After the Corona years, many people do even less winter sports than before, says Paal. If you then hit the slopes, there is a risk that you will misjudge your own possibilities. “The best Formula 1 car is of no use if the driver is bad. And when it comes to skiing, you have to say: the pilots have gotten worse,” the ÖKAS president said on Tuesday.
At the same time, Paal spoke out against piste closures because of the accidents. The slopes are well prepared in this snowless winter. Anyone who goes skiing should also be able to master very hard artificial snow slopes and drive accordingly. Due to the weather, there is almost no snow outside the piste – accordingly, the fall areas are limited and there are more dangerous situations in cases where people cross the edge of the piste due to overconfidence or high speed.
Since November 1, 13 people have died in the ski resorts of Austria, eleven of them in Tyrol.
Slope operators only have to take precautions against those dangers that winter sports enthusiasts cannot expect, Austrian Alpine Club president and lawyer Andreas Ermacora told ORF Tirol. Many of the fatal accidents are due to their own fault. “If you go over the edge of the runway and hit a tree, it’s very tragic, but you can’t blame the runway operator for it,” Ermacora said.
(SDA)