Slippery slope ends ‘perfect’ day
Leamington School principal Mike Malcolm has been advised to buy a Lotto ticket after being airlifted off Mt Ruapehu last week following a 200m slide down the mountain.
The Cambridge man, who is on sabbatical, went up the mountain with his two children last week for a ‘‘perfect day’s skiing’’.
Instead, he was airlifted to Palmerston North Hospital with ‘‘bruising and some serious swelling’’.
Malcolm was snowboarding with his skier son in a group of about eight at Turoa. His daughter was having a ski lesson and it was a trip the family had been looking forward to all year. ‘‘For skiers there’s really only one week a year when everything looks like it will be perfect; that was last week,’’ he said.
But he didn’t get much time on the mountain. Having just ridden to the bottom of a trail, his son lost a ski, which slid off-trail down the mountain.
When Malcolm went to see if he could retrieve it, he lost traction and slid about 200m down an icy slope. He had no option but to tuck his arms across his chest, relax and ‘‘go for the ride’’.
‘‘The thing with ice is that once you start sliding you just can’t stop. I remember speeding up, hitting rocks, getting airborne and thinking to myself, ‘relax, this is going to hurt’.’’
After coming to a stop and realising the slope was too steep and icy to walk out, he rang Turoa Ski Patrol.
They considered several rescue options, including using ropes, trying to ski out and even a bob cat.
After about two hours, Malcolm was airlifted by helicopter to hospital.
‘‘I’ve been a snowboarder for almost 12 years and I didn’t realise how frequently people are badly hurt retrieving equipment that is off-trail.
‘‘The key message I want to get across is that if you lose your gear off-trail on the mountain, don’t try to retrieve it. Call ski patrol and leave it to them.’’