Beware of ski-tracks!

Last week, in my French hometown, near the Avoriaz ski resort, an out-of-bound Ukrainian skier jumped off a cliff some 150 feet to his death.

While this kind of accident isn’t unusual in the Alps, it must be noted that this poor man’s fatal fall might be due to a judgmental error many skiers can make when they ski powder in places they’re unfamiliar with.

The area where the accident happened is one that a number of paragliding skiers use for easy take off, and it’s quite plausible that the unfortunate 50 year-old skier might have unwittingly followed some fresh tracks left by paragliders while not quite seeing that there were huge cliffs beyond the visible edge of the slope.

Morale of the story: Never follow willy-nilly fresh tracks in an unknown area where there might be cliffs or other dangerous features, by simply trusting that they’ll lead to a skiable path down below.

Always remain extremely wary and when in doubt, proceed very slowly!