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What Will You Break on a Ski Break?

Skiing might sound like an invigorating winter vacation pastime, but some think it's got a dangerous side. Judging by the photos in a Times report out of the UK over the weekend, it's true. They put together a special about ski breaks of a different sort: those in holidaymakers bones.

As well as showing a neat collection of x-rays, the newspaper drew on the info at a website called ski-injury.com, which collates data about ski accidents in Scotland. What worried us the most was that it's not those risk-taking advanced skiers that are most likely to break a bone--it's beginners.

For skiers, the most common damage to do to yourself is injuring a knee, with the head and shoulders also taking a beating. Snowboarders face different dangers, with 25 percent of their injuries being to wrists.

On an across-the-world basis, winter sport enthusiasts will be happy to hear that skiing and snowboarding are really relatively safe. A skier would have to ride for around 1,000 days--nearly three years non-stop--to guarantee an injury, and snowboarders--depending on whose stats you believe--can go 500 days between incidents. The good news is that whichever stats you manipulate, it sure ain't as dangerous as Mom said, so get out there and hit the slopes.

Related Stories:
· Ski Breaks: The X-Ray Stories [UK Times]
· Skiing coverage [Jaunted]
· Ski Areas Near Airports Map [Jaunted]

[Photo: gojumeister]