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This page explains what governing bodies, standards bodies and safety bodies publish. It is not a substitute for lessons from a qualified instructor, avalanche training or medical advice.
How this page is written
Figures are aggregates, each with its season and the body that counted it. No individual is named and no case is described. The National Ski Areas Association's own fatality fact sheets could not be opened on 24 October 2026, so every NSAA figure below reaches this page through a press report of NSAA data, and the recent ones should be checked against NSAA directly.
United States: NSAA national counts
The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) collects fatality data from US ski areas at the end of each season. The count leaves out backcountry incidents, deaths from pre-existing medical conditions and employee deaths, and the industry does not include medical events in its yearly tally of sport-related trauma deaths.
| Season | Deaths | Detail as published | How the figure reached this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-99 | 39 | 33 skiers, 6 snowboarders; 51.9 million visits; 0.75 per million visits; about 34 a year over the previous 15 years | NSAA report published by Ski Magazine, October 1999 |
| 2014-15 | 35 | Given as the previous season's figure in the 2015-16 report | First Tracks Online, 17 January 2017 |
| 2015-16 | 39 | 31 males, 8 females; 31 skiers, 7 snowboarders, 1 unknown; 52.8 million visits; 0.74 per million; 10-year average 38 a season and 0.67 per million | First Tracks Online, 17 January 2017 |
| 2023-24 or 2024-25 (disputed) | 35 | 60.5 million skier days; 0.58 per million; lowest since 2014-15; 10-season average rate 0.74 | Summit Daily, 14 March 2025, which labels it 2024-25 |
| 2024-25 | 50 | Against a 10-year industry average of 44 a season | The Colorado Sun, republished by the Durango Herald, 11 May 2026 |
| 2025-26 | not found | No national NSAA total was found on 24 October 2026 |
The 2024-25 count is disputed. The Summit Daily of 14 March 2025 gives 35 deaths and labels them 2024-25, but it was published before that season ended. Search summaries of NSAA material give 35 as the figure for 2023-24, and the Colorado Sun of May 2026 gives 50 for 2024-25. The research reads 35 as most likely the 2023-24 figure with the wrong season attached, but that is unconfirmed until NSAA's own fact sheet is read. The two ten-year averages (44 deaths a season in the 2026 report, a 0.74 rate in the 2025 report) also come from different reports and windows.
Serious and catastrophic injuries
- 1998-99. The same 1999 NSAA report counted serious injuries, such as paraplegia and serious head injuries, averaging about 37 a year, with 45 in 1998-99 (34 skiers, 11 snowboarders), or 0.87 per million visits.
- 2024/25 (unconfirmed). A trade report of 5 March 2026, seen only as a search-result excerpt, cites NSAA's catastrophic-injury fact sheet as giving 1.02 catastrophic injuries per million skier visits for 2024/25, the highest in a ten-year window. It quotes NSAA's definition as life-altering injuries such as broken necks or backs with paralysis, serious head injuries or loss of a limb.
The 1999 report also said skiing and snowboarding are no more dangerous than other high-energy participation sports; that is NSAA's own claim. NSAA's Responsibility Code page carries the general warning that winter sports involve a risk of serious injury or death.
Helmets among those who died
Of the 39 people who died at US ski areas in 2015-16, 23 were wearing helmets, 15 were not and 1 was unknown, in a season when a separate NSAA study put overall helmet use at about 80 percent. The research on helmets and deaths, both ways, is on what helmets do and do not do.
Colorado: the coroner surveys
The Colorado Sun surveys 17 county coroners each May. Its counts are minimums, because no formal state accounting of ski-area deaths exists. Unlike the NSAA tally, the coroner survey includes heart attacks, so the two counts measure different things.
| Season | Deaths on Colorado ski slopes (at least) |
|---|---|
| 2011-12 | 22, the highest the survey has recorded |
| 2022-23 | 17 |
| 2023-24 | 15 |
| 2024-25 | 13 |
| 2025-26 | 13 |
For 2025-26 the survey reported:
- Causes. Nine deaths from trauma in a fall or a collision with a tree, three from heart attacks and one from suffocation in a tree well. None involved a collision with another skier.
- Who. Twelve skiers and one snowboarder, all men aged 25 to 74, across 11 ski areas.
- Avalanches. One avalanche death in Colorado that season, recorded in the same report and not among the 13 slope deaths. Avalanche deaths are counted by the avalanche centres; see avalanches as published.
Canada: one coroner's report, as Health Canada relays it
Health Canada's danger assessment of ski and snowboard helmets (last updated 4 July 2023) cites an Ontario Chief Coroner's report of 45 accidental skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing deaths from 1991 to 2012, 22 of them attributed to head injury. The coroner's report itself was not read for this site.
Why the counts cannot be combined
- NSAA counts trauma deaths at US ski areas and excludes medical events, backcountry deaths and employees; the Colorado coroner survey counts deaths on slopes in one state, heart attacks included, as a minimum.
- Avalanche deaths are counted by the avalanche centres by avalanche year; the largest groups in the Colorado Avalanche Information Center's US figures are backcountry tourers and snowmobilers.
- Recent NSAA figures on this page reach it through press reports, and one of them carries a disputed season.
What this page leaves out
A forum post quoting an NSAA summary for 2024-25 gave shares of deaths by cause, including falls from chairlifts and snow immersion; a forum is not an authoritative source, so those figures are not used. A study of US resort deaths from 1978 to 2005 appeared only in a search summary that did not identify its source, and is not used. No national ski-area death counts for Canada, France, Switzerland or the United Kingdom were found. Tree-well deaths are on tree wells and snow immersion.
Sources
- The Colorado Sun, coroner survey of ski-area deaths, republished by the Durango Herald (11 May 2026)
- Summit Daily, skier deaths and NSAA figures (14 March 2025)
- First Tracks!! Online, NSAA fatality figures for 2015-16 (17 January 2017)
- Ski Magazine, NSAA report on skiing and snowboarding safety (October 1999)
- NSAA, Your Responsibility Code page (2022 edition)
- Unofficial Networks, NSAA catastrophic-injury figures for 2024/25 (5 March 2026; seen in a search-result excerpt only)
- Colorado Avalanche Information Center, Accident Statistics and Reporting (read 24 October 2026)
- Health Canada, Danger assessment: ski and snowboard helmets (relaying an Ontario Chief Coroner's report)