAA in May for having the best overall safety program.
Winter Park, www.skiwinterpark.com
- Helmets are free for kids who participate in the Adventure Junction Children's Center and are available for rent at the rental shop.
- The Skier Education and Assistance Team (SEAT): Organized and
administered by the Ski Patrol, team participants come from a
variety of operational departments and are trained to monitor
traffic, give directions and assistance, and slow down fast
skiers/riders in slow zones. The can give warnings or pull
passes as necessary. They are concentrated in high traffic
areas and have a higher presence during busy times. They also
do school education in local and Front Range schools and provide
"lodge talks" on safety to large groups visiting the resort upon
request.
