Category Archives: Toboggan

Ski Patrol Pioneer, Nelson Bennett, Dies at 102

Ski Patrol pioneer, rescue toboggan inventor and 10th Mountain Division skiing skills trainer, Nelson Bennett, passed away just a few months after his 101st birthday. Sun Valley, Idaho, Ski-Patrol 1940-41 Bennett was the recipient of a National Ski Patrol (NSP) National Appointment, #1304, in the 1950s.

Bennett, a native of Lancaster, New Hampshire, graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1940 with a degree in Forestry. He was also an early member of the UNH Ski Team, and during school breaks worked at Peckett’s Inn on Sugar Hill in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, one of America’s first resorts and ski schools. During World War II, Bennett was drafted in 1942 and served as a skiing skills trainer for the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division and in Italy, as a member of this US alpine infantry Continue reading Ski Patrol Pioneer, Nelson Bennett, Dies at 102

Killington Settles Skier Lawsuit

Killington Resort in Vermont has settled a lawsuit with Alfred Rocks of Egg Harbor, N.J. Rocks filed suit against Killington claiming it failed to maintain a trail in a “reasonably safe condition”. The 53-year-old skier sustained leg fractures in the fall in 2009, and claims to have suffered additional injuries due to ski patroller negligence when a toboggan he was strapped into over-turned. The suit was filed in 2010. Two days into the trial Killington settled. While both sides confirmed a settlement, details on it were not released. Killington Trail Map

According to court filings, Rocks was on Ovation, a double black diamond trail, and seriously injured himself in a fall when he hit hit a bare spot and then careened into rocks. He says the spot was not marked, and that it should have been even though it was spring conditions. Rocks said that he was further injured when the ski patrol decided to take him down Ovation on a snowmobile, which lost control and overturned. At trial, counsel for Killington attempted unsuccessfully to bar the plaintiff from talking about the snowmobile incident. Continue reading Killington Settles Skier Lawsuit