Vail Resorts ignores its forest

A few days ago, Park City Mountain (PCM) was fined $2,500 for having violated safety standards in an accident where a tree fell on a ski lift line, on the morning of January 2 of this year killing Christian Helger a 29 year old employee that under the violence of the impact was thrown from the chair lift and fell about 50 feet into deep snow. 

 The accident happened after 48 inches of snow fell on Park City over two days. The day before the accident, a tree also fell on Short Cut, employees told an investigator. The lift was stopped while staff removed that tree. 

Travis Heggie, a Bowling Green State University professor who studies injuries and deaths in the outdoors industries, said that Helger’s death was completely avoidable, saying: “They don't train their employees,” Heggie said of PCM Resort. “The ski lift operators don't have the training like the ski patrol has, they don't have the training to look for ski hazards when they do that first run in the morning.” 

For this fatality, Park City Mountain is likely to be penalized by only $2,500 for failing to keep its workplace free from dangers by the Utah Occupational Safety and Health (UOSH). This decision, that could be appealed by PCM seems like a slight on the wrist and is the result of the resort’s total neglect and devil-may-care attitude when it comes to tree and vegetation management on its slopes. 

This is something I’ve been said all along. Vail Resorts, the parent of PCM is only interested by its profit performance on Wall Street. Mr. Heggie seemed to concur with me when he said “I think it needs to be about $2.5 million,” and he added: “At $2,500, nobody's going to change their practices.” 

At the end Vail Resorts will have to pay that small fine, but this will be followed by a huge civil lawsuit that will end up into a multi-million dollars settlement or judgment that hopefully will finally change the way the company looks at trees and bushes!