Woman cracks nine ribs after fall from chairlift

An Auckland woman is facing a months-long recovery after dropping six metres from a chairlift at Cardrona Alpine Resort on Tuesday.

Janette Adams said she slipped while getting on a chairlift at the ski field. She managed to hold onto an arm rest and her niece grabbed hold of her, but she was left dangling as the chairlift went up the slopes.

‘‘I’m quite short of stature,’’ Adams told RNZ from her hospital bed. ‘‘I was getting on the chair with my niece. I was sliding back into the chair and my edge caught on the snow, and I was pulled forward again, and we didn’t have the [protective] T-bar over yet. . . I ended up just hanging on with one arm.

‘‘Ten pylons on, I was still trying to hang on and then my niece was trying to hang on to me and I didn’t want her to go over too, so I thought it’s better if I just go and release and jumped because they weren’t stopping the lift.’’

She fell six metres to the ground below and suffered nine cracked ribs, a punctured lung, a liver bleed and a broken pelvis and arm.

The skier of 35 years said while how she slipped was a ‘‘freak thing’’, she was still unsure as to why the chairlift was not stopped. ‘‘Towards the end, people were shouting out ‘stop the chairlift, stop the chairlift’ but they just weren’t stopping the chairlift. I can’t imagine why because they often stop the chairlift straight away when they can see someone’s caught an edge or had a bit of difficulty.’’

Cardrona and Treble Cone Experiences general manager Laura Hedley said an internal review of the incident was under way. –