JACKSON, Wyo. — A skier is urging people to be more cautious on the mountain after an alleged “hit-and-run” knocked him out recently.
In a letter addressed to “the Jackson Hole Skiing Community,” 84-year-old Bill Maloney alleges a young skier side-swiped him at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on the morning of Nov. 28.
“I experienced the hardest fall of my skiing career and lay dazed on the hill for 4-5 minutes,” Maloney writes. “There was a lot of blood on the snow from a cut lip and I had slammed my head and shoulder into the snow.”
Maloney says Jackson Hole Ski Patrol showed up quickly, but the “young man” had skied away. Maloney visited the clinic and the Emergency Room and was cleared of a concussion or broken bones, but suffered “assorted bruises and cuts.”
“I am writing this letter to the entire Jackson ski community as a wakeup call,” Maloney writes.
Maloney said he hopes skiers learn two lessons: one, that leaving the scene of a ski accident is a crime just like a hit-and-run. The second is to ski with control and watch your speed on the mountain.
“There are too many skiers skiing too fast for the limited amount of open terrain,” Maloney says.
Drew Kneeland, Jackson Hole Ski Patrol director, also contributed to the letter and writes that staying on the scene of a collision is “not only your legal responsibility, but a form of common human decency.”
“As we progress through the early season conditions on the mountain, and we are all recreating on limited terrain, please use extra care,” the letter concludes. “Slow down and look out for your fellow humans.”
