Manfred’s miracle on the mountain
AS 15-year-old skier Manfred Raikes sailed off a ledge and into an eightmetre-deep rocky, icy crevasse, he closed his eyes and accepted he was about to die.
Moments later, he opened them to find he had landed perfectly between two ice walls, without a scratch.
The Canterbury schoolboy was on school holidays visiting Mt Ruapehu with his dad and brother. The two boys had completed their first run on the mountain when they decided to take a quick detour.
The route was signed, but Manfred missed a turn, skied over the brow of a hill and went straight into a waterfall
hole. ‘‘It was too late to avoid it by the time I saw it, and at that point it looked like it was only going to be a metre or so deep,’’ he said. ‘‘Then as I started to fall, I realised. I thought it was all over so I just closed my eyes, relaxed my body, and waited to die. It was like going into another dimension.’’ The teen is amazed he was completely unharmed. ‘‘If I had landed anywhere else I might have been dead. It was really rocky. I was just pretty stoked to be alive.’’ With just one bar of cellphone coverage, Manfred called his mother Philippa Murray, who then called the police and a rescue team was there within the hour. Murray said she went into a state of shock when she received the call. ‘‘I knew there was nothing I could do except send love and healing energy to him. ‘‘I think what we learnt from it is that if you have a state of acceptance of the situation and do not allow any negative thought or emotion or doubt in, things turn out way better. ‘‘Manfred accepted his fate as he slipped down the hole, he had no fear whatsoever.’’ Murray said just thinking about what happened had given her heart palpitations for a week. ‘‘He’s had so many accidents, and I think that’s about enough now.’’ National Park police constable Conrad Smith said without his cellphone, Manfred would have been in trouble. ‘‘Nobody knew he was there... he would have been stuck down there.’’ Manfred, who was uninjured and managed to ski back to base after the rescue, said in the weeks since the accident he has realised how lucky he was. ‘‘There must have been something out there looking out for me.’’ Mt Ruapehu is well known for its waterfalls, which produce melt holes on the mountain. They are common this time of the year as the temperatures rise. The river under the snow starts running as it unfreezes with the warmer weather, creating big holes. This was the second time rescuers had plucked someone from a waterfall hole on the mountain this year. A few years ago, a woman died after becoming trapped down one at Turoa. When asked if he would return to the mountain, Manfred said ‘‘of course’’ although he had promised to stick to the tracks in future.
I thought it was all over. So I just closed my eyes and relaxed my body and waited to die. It was like going into another dimension. WATCH THE VIDEO To see the incredible video Manfred Raikes filmed while trapped in the ice, go to