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Mt Bachelor being sued over death of 9yr old

Tahoma

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Several times I’ve been up the Summit chair at Bachelor the top 100 vertical feet or so had been wind-scoured and very sketchy on and off-piste, then conditions get better the rest of the way down. That’s also true of the Northwest chair.

Thing is, from the Summit there are marked trails on the trail map that are Blue runs, so people assume they can handle it because they were able to ski the other Blue runs all over the mountain. The idea of getting the top of the Summit is very appealing, so they are likely not taking into account the conditions at the top of a volcano at 9,000’ with 360 degrees of exposure and frequent winds, no trees and several rock outcroppings. It’s not the highest spot in the Cascades, but it’s the highest spot among ski resorts in the PNW with an unusual microclimate.
THIS.

My daughter and I have skied Bachelor a lot, and at different times during the season. The Summit is a magnet for folks who may or may not have the requisite skills to get down, and even the blue lift line run (Beverly Hills) can get wind-scoured and really slick really fast. Add to that the unique microclimate that David mentioned, and I can easily see things going sideways for less experienced skiers. Storms can move in quickly, and I've been on the Cloudchaser side needing to get back to the West Village during near-whiteout conditions. Braille skiing for sure. Without taking anything away from whatever duty a ski resort has to provide safe facilities, skiing has inherent risks, and skiers need to know their limitations and accept certain risks.

Losing a child is a horrible trauma for parents, one that doesn't resolve quickly. And I'm sure that this affected the ski patrollers, EMTs, MDs, and RNs who did their best to help this child. Been there too.
 

Bill Miles

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guys -

the trail rating system ( which I believe dates to the 1970s ) is designed and intended to rate trails by difficulty wiithin the boundaries for an individual ski area -
meaning
they are the Easiest, More Difficult, and Most Difficult runs or trails at that specific area.

there are some commonalities -
Easiest slopes are supposed to have gradients under 15% ;
More Difficult slopes may have gradients from 25% to 40% ; and

Most Difficult slopes may be slopes above 40 % ;

This trail rating system applies to terrain.

trail Conditions are a separate, independent issue.

... and I find this discussion in this thread ,,, disappointing.

I will leave this post up overnight - and I'll be glad to start a trail And Conditions rating thread tomorrow and ask that this post be deleted.


Thank you. skiJ
What are slopes between 15% and 25%?
 

skiJ

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depends on the area, Bill - difficulty designation is supposed to Be for that individual area ;

some trails would be among and area's Easiest , some would merit More Difficult.

it's Not solely slope - though If that was one's focus, one could include them all as More Difficult ( having a slope greater than 15% )


it's about relative difficulty - and more, it IS about Safety. !


Thank you. skiJ
 

RobSN

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I have just read through this entire thread and have no good ideas other than:
an eye-turning alternative example is if you ever stuck your arm or leg in an elevator door to counting on the elevator safety to stop it, you are no different than those same "idiots".
This is why people with a risk management background (moi, for example) use the fast wave through the door, so as to get said arm out before it touches the doors. A doctor in a Houston hospital was decapitated putting his head in when the elevator doors shut and the elevator moved. Unfortunately, the lady in the elevator at the time had to spend time with said head until rescued. Nasty.
And whose job is it to decide whether which shade of blue is the trail. Perhaps a lighter shade of black. A entirely new gray scale?
The trail at first just ghostly, turned a lighter shade of blue?
 

Bill Miles

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depends on the area, Bill - difficulty designation is supposed to Be for that individual area ;

some trails would be among and area's Easiest , some would merit More Difficult.

it's Not solely slope - though If that was one's focus, one could include them all as More Difficult ( having a slope greater than 15% )


it's about relative difficulty - and more, it IS about Safety. !


Thank you. skiJ
I agree it is about relative difficulty within the area and have always understood that. So, where did the difficulty by gradient in the previous post come from?
 

newfydog

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Just bought our Bachelor season passes today. They now offer two prices, one if you sign a detailed waiver, and a higher price if you don't. (maybe this has been discussed, I can't take 16 pages of this thread :)
)
 

Slim

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The unspoken part about American "litigiousness" is also the exorbitant cost of health care here. Frequently, it's the health insurance company trying to disclaim financial responsibility and demanding they sue someone else to exhaust their options before it'll pay out.
Exactly that. After I crashed on my mtb and broke my collar bone, my health insurance kept calling me over and over again, asking how and where it happened.
 

Bill Miles

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I saw online that Mt Bachelor/Powdr has been served and filed an answer. Answer is not available online unless you want to pay or a media outlet publishes it.
 

njred

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For what it’s worth, this season, after multiple, yes, multiple, unrelated long sliding falls that led to deaths and serious injuries, Palisades and Alpine Meadows did not open certain zones/runs.

Oi! That was a terrible stretch in late Jan to Feb, when we didn't have any snow for many weeks, and medevac helis were overhead everyday. I remember that I took a run down Chutes 75 on a weekday. It was sketch but was edge-able (assuming you sharpened your skis). And a couple of days later on the weekend, when I trying to ski it again, ski patrol told me they shut it down even though the conditions was more or less the same terrible boiler plate stuff. The same thing happened to expert areas in Alpine a week or so later. I imagine that Palisades would be flooded with lawsuits right now if they kept those area open as they were opening up a terrain + condition combo that were certainly as dangerous, if not more, than an icy blue trails off the top of Mt. Bachelor..
 
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SpeedyKevin

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Exactly that. After I crashed on my mtb and broke my collar bone, my health insurance kept calling me over and over again, asking how and where it happened.
My insurance kept trying to find someone to blame. Be it the snow, snow gods, lift operator, whatever. They just wanted someone to blame for my broken clavicle haha
 
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Tricia

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My insurance kept trying to find someone to blame. Be it the snow, snow gods, lift operator, whatever. They just wanted someone to blame for my broken clavicle haha
I experienced this same thing about 15 years ago when I broke my wrist mountain biking. I kept saying, it was no big deal, I just tipped over.
 

Bill Miles

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Bend newspaper article states Bachelor has filed an answer claiming no liability due to inherent risks, etc., but does not include the actual answer. Link to article:
 

Shawn

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Bend newspaper article states Bachelor has filed an answer claiming no liability due to inherent risks, etc., but does not include the actual answer. Link to article:

Those facts do not look good for the father:

—It also said he and his father failed to follow the resort’s instructions, noting “Brecken Boice and Brian Boice rode the Summit lift and chose to ski terrain after being advised that they could encounter icy conditions while skiing such terrain.”

—“There were signs at the entrance to the Summit lift warning that the conditions were icy and the level to ski down were rated as expert,” wrote Aaron Myers, a deputy with the sheriff’s office. “I was told the ungroomed trails on the mountain were extremely icy. The Boices took Healy Heights run down the mountain, which is ungroomed.”

—Brecken’s helmet was also found undamaged, with the buckle secured, and far away from where Brecken ended up, indicating it might not have been tight enough under the boy’s chin, allowing it to come off without unhooking, Meyers wrote.
 

James

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Brecken’s helmet was also found undamaged, with the buckle secured, and far away from where Brecken ended up, indicating it might not have been tight enough under the boy’s chin, allowing it to come off without unhooking, Meyers wrote.
This is not uncommon.
 

gratedwasabi

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What a sad, tragic story. I went to Bachelor for the first time this year and thought it was exceedingly well marked all over the mountain. Also some of the nicest staff I've encountered. I was able to go to the summit and there were warnings all over about ice, on site, on the website, etc.., even though the frontside conditions were pretty decent. When you get to the top it's pretty obvious any route down will be more challenging than the lower mountain equivalent.
 

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