A 17-year-old skier who might have been trying to throw a snowball from a chairlift at a New Mexico resort was videotaped falling about 45 feet.
The teen, who dangled for several seconds before plummeting to the snow, was airlifted to a local hospital after the Feb. 2 mishap at Ski Santa Fe, but he's said to be OK.
"Basically, the kid is home and he is fine," Cody Sheppard, the ski patrol director at Ski Santa Fe, told the Santa Fe New Mexican. "It was kind of a dramatic deal. I guess he was attempting to throw a snowball to the chair in front of him, where some friends were, and when he threw the snowball, the momentum just carried him out of the chair. He did hang on for awhile, but then he had to drop."
Footage of the incident was uploaded to YouTube this week by a user named TriipyHD, and has since garnered more than 500,000 views.
Sheppard did not identify the teen. TriipyHD stated in the video description that injuries included "a concussion, skull fracture, collapsed lung and a lacerated liver."
Sheppard, however, said none of the injuries required surgery.
"They
kept him for observation for a couple of days, and then he was
released," the patrol director said. "I'd probably shatter. There is
something about being young and flexible, I guess, and just lucky the
way you land."
--Find Pete Thomas Outdoors on Facebook
--Hat tip to Jason Blevins of the Denver Post
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