Following on from the earlier post…
We had to call out the Air ambulance for a mate of ours yesterday.. not in Cut Gate, but on Rochers de Naye – in Switzerland. We were up at around 1700m hammering down the walkers track when something stopped his bike dead. He then stopped shortly afterwards by way of a trail side tree and his head. The result was not pretty – smashed his Xen into pieces. He suffered a 3 inch open gash on his forehead (I've now seen a real live human skull!) and a broken hand. He was a bit out of it for a while understandably whilst we tried to stop him moving, cover up the wound with a big bandage. Then the emergency services were called and around 20minutes later a chopper was hovering over us with a portly bald man being winched down to sort him out.
The guy was a star – professional and amusing – and got our mate up and out of there in 20 minutes and down to Montreux hospital in no time. Proper swiss efficiency for you.
The result – a CT scan revealed no fractures to the skull or neck, just a big wound that needed stitches – and he had to have an op on his hand to fit a plate in there.
He's now in good spirits and on his way back home (Morzine) this afternoon after a night in the hospital.
I have no doubt that the Xen saved his life.
p.s. a Dakine Nomad backpack is strong enough to carry a heckler minus wheels down the mountain to the car – not something they advertise on the packaging!
