Alpine resorts crack down on speed-freak skiers
Felix Lowe
Sunday January 8, 2006
The Observer
Those carefree days of hurtling down the piste at breakneck speed with the wind freezing your face and the powder spraying beneath your feet may be numbered.
The Swiss Alpine resort of Grindelwald has set a precedent on the ski slopes of Europe by introducing a 30km/h (19mph) speed limit on one of its pistes. The 'Speed 30 Slope' - the two-kilometre intermediate blue run in the Oberjoch ski area - is designed to protect young, elderly or inexperienced skiers and snowboarders from the fast and furious bearing down on them from above. The restriction is the first of its kind in Europe and, according to the resort, it has been well received by the public.
'Ninety-five per cent of people are respecting the regulation,' said resort spokesman Beni Kaufbahn, who claims offenders will be reprimanded but not punished. 'We don't take ski passes away, we don't have police.'
The authorities have robustly defended themselves against claims that they are killjoys by pointing out that 45,000 people are hurt a year on Switzerland's pistes, mainly due to collisions. Kaufbahn denied reports that similar speed limits would be introduced across the Alps: 'A full 30km/h speed limit makes no sense, that is not what we are trying to enforce. But where the slopes are wide enough it is a great option to offer,' he said.
While he claimed that the idea was inspired by the 30km/h driving speed limit in European towns, Kaufbahn said the resort was not yet ready to introduce speed cameras. 'I hope not!' he said.
In February 2005 the French resort of Courchevel installed a speed camera on the 'Grandes Bosses' blue run in an attempt to raise safety awareness. Speed clampdowns are already common in the United States and Canada where ski police, sometimes wearing flashing blue helmets, have the power to chase, suspend, fine and even press charges against reckless skiers.
In the Swiss resort of Zermatt, police are ordering skiers and boarders to slow down after a skier was killed in a collision last season. Lift attendants and ski patrollers have been given authority to confiscate passes if skiers ignore the piste etiquette laid down by the International Ski Federation's 10-step common-sense guide.
British former Olympic skier Konrad Bartelski said the federation's guide is not being followed: 'The problem with skiing nowadays is that people throw common sense out of the window. Because ski equipment is getting so much better and the pistes are so smooth, people are skiing faster than they realise,' he said.
But he said speed limits were not the answer: 'If these speed restrictions were all over the mountain, we'd all get frostbite. Speed is irrelevant, control is the key issue.'
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