License to ski

It was reported this week that an Irish teenager could face criminal prosecution over the death of a fellow skier he crashed into during a holiday in Zell am See in the Austrian Alps. Although the teenager, aged just 14, initially fled the scene, he later handed himself in to local police.

No information has yet been released about the teenager’s ability as a skier, nor if the 49-year-old man who was killed was wearing a helmet. In November last year, Italy became the first country in the world to make ski helmets mandatory for all skiers, snowboarders, and sledders, regardless of age. Non-compliance can result in fines of €100–€200 and potential lift pass revocation.

While the increase in the number of skiers wearing helmets has unquestionably contributed to the global reduction in skiing injuries over the last two decades, a report from 2020 found that day-ticket holders were the most injured of all. Though the report does not specifically say so, those skiing just for a day or so at a time are also the least likely to take professional instruction. This is not a coincidence.

Imagine flying to Austria and turning up at a car rental firm without a driving license—you would be turned away and possibly reported to police. You certainly wouldn’t be handed the keys to a vehicle capable of high speeds. At ski resorts, there are currently no checks in place to prevent a total beginner from renting a pair of skis, buying a lift ticket, and heading off down the nearest slope at great speed. It is this correspondent’s opinion that the time for such checks, in the form of ski licenses, has come.

There is currently no suggestion that the teenager in Austria was a beginner or that he was skiing without the supervision of a qualified instructor. But anecdotal evidence does suggest that the number of young skiers (and snowboarders) eschewing professional instruction is on the rise. That we have raised a generation of autodidacts is both thrilling (if their activities are limited to sedentary pursuits) and chilling (if they ski or snowboard without learning how).

The mechanics of introducing ski licenses would be straightforward enough. Rental shops and lift-pass offices are already equipped to scan documents (they regularly check credit cards and passports). A ski license for beginners slopes, issued after completing a basic proficiency course, could be verified as easily as a driving license. Further licenses could then be obtained for intermediate and expert slopes. The International Ski Instructors Association could oversee standardised testing across countries, much as it already does for instructor qualifications.

The real question is enforcement. Unlike roads, ski slopes have no traffic police patrolling for reckless behaviour, although the number of ski patrols is increasing, with Italy, again, leading the way. But anyone wanting to ski needs either rental equipment or a lift pass, often both. Requiring proof of at least some competence at these junctures would catch most beginners before they reach the slopes. Alpine resorts, which already employ small armies of staff during peak season, could absorb the additional checking without much fuss.

Of course, such a system would infuriate the ski industry. Resort operators fear anything that might reduce visitor numbers, and mandatory licensing would almost certainly do so. Industry data, however, also suggests that first-time skiers taking professional lessons are 30 per cent more likely to continue skiing.

More telling still is that professional ski instructors and mountain rescue teams broadly support better training requirements. These are the people who deal with the consequences of inadequate preparation, scraping injured holidaymakers off mountainsides and notifying families of fatalities.

The industry’s counter-argument (that skiing would lose its spontaneous appeal) rather misses the point. Nobody suggests that requiring driving licenses has made motoring less enjoyable. If anything, proper instruction makes the experience safer and more pleasurable for everyone involved. A slope full of competent skiers who understand basic etiquette and can execute controlled turns and stops is vastly preferable to one littered with novices careening into other people.

Admittedly, enforcement would face practical challenges. Backcountry skiing, which requires no lift tickets or rentals, would remain largely beyond regulation. But most serious accidents occur at commercial resorts where chokepoints already exist. Focusing efforts there would capture the bulk of dangerous behaviour without requiring an army of slope monitors.

The Austrian case illustrates what is at stake. A momentary lapse (whether through inexperience, recklessness, or simple misfortune—an inquest will decide) ended one life and will haunt another for years. No licensing system can eliminate accidents entirely. Skiing remains an inherently risky activity. But requiring basic competence before allowing people to hurtle down mountains at 70 kilometres per hour seems a reasonable precaution. We demand as much of people driving cars through city streets. Extending similar logic to the slopes would make the sport safer, even if it costs the industry a few euros.