Here is a Safety Tip from Lauri Thompson:

ARE YOUR PANTS POCKETS EMPTY!

Three years ago I clipped a gate in Super G training and went down on the Follow Me run at Northstar.

As falls go it was not very spectacular. I fell and rolled like a pencil to a stop, 100 feet down the hill.

It was a beautiful sunny day, too warm for a jacket so before heading to the gondola I stuck everything from my jacket pockets into my pants pockets, exchanged my jacket for a vest, saw that I was running late so headed for the hill planning to empty the pants pockets before the Super G Clinic. I forgot about the concave disk that opened to become a hair brush with a mirror that I had put in my pocket. I don’t remember the fall but I ended up with bones broken in four places. As my friend says, the higher speed the higher the penalty. I get that and see how the fall broke the arm in two places, but what did not need to happen was the broken pelvis. At some point during the fall that concave disk came between my pelvis and the hill and provided a fulcrum for my pelvis to wrap around. Not being flexible the pelvis broke in two places. Had I not had the disk in my pocket I’m sure that I would not have broken my pelvis, my left side did not break. I spent a month in a wheel chair and three months with my arm in a sling. I needed help with almost everything. Life would have been much easier with just a broken arm. A big word of caution, check your pants pockets, don’t rush and forget, like I did.

Be safe and keeps those pockets empty!

(Please see more Safety info on later pages)