Ski-related court cases find two major things lacking on ski resorts

More than 90 percent of people who appealed ski resorts in court for their injuries were amateurs, according to a Beijing court.

Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court issued a report about ski-related cases on Tuesday, in which, it showed that most injury lawsuits taken to court are young adults born in the 1980s and 1990s, who had little skiing background and skied on professional ski tracks without proper training.

More than 70 percent of the injured faced serious situations because faces, legs, feet or arms of those litigants were fractured, "which brought big damages not only to themselves, but also to their family members," said Liu Yang, a judge who heard such disputes in court.

"What's worse, some ski resorts now are short of surveillance cameras, let alone to ensure all skiers' safety," Liu said.

On one hand, such resorts cannot provide enough safety measures when emergencies happen, while on the other hand, it is difficult for litigants to provide enough evidence to prove their injuries had direct relation with the lack of safety equipment on the resorts, he said.

The court confirmed the number of ski-related disputes in the past three years has been rapidly rising, although it did not release an exact figure.

"Skiing zealots had better increase training and safety awareness before skiing. In addition, learning more about self-rescue is also necessary," Liu suggested.

The court has sent some judicial suggestions to ski resorts, asking them to increase the amount of cameras to monitor and build clearer signs to alert skiers to pay attention and protect themselves.

"We also suggested the resorts involved in disputes to open an emergent channel to save injuries in a move to avoid the injuries becoming more serious before being hospitalized," he added.