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Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort’s Award-Winning Lids on Kids Program Offers Free Helmets to Local Youth

Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort, (LVSSR) and Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center present the 7th annual Lids on Kids program, a safety education campaign that provides free helmets to local youth. The program kicks off at LVSSR on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. It continues at the same time every Saturday in January and Saturday, Feb. 2; the program coincides with National Ski Area Association Safety Week and Learn to Ski/Snowboard Month.

To date, LVSSR has provided more than 1,000 free helmets to local kids with more than 300 given out in the 2011/2012 season.  Earlier this year, LVSSR received the National Ski Areas Association’s (NSAA) National Ski Area Safety award for the program. While it’s a national program, LVSSR is the only U.S. ski area to offer free helmets to youth as part of the program.

Trained Lids on Kids program volunteers will fit toddlers through pre-teens for a helmet. Children and their parents will participate in a short education program presented by members of National Ski Patrol to learn and understand the skier/snowboarder code of safety and responsibility. There’s no charge for participating in the program and the helmets are the children’s to keep.

“The Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort wants to encourage our local youth to explore the outdoors and supply them with the proper tools to do that safely,” said Kevin Stickelman, president and general manager of LVSSR. “The free helmets given out and the education provided with Lids on Kids is a service we are proud to provide to the community.”

LVSSR launched the Lids on Kids program locally in the 2006/2007 season on the advisement of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and its report that wearing a helmet while skiing or snowboarding could prevent or reduce the severity of 53 percent of head injuries for those under the age of 15.

Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort (LVSSR) is located approximately one hour from downtown Las Vegas in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Established in 1963, LVSSR offers guests access to 20 groomed trails and 250 acres of lift-served sidecountry terrain via three chair lifts and one surface lift. The area features a ski and snowboard school, terrain parks, more than 240 inches of average snowfall per year and off-slope amenities such as dining, snowshoeing and summer activities. Visitors may access LVSSR from the city via the Ski Bus, a shuttle service operated with the support of the USDA Forest Service under a grant from the Department of Transportation. For more information, please visit www.skilasvegas.com.