(http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/press/facts-ski-snbd-safety.asp) that it is safer than swimming.

I've been on the slopes, a couple of times a year, since 1977. Things have changed dramatically during that time, and not just the price of the lift ticket. (I used to pay 5 dollars a day) The skis, bindings, boots, and brakes are all so much better than they used to be. When I started, you'd put a strap around your ankle attached to the ski to keep it from careening down the hillside if it came off. Problem was, in a fall, that ski would helecopter around your tumbling body. I've dents in my shin from that experience. And helmets are new for skiing. I got my first one several years ago and I will not ski without it.

Aside from the dented shins, I've cracked ribs by landing on my ski pole (bent the pole 60 degrees), been hit in the face by my ski in a tumble (damn near broke my nose), and been reduced to the walk o' shame (taking off the skis and walking down a slope that was beyond my abilities) more than once.

But still, it is one of the funnest things you can do in this life. I love putting on the boards, with good tunes in the I-pod, new powder snow, and a clear sunny day, making lazy turns on a nice blue slope, the fresh air, gravity doing most of the work, the new snow silent under the skis, a beer and a burger on a deck at a lodge perched over a mountain valley, everything mantled in snow...

Little slice of heaven, it is.