posted 03-23-2005 19:13               

We had a situation on a summer trip to New Hampshire. While at Attitash Mountain village, we went across the road to the Attitash Bear Peak. They have an alpine slide. My husband flew off this slide on the straight away and skinned himself. While waiting at the bottom, I saw a lady who also had fallen off the slide and badly skinned her arm and leg. It seems that people who are tall and/or heavy are more likely to experience this problem. I believe that there should be a strong warning about this but we did not see anything posted.

I had forgotten the above incident but remembered because of a news story. An 11 year old boy died while on a day trip to a waterfall in the Dominican Republic. The day tour company assured people that it was safe but that was not the case because other people came forward with stories about their own near-drowning.

Do you have any stories about your travels that would help prevent others from experiencing hardships?

posted 03-24-2005 09:06               

I also have some alpine slide skinning stories. About 15 years ago at Mt. Tom (western MA) my then boyfriend (who is 6' tall) fell off the alpine slide and got horrifically skinned. He was wearing shorts, so it was bad, really bad. Much like a burn victim. He was out of work for weeks, and in much pain.

I didn't go on the alpine slide that day, and I never will.

A friend's husband slid off an alpine slide track which was still alittle wet from some rain showers. He got skinned, too, but mostly on his arms. There was a sign saying not to use the slide if it was wet, but they thought the track seemed dry enough and didn't think the warning looked very serious (small sign, no indication of the level of injury which could result). Guess they don't want to scare people away. :-(

posted 03-25-2005 16:05            

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Happy trails,

jimbiggs

posted 03-25-2005 17:07               

I found the slide loads of fun and so did my kids, but I would use it with extreme caution. You do have a brake stick so you can control the speed.

posted 03-26-2005 10:36               

My husband concluded that because of this size and weight, the centre of gravity was too high to go the speed he was going. The kids on the ride were going faster than he was but they did not appear to have a problem. I would not guarantee it though.

posted 03-27-2005 00:48               

quote:

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Originally posted by JimBiggs:
Dumb question. What's an alpine slide?

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Think luge on concrete. The one I went on had brakes, which came in very handy. I'll never go on one of those things again. I can see flying off one could be pretty darn easy if you like speed.

posted 03-28-2005 16:53               

I guess things are safer than I thought. Now I am ready for that bungee jump over a vate of hot lava that I saw in the travel brochure!!

posted 03-28-2005 19:35               

quote:

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Originally posted by CSB:
Well, in hindsight you are right. However, with lawsuits and safety issues always in the news, we took it for granted that they would not have anything that could be dangerous.

Cindy

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