How Dangerous is Skiing?

Judging from the avalanche of ski-disaster stories this past few weeks - Mark Huddlestone, 47, died in Austria after a landslide; Phil Tate, 32, died in France after falling down a 24m (80ft) crevasse; Hayden Waller, 12, died in Austria after falling 9m (30ft) on to rocks - the inexpert answer is probably "very".

And the expert answer? Well, no one denies that it is quite dangerous. "For every week of skiing," says Steve Bollen, president of the British Orthopedic Sports Trauma Association, "there's a one in 70 chance that you'll sustain an injury. That's a fairly high risk."

According to the Ski Club of Great Britain, the number of holidaymakers who are choosing snow sports has grown by more than 3% each year since 2006, so it's probably safe to assume that the number of skiing injuries is rising as well.

Skiing tends to damage knees (especially ligaments), ankles and legs; in snowboarding the upper body takes the brunt. Both are efficient ways to hurt your head. The most common injuries are not necessarily caused by high speed, says Rhidian Thomas, a consultant orthopedic surgeon at the Wimbledon Clinics in London, which include a specialist ski injury clinic. He cites people getting tangled up when getting out of chairlifts; slow skiers being knocked over by faster ones; or injuries to people who just aren't fit when they hit the slopes.

When all you need to do is "walk into a ski shop with a valid credit card", says Bollen, this is bound to happen. "In my practice in Bradford the incidence of torn [knee] ligaments has tripled in the past 10 years. Of those, 90% are women over the age of 40." The experts' advice is unanimous - do some exercise before you jet off to Meribel. It won't eliminate the risk of injury, or death - but it will go some way to decreasing it.