Skiing: British 'snow gobblers" who ignore dangers of a winter wonderland Even before Schumacher's fall, seven people had died in avalanches in the Alps in a matter of days. Only a fortnight ago at a luxury resort in Austria, 16-year-old Cameron Bespolka from Winchester, Hampshire, was killed in an avalanche that left his father, Kevin, seriously injured. In 2009, award-winning actress Natasha Richardson died from a brain injury after hitting her head on a slope in Quebec. Unlike Schumacher, she wasn't wearing a ski helmet, but even now, four years after the tragedy, it is estimated that only around 40 per cent of skiers opt to wear one. Despite such high-profile incidents, skiers - and in particular Britons - remain in thrall to the mountains. The UK snowsports market stretches to more than one million, around half of whom ski in the French Alps. In lift queues, English accents sound out above all others. Our appetite for powder regardless of the risks has even spawned a nickname of "les bouffeurs de neige," loosely translated as "snow gobblers." Weller thinks that the huge advances made in ski equipment and the slick marketing of the companies that manufacture state-of-the-art powder skis and mountainwear are prompting inexperienced people to seek greater thrills than ever before. No more, he says, are people content with knocking back a glühwein and pottering down a beginner's slope. "When I first started here hardly anybody went off-piste," he says. Nowadays, people get more confident because of the equipment. And the industry selling them that equipment wants to make as big a turnover as possible. Those companies give everybody the idea that people can just buy these things and off they go. But the terrain is very dangerous. With my younger clients, I have to tell them that this is not the time of year to go and jump off a cliff. Of course, Schumacher is no amateur. In the aftermath of the accident, he has been described as a man who "absolutely adores skiing" and is "incredibly competitive and quick." Yet there are many enthusiasts, with little experience, who don't think twice about hurtling down a black run - as evidenced by the all-too-common sight of the "blood wagon" carting injured skiers off the slopes. James Lamb, a director of the British Alpine Ski School in Morzine and Les Gets, who numbers British clients in their thousands, says the ages range from children to, recently, an 80-year-old man. Definitely the equipment has become considerably better and has made it a much more accessible sport. People are also mastering the learning curve quicker than ever. It's a risky sport, but it's a sport where the risks can be managed. Dr Mike Langran, president of the International Society for Skiing Safety, agrees, stressing that accidents such as Schumacher's remain "thankfully rare." According to Langran, the average risk for any skier is between two and four injuries per 1,000 days spent on the slopes. "The vast majority of people will ski or snowboard all their lives without ever sustaining a significant injury," he says. Schumacher, then, is one of the unlucky ones; a thrill-seeker unfortunate enough to fall victim to the sharp edges that lurk just beneath the surface of the winter wonderland. His accident shows how close to oblivion our skis can take us. But not even such a high-profile calamity will stop the snow gobblers in their tracks.