The sun glints off the fresh powder as junior Maeva Herbert-Paz carves her way down the slope, the sharp wind biting her cheeks. But one wrong move — a patch of unstable snow — and she could find herself tumbling into a season-long injury.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of skiing. Each turn is a mix of exhilaration and anticipation — an experience that brings millions flocking to the mountains every year. For Paly students, weekend trips to Lake Tahoe, Park City and other destinations offer an escape from the stress of high school.
However, skiing offers a paradoxical blend of freedom and fragility: one moment you’re gliding weightlessly across fresh snow; the next, you’re bracing against an unexpected mogul that sends you sprawling. This element of unpredictability in conditions makes skiing and snowboarding inherently dangerous activities, and injuries remain a common part of the sport.
“All athletes can absolutely enjoy skiing while staying safe, but it requires being mindful of precautions,” Don Habibi, seasoned ski instructor at Northstar Resort, said.
Aside from the traditional skiing attire, athletes also wear protective gear to shield themselves from casualties, including wrist guards, helmets, chest and back plates and various padding.
Junior Ian Johnston is an avid skier as well as a baseball player. Johnston wears protective gear to not only keep him safe on the mountain, but also to keep himself in the best condition for the upcoming baseball season.
“I wear a helmet to protect myself from head injuries, and I also wear a back brace to protect my back, which I started to wear around three years ago,” Johnston said. “I have never been injured skiing, which is in-part due to the protection I wear.”
Mountain activities can be extremely risky thanks to the challenging terrain mixed with unpredictable weather conditions. Whether it’s the icy patches hidden in a mogul field, sudden drops on unpaved runs or hazardous obstacles combined with poor visibility, the mountain can be both beautiful and dangerous.
“Whenever I’m going down complicated terrain I always have to be really careful,” Johnston said. “You never know where a rock or a tree could be, they can just throw you off and seriously injure you.”
Ski resorts like Palisades, Heavenly and Vail are extremely popular for skiers and snowboarders with a wide range of skills, meaning that advanced riders are cruising down the same runs as first-timers. As a result, specific terrain may require extra precautions for the most safe and enjoyable experience.
According to Mass General Brigham, knee injuries make up around half of all ski injuries, predominantly with ACL tears, MCL tears and meniscus injuries. Maeva Herbert-Paz is a year-round water polo player, who also enjoys spending her free time on the mountain, snowboarding.
Herbert-Paz has been subject to multiple injuries during her snowboarding career, including an MCL sprain and an elbow fracture. Both of these injuries took her out of practice circulation for many months, causing issues for both her team and coaching staff.
“Recovery obviously varies from injury to injury,” Herbert-Paz said. “For my elbow injury, it was three months before I could play water polo again, and my knee injury was reoccurring for two seasons of play. I had to spend a lot of time in physical therapy to fix it.”
Even though injuries can stem from a main sport such as water polo, ski injuries can be even more dangerous than other injuries because of the high impact forces involved in falling from significant heights at high speeds.
“With snowboarding, the injuries can definitely be a lot more severe, because you can get impact injuries, such as broken bones and you really can’t control the environment around you,” Herbert-Paz said.
Severe injuries also have the added effect of impacting athletes’ regular high school season, leading many coaches to enforce policies against winter sports to avoid jeopardizing their teams’ season.
In spite of this, senior Kaitlyn Gonzalez-Arceo believes that skiing allows athletes to maintain a balance between sports and personal enjoyment.
“I could see why they [coaches] don’t want their athletes injured,” Gonzalez-Areco said. “However, I don’t think it’s fair, because it doesn’t take much out of you and it would make more sense for coaches to say, ‘Hey, make sure to be safe out there’, but I don’t think they should be stopping you.”
With all the dangers and risks associated with skiing, taking important precautions becomes imperative to ensure safety on the slopes. Due to the isolated nature of mountains, quick and direct medical care is not a guarantee. Thus there is great importance of knowing your limits.
“The [Ski resorts] should really emphasize that there are levels of skiing,” Gonzalez-Areco said. “There are greens, blues and blacks. Don’t push yourself until you’re a hundred percent certain that you can go to a higher rank without getting injured, because that’s the mistake I made.”
Another less obvious but equally important precaution is staying hydrated. Skiers may not realize they’re dehydrated due to the cold weather, but the combination of physical exertion, altitude, and dry mountain air can lead to fluid loss.
“Sometimes I notice when snowboarding, especially in Colorado, because of its high altitude, I get more fatigued because it’s difficult to stay hydrated throughout the day,” Herbert-Paz said. “This can stunt my judgement on occasion, causing me to do reckless things, often leading to my injuries.”
Whether it’s a helmet, a hydration break or simply knowing when to call it a day, skiing can teach invaluable lessons of knowing your limits.
