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A slalom ski racer’s center-of-mass (CoM) has a negative acceleration during a turn. Some of this change in acceleration can be attributed to the physical contact with the pole, and possibly physiological and/or psychological factors of the ski racer. One factor may be the type/size of poles (gates) used to define the race line (route prescribed by competition rules) in slalom. Poles come in a variety of sizes and styles. This study utilized five differing pole types with 12-year-old male and female racers. As a general conclusion, they were faster on the small/shorter poles. They also felt faster, more aggressive, higher level of confidence, and thought their race line was superior on the shorter poles. When looking at the acceleration component, we divided the skiers into “skilled” and “less skilled.” The two groups differed on direction of acceleration. The discussion lays out mechanical, physiological, psychological, and technique ramifications to interpret this acceleration paradox.

Skiing and snowboarding are popular snow-sports with inherent risk of injury. There is potential to reduce the prevalence of injuries by improving and implementing snow-sport safety devices with the application of advanced materials. This chapter investigates the application of auxetic foam to snow-sport safety devices. Composite pads—consisting of foam covered with a semi-rigid shell—were investigated as a simple model of body armour and a large 70 × 355 × 355 mm auxetic foam sample was fabricated as an example crash barrier. The thermo-mechanical conversion process was applied to convert open-cell polyurethane foam to auxetic foam. The composite pad with auxetic foam absorbed around three times more energy than the conventional equivalent under quasi-static compression with a concentrated load, indicating potential for body armour applications. An adapted thermo-mechanical process—utilising through-thickness rods to control in-plane compression—was applied to fabricate the large sample with relatively consistent properties throughout, indicating further potential for fabrication of a full size auxetic crash barrier. Further work will create full size prototypes of snow-sport safety devices with comparative testing against current products.

The speed before the accident is a necessary data to understand the injury mechanisms and to evaluate means of protection. In order to interpret the reported speed of a skier in an accident survey, this study aims to identify the governing factors of skiing speed and to propose ranges of speed combining the identified factors and the skiers’ perception of their speed. Travelling speed of 1399 skiers and snowboarders was measured with a radar speed gun. Gender, sport, helmet use, skill level, difficulty, and preparation of the slope were recorded. 170 recorded skiers were interviewed about their age, their skill level, their perceived speed (“slow to medium,” “high,” or “too high”), and their estimated speed (km/h). Linear regression models were used to evaluate the effect of each factor on skiing speed. The mean recorded speed was 43.4 (±15.2) km/h. It was 37.5 (±9.8) km/h when the perceived speed was “low to medium” and 49.0 (±14.6) km/h when the perceived speed was “high.” The factors best explaining skiing speed were the skill level ( = 0.26) and the slope difficulty ( = 0.19). Gender, age, sport, and slope preparation were found to have a small but significant effect ( < 0.1; < 0.05). Those factors also influenced the speed perception: for the same perceived speed, “less skilled” skiers and skiers on easy slope tended to go on average 6 km/h and 8 km/h slower than the “more skilled” and those on medium slope, respectively. Finally, skiers estimated their measured speed fairly (: 0.53). They tended to overestimate the speed when they went slower than 35 km/h but underestimated it at higher speed. Ranges of speed were obtained regarding perceived speed, skill level, and difficulty of the slope. This should be considered when interpreting skiers’ evaluation of their speed in accidents reports.

Snowsport safety strategies include resort and equipment design, trail management, emergency response, and public education. Snowsport instructors are well placed to inform their students about snowsport safety both in the behavior they model and the information they provide. To contribute to the evidence-base of snowsport safety and helmet awareness, this research explores the actual and estimated maximal speeds of ski and snowboard instructors across a normal work-day as well as their knowledge of helmet effectiveness. During winter 2012/13, a convenience sample of 109 instructors was recruited across six resorts in Western Canada and were issued with iPhone 3 s loaded with the Ski Tracks app. An anonymous questionnaire investigated their prior snowsport experiences, their knowledge of snowsport safety, and their understanding of helmet effectiveness. Results indicated that snowsport instructors: (1) underestimated their maximal speeds by 12 km/h on average; (2) overestimated the overall snowsport injury rate as well as the proportion of head injuries; and (3) overestimated the effectiveness of helmets. Based upon these results, if snowsport instructors are to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the snowsport safety of their students then their own knowledge needs to be developed with regard to helmet effectiveness.

Introduction: Ski touring along ski slopes (slope touring) has increased in recent years on Austrian ski slopes. Alcohol consumption is proposed to be a risk factor in winter sports-related accidents. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors associated with alcohol intake among uninjured slope tourers.

Methods: A total of 328 slope tourers (45% females) with a mean age of 43.8 ± 11.8 years were questioned in February and March 2014 in two huts at the top of two Austrian ski areas. Questionnaires were conducted during daytime (9.00 a.m.–4.00 p.m.) and nighttime hours (5.00 p.m.–9.45 p.m.) with a following breath alcohol test. Slope tourers filled in on demographics, skill level, risk-taking behavior, ski helmet use, and alcohol consumption. In addition, slope tourers who had consumed alcohol were asked to estimate their individual breath alcohol level.

Results: In total, 187 (57%) of the slope tourers reported that they had consumed alcohol at the hut. Male sex, a higher BMI, more ski touring experience, and less ski helmet use were significantly associated with alcohol intake among slope tourers. Mean-tested breath alcohol level was 0.24 ± 0.17‰; this significantly differed from the mean estimated breath alcohol level of 0.18 ± 0.12‰. Male slope tourers had a significantly higher breath alcohol level than female slope tourers (0.26 ± 0.17 vs. 0.22 ± 0.15‰, = 0.014).

Conclusion: Approximately 60% of interviewed slope tourers, predominantly males, consumed alcohol in the huts. In addition, male slope tourers had a significantly higher breath alcohol level compared to female slope tourers and mean-tested breath alcohol level was underestimated by approximately 25% on average.

Background: Common reasons reported for helmet non-use are impaired hearing and impaired vision and an increasing level of risk taking. Therefore, health communication programmes should be instituted to get non-helmeted skiers and snowboarders to try out helmets to eliminate their potential prejudices. Aim: to evaluate whether and to what extent attitudes regarding ski helmets change after a period of utilization. Methods: Subjects who wanted to borrow a ski helmet in a ski rental shop had to rate 14 attitudes about ski helmets using a 5-point Likert scale two times (1) before they borrow a helmet and (2) after the return of the helmet. Results: A total of 231 (43.7% females) subjects with a mean age of 35.2 ± 14.3 years participated. A ski helmet was used never before, one time, and more times by 21.2, 16.7, and 62.1%, respectively. There was a significant increase after borrowing in the agreement that all winter sport participants should wear a ski helmet ( = .003), and that a ski helmet damages the hairstyle ( = .021) while there was a decreasing agreement that a ski helmet looks good/is stylish ( = .030). According to a factor analysis, attitudes about ski helmets clustered around two major dimensions—“safety awareness/comfort” and “subjective disadvantages” explaining 42–43% of the overall variance. A significant increase in the dimension “safety awareness/comfort” from pre- 31.8 ± 5.9 to post-borrowing 32.6 ± 5.9 ( < .001) was found while the dimension “subjective disadvantages” did not significantly change (pre: 18.6 ± 4.3 vs. post: 19.1 ± 4.3, = .091). Regarding subgroup analysis with these two dimensions, previous helmet use (never before vs. one time vs. more times) did not show significant differences in the change in attitudes. Conclusion: The ski helmet-related dimension “safety awareness/comfort” significantly increased after a period of utilization, irrespective of previous helmet use.