Easily Mitigated Safety Hazards Abound...

...Causing continual and serious injuries on an daily basis.

This is shameful that theses hazards go unaddressed. 

Every patron,  taxpayer, skier/rider, parent, coach, Athletic Director, spectator, ski instructor, ski patroller, employee of Hyland should be concerned.

This is especially true because Hyland Hills management knows about the issues and has not acted to implement standard safety procedures provided by other ski areas as a matter of routine operations.  

The Board of Commissioners and Superintendent also know about these hazarads, and they've been told by their own employees and patrons repeatedly, year after year. Yet, they don't rectify this situation pro-actively and consistently. 

Three Rivers Park District has a safety ordinance but it is not being followed at Hyland (see below).

Why is this? Is it because Hyland Hills is a government-run operation and believes it is immune to lawsuits? Do they not care about patrons, especially children? Are they simply lazy? 

The safety problems stem from overcrowding, lack of easily implemented protection from obvious hazards, and lack of skier control procedures.  

All of these could be implemented quickly and easily by Hyland with:

1. More Fencing, including Control Gates and More Signage.    This applies to South where the lift line forms, Bunny to keep errant skiers out of beginner areas, Center where skiers exit the ski area, ski to North, Enter the chalet, cross to South, Bottom of the Big Kickers where skiers cross to North, Bottom of North where trees, ditch and chain link fencing are placed with little runout, the newly established  Borealis (see below).

* A "control gate" is a fence (or netting) configuration where a skier/rider must slow down to weave through the fencing to exit an area and merge onto another hill or access path. It slows down traffic and makes them more cautious.

2. Closure of specific trails or runs with no safe run-out. An example of this is the new (as of 2023?) Borealis trail where a child nearly died in 2022 due to a collision with an out-of-control child who skied into the woods from the top and exited the woods onto North at high speed. At the time of the collision, this wooded area was not an established "run" or "trail" at Hyland.   It was not marked on a trail map, did not have signage, was not groomed, was not patrolled by the ski patrol, and did not have fencing or a control gate for merging safely onto the bottom of North.  

3. Better Terrain Park Feature/Jump Placement and putting up fencing/B-Netting by:

    A.  Not having a park features them in front of the chalet, where people are putting their skis on and walking to lessons. Numerous collisions have occurred here. 

    B. Allowing skiers to safely ski to North from Center without having to wind through the people coming off jumps in the park and Big Kickers.    

    C. Removing terrain park features from beginner areas

4. Providing fencing or B-netting:

     A.  Around beginner areas to protect people from skiers/riders cutting through the trees to get into these areas designated for slow skiing and teaching.

     B. Around lift towers and snow guns

     C.  Where hazards exist and are tempting for curious children who don't know any better 

5. Avoiding oversubscription of partner programs such as Team Gilboa which is a double their stated operating agreement number. This causes over crowding, lift lines and prevents the  greater public from enjoying Hyland.

6. Capping ticket sales during busy times.

7. Instituting penalties for skiers/riders who violate the Skier's Responsibility Code. Penalties include pulling lift tickets and season passes, terminating partner program privileges.

8. Closing runs used for racing to free skiers to avoid collisions and injuries.

The number of preventable collisions at Hyland is staggering.   Many of these cause serious and life-altering injuries to children and adults.  Ambulances are called to Hyland too often and nearly daily on weekends and holidays.

Employees at Hyland are at risk and many of these employees are children/minors as the ski school and ski patrol employees teenagers.   

Many ski instructors, ski patrol and coaches have left Hyland because of how dangerous it is to ski there.  They fear for their own safety and they feel they cannot keep their students and others safe.   They speak up but are not listed to, and then they leave.

Many People are Afraid to Ski At Hyland - especially older adults and those who know what basic ski area management principles are and how they are lacking at Hyland.

In one two-week period in spring 2024, 5 ski instructors were hit by out-of-control skiers. The skiers who were out of control were not punished.    

At the bottom of North, B-Netting would have prevented at least 3 injuries of children colliding with a chain link fence supported by steel posts in 2023 and 2024.  One of these injuries required the child being transported by Ambulance to the hospital.

Fencing and better control of merging runs would have helped prevent many of these injuries.

The Ski Patrol Accident Database has data on this but  many collisions go undocumented. This is due to unreported collisions and a deliberate lack of documentation IN THE HYLAND database - especially with injuries that involve Team Gilboa.