Max_501 wrote:...
That is true, but accepting the risk of running into a tree/rock is a bit different than having to accept the risk of getting hit from behind by someone going too fast and ignoring the skier's code...
If you speed-gun them they may actually be going slower than you even though they "overtake" you. You in many cases are skiing a round line; they are going straight, and in many cases lack the ability to turn quickly in a manner that allows them to turn out of your way if you cross what they see as their "line."
By contrast, due to bad snow early last season I had the experience of sharing an open slope with limited real estate with several different ski academies at the same time, but very few "normal" recreational skiers. While average speeds were quite higher than average, and turn shapes were varying, because everyone was skiing or riding a round-ish turn shape and generally aware that other would be too, and generally alert, things felt pretty calm. (When people do collide at those speeds it can be bad, of course, and there are obviously incidents where racers among others have done this while freeskiing.)
In the first situation of being nailed by a "straightliner" they're normally at fault, but in practical terms to avoid that type of collision you need to be mindful of what's uphill. But then I didn't know the wording to the code had been changed either...so fwiw.