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No_Establishment6528 t1_jd3tmw2 wrote

Reply to comment by wobbly-cheese in 2 Illinois teens on spring break killed in a sledding accident at Colorado's Copper Mountain | CNN by Lampwickhu

Really? I was able to go tubing in at PA resort... But the "mountains" there are MUCH smaller

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Patchyug t1_jd3ws72 wrote

Was it on a dedicated tubing hill? Much different than taking a tube on a ski run

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Leading-Two5757 t1_jd40fao wrote

Many ski resorts have tubing hills. The tubing hills are separate from the skiing hills, there is no shared space for both activities.

Every resort I have worked for with a tubing hill has had entirely separate departments dedicated to running their operations. The only connection with the ski resorts is where the profits ultimately goes - for all customer facing purposes they should be looked at as two separate entities.

If you’re going tubing at one of these places, you’re not tubing at a ski resort. You’re tubing at a tubing hill that just happens to be adjacent to and owned by the ski resort.

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Matt3989 t1_jd46ksl wrote

When I worked at an East Coast resort, we had way more trauma deaths from tubing than from the skiing/snowboarding side.

Most mountain deaths on the ski resort side were heart attacks, the tubing hill on the other hand would have 1 or more per year of conditions getting a bit too slick and a tube flying over/crashing into the barrier at the end or into a person at high speed.

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Johnny_Appleweed t1_jd3wn92 wrote

Yeah, not sure how much experience this guy has with ski resorts. Lots of them rent tubes and sleds. Copper, where this happened, does in fact rent tubes.

But then they only allow you to ride them in specifically-designed courses under supervision of staff and during regular business hours.

The problem isn’t sleds per se, it’s that they used one in a place they weren’t supposed to after hours.

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cboel t1_jd4bzuv wrote

If they went down a half pipe in a sled or tube, that's pretty insane. It wouldn't have been a question of being there at the appropriate time as any time would be inappropriate to do so.

You can zig-zag to slow your travel downhill, even while still going fast across the hill, on skies and a snowboard. You can't really do that very easily on a sled or tube.

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Johnny_Appleweed t1_jd4c8of wrote

Yeah, that’s true, there’s no safe time to do that. I was more thinking that during regular hours there might have been someone to stop them.

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Dorkamundo t1_jd49lng wrote

Yea, and the tubing PARKS are specifically designed for tubes and rigorously tested to ensure safety.

They also have walls that prevent the tubes from exiting the designated areas.

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stugautz t1_jd40rko wrote

Tubing hills have areas designed to slow you to a stop.

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mentalxkp t1_jd483q0 wrote

You can here in Colorado. They have specific areas set aside for it.

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boozewald t1_jd4i2y8 wrote

A tubing hill and half pipe have very different forms and function despite how similar they might look.

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