Ski season 2019/2020

There has not been much snow in the Nordic countries this Winter, yet many Scandinavians have had snow beneath their feet these last three months anyway. Several of them ended up needing our help.

Close to 2400 Scandinavians have therefore contacted SOS International’s alarm centre during December, January, and February, because they had an accident.

Austria was the top score once again. More than 40 % of all our ski injury cases were injuries in Austria. At second and third place, we had Italy with about 23 % and France at almost 14 %.

Knees and lower legs were affected the most with almost 40 % of the total amount of cases. Ankles and shoulders were next with 17 % and 16 %, respectively.

Week 6, 7, and 8 were the busiest and made up for more than 50 % of all cases, where week 7 almost amounted to half of that, that is, 24 %.

The Bone Express also got to fly

During the ski peak season, a dedicated transport team at the alarm centre handles all home transports of patients from ski destinations. They do it as smoothly and efficiently as possible and without otherwise affecting the alarm centre’s operation.

They take care of everything from reserving airplane seats to coordinating joint transports on the ambulance flights to booking returning flights, all of which helps reduce costs while also ensuring the best and most flexible home transport for the injured.

In weeks 3–9, 14 ambulance flights flew home with injured skiers coming from all the Nordic countries. More than 80 Scandinavian travellers had to return home with the “Bone Express,” including 35 on a stretcher.