Skier warned day before fatal crash

A highly experienced skier who died after crashing into rocks on Mt Ruapehu had been warned over his highspeed skiing the day before.

Thomas Dobrisek, a 50-year-old skier, paraglider pilot and tool-maker from Wellington, died in Waikato Hospital in October last year, seven days after his crash at the Turoa ski and boarding area above Ohakune. From Austria, he had lived in New Zealand for more than 10 years.

He died from a major brain injury suffered in the accident.

Peter Hillary — son of Sir Edmund, who with Tenzing Norgay was first to reach the summit of Mt Everest in 1953 — witnessed the accident and was among those who gave first aid to Dobrisek.

The Herald has obtained the WorkSafe NZ report on Dobrisek’s accident under the Official Information Act.

It says that on October 10 last year, the day before the accident, there was a complaint about the speed at which Dobrisek and his friend were skiing.

“I spoke with Thomas at lunchtime pointing out that he would either collide and injure someone else or hurt or kill himself,” a witness said in a statement mentioned in the WorkSafe report following its inquiries with the staff of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, the skifield operator.

WorkSafe says Dobrisek, who was wearing a helmet, was skiing in an area that was “marked as marginal” with signs in two places. As he came over a rise and around a blind corner he lost control and went off the trail on to rocks.

There were no failings on the part of RAL.