The death toll on New Zealand’s winter slopes has risen again, in what is proving to be a “horror winter season”. Mountain Scene is reporting that a Japanese skier fell during Race Training at Queenstown’s ‘Coronet Peak’ on Tuesday.

A group of, mostly young, Japanese racers (the ‘Unity Sports’ group) were training through gates in the Rocky Gully area when the apparently innocent incident happened. The head of NZ Ski, James Coddington, explained” “it was just a normal fall, it wasn’t a hard fall, he didn’t lose skis… and his helmet wasn’t damaged”. Not only that, but eyewitnesses reported that the 80 year old man skiied to the bottom of the Rocky Gully T-bar lift, where (through a translator) he talked to medical staff.

This will certainly add to the recent debates about the efficacy of ski helmets, and should they be mandatory. Coddington believes that the man’s age must certainly have been a factor in his death. There have now been four ski deaths in New Zealand already this season (three at Mt Hutt, one at Coronet Peak), although it seems that non-fatal incidents are below average.

We have already looked at recent calls for Mandatory Ski Helmets, and the debate surrounding them, following this seasons deaths. Alpine Elements includes the option to hire ski helmets as part of it’s holiday packages.