Crowded pistes, an extremely high number of skiing accidents - even Felix Neureuther has never experienced anything like this before.
DSV doctor Dr.
Manuel Koehne.
Brettl fans are still drawn in droves to the slopes of Munich's local mountains.
"I've never experienced it in such an extreme form as this season," Felix Neureuther analyzed in an interview with Münchner Merkur and tz.
One consequence of the rush: there are a particularly large number of injuries.
But where and when does it crack the most?
Findings on this were made by Dr.
Manuel Köhne, the leading team doctor of the German ski aces.
In addition to many professional skiers, he also treats numerous amateur athletes.: “Most accidents happen in unspectacular and apparently harmless situations.
The prime example are cruciate ligament tears in the knee.
Hobby skiers rarely experience these in serious falls at high speeds.
Much more often they get caught on easy terrain and at low speed.
When concentration slacks, it quickly takes you off your skis.
That can be enough to tear your cruciate ligament.”
Munich woman: Third cruciate ligament tear - and that on a flat drawing path
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Cruciate ligament tear: Dr.
Manuel Köhne explains to his patient Dr.
Isabelle Jacobson the MRI images of her injured knee.
© Markus Goetzfried
A prime example is his patient Dr.
Isabella Jacobson.
The 46-year-old Munich cardiologist, who used to ski race herself, was out and about in the St. Anton am Arlberg ski area - more precisely on a trail between the Gampen and the Zammermoosbahn.
"Somehow I got caught in a pile of artificial snow at the edge of the piste, and it tore my skis with freshly ground edges." She didn't even fall, but she immediately felt that her knee was probably injured.
"Unfortunately, it was already my third cruciate ligament tear."
Knee Injury: Falls at slow paces are treacherous
Such cases are typical, says Köhne.
"Especially good skiers often get injured in comparatively easy terrain, on pull trails or when swinging down in front of the lift.
Sometimes the patients report that the injury happened to them practically in slow motion,” reports the ski doc.
“In these situations, concentration often slacks off.
In addition, when falling at low speed, the binding often does not open.
The pressure on the knee is then significantly greater than when falling at higher speeds.”
When do most skiing accidents happen
Many accidents happen either early in the morning at the start of the day's skiing or in the afternoon on the last descent.
"In the morning, the muscles are often still cold, too few skiers warm up before the first descent.
Your body is not yet at operating temperature, so to speak - and that's it," says the orthopaedist.
“Sometimes the psyche also plays a role.
You hit the slopes at the weekend, are still stressed out from the work week and want to go full throttle right away.
The shot often backfires.”
Last departure in the afternoon feared
The last descent in the afternoon is also feared.
"It's often quite crowded on the valley runs, people are tired and their thoughts are already on apres-ski.
It is therefore sometimes safer to simply take the gondola down to the valley in the late afternoon after a long day of skiing.
Especially since the slopes often get worse in the afternoon, especially in spring and when there is a lot of sunshine.
Then the snow gets heavy and the risk of injury increases,” warns Köhne.