UK NEWS
SCOTS SKIER CHEATS DEATH IN HIGH-SPEED SNOWMOBILE SMASH
A skier said he is “lucky to be alive” after a high-speed crash with a snowmobile in the French Alps
By Judith Duffy
A SKIER yesterday said he is “lucky to be alive” after suffering multiple injuries in a high-speed crash with a snowmobile in the French Alps.
Sweyn Ross, 20, was enjoying the slopes in the popular ski resort of Courchevel when a worker drove the Ski-doo a cross his path.
His father, who was skiing behind him, could only look on in horror as his son hit the vehicle.
Builder’s labourer Sweyn, from Aberdeen, was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken leg, wrist and ribs.
He also sustained facial injuries, including a fractured cheekbone.
Mr Ross was airlifted to hospital in Grenoble, where he spent two days in intensive care and underwent surgery to repair his broken bones. He was due to have an operation to have a permanent metal plate inserted in his face yesterday, but is hoping to be able to go home at the end of this week to be reunited with his family and friends.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Ross said that it had been a narrow escape. He said: “I feel extremely lucky to be alive. I could easily have been killed up there, no doubt about it. If I had landed about a foot in either direction and hit the middle of the Ski-doo, then that would have been the end of me.
“I have this faint memory of seeing the Ski-doo right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do about it. I am still in a lot of pain. But I am getting better and I’m looking forward to getting back on my feet.” Mr Ross was three days into a week-long holiday when the collision happened on Tuesday last week.
His father, Alasdair Johnston, 48, said: “If Sweyn had hit the big metal bull bars on the front of the snowmobile, I don’t like to think about the mess he would have been in.”
Mr Ross has been told that he will not be able to put any weight on his broken leg for at least 45 days. However, he is determined to recover in time for his 21st birthday party in May.
