Summertime is the slow season for Quebec's mountain resorts, but it's also when ski hills start advertising for next winter.
Those ads promising glitteringly cool slopes are angering people concerned about safety for skiers.
The brochure for Mont Tremblant offers deals on next season, but not one of the dozen skiers it portrays is wearing a helmet.
Critics like Dr. Tarek Razek say that's inexcusable.
"To have a brochure where not one individual who is shown skiing has a helmet is unfortunate. I'm actually quite surprised. I find it very sad," said Razek.
Razek and Dr. Bruno Bernardin work in the Montreal General Hospital's trauma unit. They don't understand why Tremblant would fail to promote safety on the slopes, especially since the high-profile death of actress Natasha Richardson.
The actress was skiing at the mountain this past March when she fell, hit her head, and later died.
"Especially in the context of a very sad accident that happened in the springtime with Ms. Richardson, to see a brochure with happy smiley young people skiing without helmets is to me, the wrong message for Mt. Tremblant to send out," said Bernardin.
At the time of the accident officials at the mountain admitted that the beginner skier wasn't wearing a helmet, but Lyne Lortie said they do recommend helmets for skiers of all abilities.
"We always recommend people wear helmets whether they're beginners or experts. However the law in Quebec doesn't impose the helmet," said Lortie in March.
Natalie Auclair is the Quebec director of an organization that tries to prevent head and spinal cord injuries. She calls the brochure a lost opportunity for the mountain.
"You need one leader to start the ball rolling and I think Mont Tremblant could have been," said Auclair. "But obviously they missed the boat on that one."
Mt. Tremblant says it will not miss that opportunity again. In their next brochure they promise to show skiers with helmets, and promote skier safety.
