RISKS BEING REDUCED IN SUPERPIPE
The death of daredevil pipe skier Sarah Burke might well have been a freak accident that resulted from a seemingly innocuous training run fall at Park City, Utah.
But it is still likely to re- ignite the debate over safety in the halfpipe, or superpipe as many of the U- shaped snow- and- ice venues now are called as their walls have climbed to 22 feet.
Two years ago, American snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained a traumatic brain injury during a training accident in the same Park City pipe in which Burke, a Squamish resident, fell and ruptured an artery that carries blood to her brain.
Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, said Burke’s fall and subsequent death as a result of the irreversible brain damage was a “fluke more than anything else.”
He said Burke, a 29- year- old pioneer in the sport, was well versed in preventive measures and that “safety is a primary operative concern in everything we do.”
The larger pipes, he said, are actually safer than some of the early generation pipes because they provide for a better transition area and longer landing area.
“He’s absolutely right,” Dr. Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon and head physician for U. S. Snowboarding, said in a telephone interview. “The transition or curvature, the vertical part of the wall to bottom, is very gentle.”
Hackett said he’s actually jumped, without skis, from the lip of the pipe to the bottom to attend to injured skiers.
Hackett said the ski and snowboard athletes work closely with the technicians who “cut” the pipes to make them as safe as possible. He conceded that as the sport has progressed the tricks the athletes are performing have become increasingly more difficult with the added height and different types of off- axis rotations.
“But I think the athletes have a healthy respect for their sport and what they do and what the risks are.”
Says Judge: “There is an element of risk in any sport. There is an element of risk walking down the street. That’s part of the equation in action sports ... Nothing is going to eliminate all accidents.”
Hackett said the number of injuries in halfpipe skiing or snowboarding is lower than in many other sports, particularly alpine skiing and ski cross.
“Even though [ Burke’s injury and death] is devastating, ultimately I think it is much safer than many other [ winter] sports.”