Skiing accidents and deaths have reached record levels across Europe, as Alpine resorts continue to experience unstable conditions caused by climate change.
As the peak skiing season approaches, figures from official skiing data website Pistehors.com reveal that injuries and deaths off-piste in France have shot up by 163 per cent over the past two years, as skiers lose patience with poor snow on the marked runs. Even on the pistes, strewn with rocks and black ice, skiers are falling victim: for every 100 accidents in French resorts in 1997, there were 119 in 2006.
An estimated 1.2 million Britons head for the slopes every year. They are now being advised to proceed with care - and to wear helmets and other safety equipment when possible.
The Alps are enduring their warmest succession of years in five centuries. Last year was the worst on record for fatalities in the French Alps, with 57 deaths - double the average - on the slopes.
Leading insurers have noted the worrying trend, with Direct Travel Insurance, part of the AXA group, reporting a 29 per cent increase in repatriations for British skiers over the past three years. But poor conditions are not the only factor: the few resorts with decent snowfall this season - such as Zermatt in Switzerland - are finding their pistes overcrowded as a result, heightening the risk of human collision.
Heidi Reisz, an experienced Swiss-born skier, was injured in exactly this fashion in Zermatt earlier this season. "I was hit from behind by an out-of-control novice and suffered concussion. They said my injuries were consistent with someone who had been in a car crash," said Ms Reisz.
Mike Wakefield, 2005 British freestyle ski champion, was training in Les Deux Alpes in France last month when his skis hit a rock hidden under a thin layer of snow and he broke his lower neck. "I was wearing a helmet, crash pads and a back brace. That saved my life. The helmet was completely destroyed, and if I had not been wearing it that would have been the end of me," says Mr Wakefield. He blames bad weather conditions. "There were massive sheets of ice. All you could see was people losing grip and falling."