I got a sharp reminder about the
importance of first-aid skills while skiing at Mount Lyford yesterday.
It was a gorgeous day, not quite enough snow but there were some
really nice runs. It was Sarah and my first time using rope tows and
“Nut Crackers” but we both seemed to get the hang of them fairly
quickly and enjoyed the short runs they had on offer.
Late in the afternoon, immediately
after a ski race with some friends, Sarah and I had left our jackets
an the bottom of the rope tow and were doing laps skiing down in the
sun in our tee shirts. I was on the rope tow admiring Sarah ski
quickly down the soft snowy slope. She aimed towards the bottom of
the rope tow, hit the small gully pretty hard and was still
recovering as she needed to duck under the rope. She must have
tangled an arm over the rope which spun her off course into the
“Emergency Stop” button mounted on top of a waratah. She crashed
into this waratah with her knee taking the impact. Having seen the
crash I jumped off the rope tow and skied (rather quickly) straight
back down to make sure she was okay.
She had some minor rope burn on her
elbow and shoulder and was a bit disoriented. One of her friends was
there as well so we both sat down and comforted her. Sarah said her
knee was sore but the burns on her arm were worse. She stood up to
show us her knee was fine, but felt queasy so sat back down. Her ski
pants were unmarked at the knee and after seeing her tight
under-armour long johns we didn't force the issue to actually see the
knee. Holding snow on her burns and generally treating for shock with
warmth and food was the treatment given.
This post is partly to remind myself, and possibly as a trigger for you the reader, the importance of doing a full check after an accident, remembering the patient may well be distracted or unable to tell the seriousness of injury.
After 20 minutes of sitting there the
ski patroller joined us and gave her some water which did wonders.
After some discussion she felt up to the challenge of going up the
rope tow. It was at about this point I noticed I'd broken one of my
ski bindings when I got off my skis in a hurry. Que an amusing ride
for me holding onto one ski and attempting to balance on top of the
other while being pulled up a rope tow. Reunited at the top of the
rope tow we skied very slowly back towards the base – more because
of my incompetence on one ski than Sarah going slow!
After an even more difficult pommel
ride we made it back to the ski resort. Dumped our skis and went in
to see about some first aid. We quickly discovered that Sarah's knee
was completely ripped open. The patroller was really good, quickly
cleaning the laceration and putting about eight butterfly stitches
across it. Plans changed immediately from a destination of Hamner to
Christchurch Hospital Emergency Department. Been there a bit too often lately!
Six hours and six stitches later we
leave the ED and call it a day. Next outdoor first aid refresher that comes up has my name all over it.
