Skier almost hangs himself on a cable
A skier is in a critical state after skiing into a piste grooming machine cable on Sunday evening at the Wagrain ski area in Salzburg, police said yesterday (Mon).Günther S., 50, was skiing down to the middle lift station at about 8pm after a birthday party at the “Gipfelstadl” mountain hut when he failed to see the extended cable in the darkness and skied right into it, nearly severing his neck.Rescuers took the man to Schwarzach emergency hospital for treatment.In a similar accident earlier this year, a 45-year-old Styrian woman skied into a cable after dark on 30 January at the Hauser Kaibling ski area in Styrias Liezen district. She died a few days later at Schladming hospital where she had been undergoing treatment.Helga Maria B. had been making her way down to the valley floor at 11pm after visiting a mountain hut with pals when she skied into a cable running from a piste packing machine to a nearby pole and was left hanging by her neck.The Styrian cable car operators division of the Styrian Economic Chamber called for a ban on night skiing after the woman was left in a coma following the accident.But division head Peter Lackner said a ban would be difficult to agree on as the interests of authorities and restaurant owners differed.A second person died after a night skiing accident at the Rangger Köpfl ski area in Tyrols Innsbruck-Land district several weeks later.Police said the man, 51, had been skiing 300 metres above the valley floor when he skied off a lighted piste and fell. He was found lying 40 metres away and taken to Innsbruck clinic, where he died.