Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Forgetting your beacon is manslaughter in Europe….if you wife dies in an Avalanche

Verdict confuses everyone

In what many are calling a crazy decision, a man has been found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three months of prison, suspended for allowing his wife to ski without an avalanche beacon.

Both were experienced skiers, he more than her. He triggered a slab avalanche which buried her
The slide occurred on a 35° slope the risk was given as Considerable (3/5). The lack of beacon seriously delayed finding the victim even when rescue services arrived on the scene. The 58 year old woman had suffered from serious head injuries after being buried over a meter in dense snow.
Because the woman was not wearing a beacon the rescue took a considerable amount of time.
The deicison has left many people very confused in Austria.
Michael Larcher, director of education of the Austrian Alpine Association has questioned the verdict. He points out that although the woman was less experienced than her husband they had been touring together for years, “she was no beginner but had enough personal knowledge to know to turn on her beacon. Given that the lack of beacon was the main reason for the verdict, in my opinion, you cannot put all the responsibility on the husband, it is an issue of personal responsibility”.
Estolf Müller, representing the Austrian Mountain Rescue Service said that “judging who is experienced is legally very difficult, I’m really sceptical when the courts intervene in a private sport so long as innocent bystanders are not endangered. When you go into the backcountry everyone has to be responsible for themselves.”

So?

The man in this case may also be facing a civil suit by the family on top of losing his wife. Personally, I think this is a little extreme. However it points out the differences between the United States and Europe.
Most European countries are based on a criminal system to enforce the standards of care. If you do not take care of someone you face jail time.

In the US we rely on a civil litigation system. If you do not take care of someone you face a lawsuit. Only in extreme cases where your actions are so bad or intentional can you face losing your freedom in the US. I show it visually this way.

The Red Column is the amount of proof needed to convict in a Criminal Case. The Blue Column is the amount of proof needed to win a civil case.

clip_image002

The US is based on a system that personal freedom is important and society, not the government should decide when someone has injured another. In Europe, the government is in charge of deciding the wrongs and rights of all of society.

For articles about this see Another Litigation versus Criminal example and Litigation v. Jail Time.
To see the article go to 3 months suspended sentence for forgetting beacon

What do you think? Leave a comment.

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Friday, November 25, 2011

Intrawest Relocates to Denver

On Tuesday October 11, 2011 Intrawest announced that they will be moving their corporate headquarters from Vancouver, B.C. to Denver. At the moment, Intrawest operates 6 resorts in America. These include: Stratton in Vermont, Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia, Blue Mountain and Tremblant in Canada, and you all know of Winter Park and Steamboat in Colorado. They also manage a heli Skiing operation called Canadian Mountain Holidays, the largest heli skiing company in the world.

The CEO of Intrawest, Bill Jensen, says that moving to Denver doesn't only make sense because they will be close to their two biggest properties, Winter Park and Steamboat; it will also create “significant efficiencies”. The 55 Intrawest employees that currently work in Golden Co will be relocated and the company is planning on hiring another 50 employees.

Here is a brief time line of Intrawest's purchases in the last decade and a half.
1994 Intrawest purchases Stratton
1995 Intrawest purchases Snowshoe Mountain
1996 Intrawest purchases one third of Mammoth
Intrawest purchases Copper Mountain and Whistler
1997 Intrawest develops Squaw Valley base village
1999 Intrawest purchases half of Blue Mountain
2002 Intrawest signs agreement to manage operations at Winter Park
2006 100 percent of Intrawest is sold to Fortress Investment Group for 2.8 billion dollars
2007 Intrawest purchases Steamboat Springs for 239.1 million dollars.
2009 Intrawest sold Copper Mountain to Powdr Corp.
2011 Intrawest moves headquarters from Vancouver to Denver


Resources:
http://www.intrawest.com/resorts.htm
http://www.intrawest.com/about-us/company-overview/index.htm
http://www.saminfo.com/news/article.php?tid=5292
http://www.saminfo.com/upload/photos/3987Timeline_1993-2011.pdf

By: Rob Brown
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