Skier falls off ridge

Press, 22 August 1977, Page 1

Skier falls off ridge

A helicopter was called out on Saturday to pick up a woman skier who fell several hundred feet from the ridge at the Mount Cheeseman ski-field and suffered only relatively minor injuries.

The woman, Miss B. Oulaghan, aged 22, a student, of 53 Cirunga Avenue, Papanui, fell and slid down the mountain on the opposite side of the ridge to the ski-field tows.

“When I saw her going down. 1 thought she was a goner,” said her companion on the ridge, Mr D. Thomson.

Miss Oulaghan broke one of her skis when she bounced off a rock outcrop. “I saw the rock outcrop. and thought "This is it. I knew it was going to be tricky,” she said last evening. She tried to use her arms to stop, but finally ended up near the bottom of the slope. Ski patrollers were on the scene soon afterwards. They found Miss Oulaghan was suffering from shock and because it would have taken more than two hours to pull her up by stretcher, an R.N.Z.A.F. helicopter was called in.

The helicopter took off from Wigram about 1 p.m. and arrived back at Hagley Park to a waiting ambulance about 2 p.m. Miss Oulaghan. who suffered friction bums to the face and body, a cut leg, and a sprained ankle, was treated and discharged.