An 18-year-old Australian tourist is still in Burwood spinal unit in Christchurch after a serious snowboarding accident at Coronet Peak earlier this month.
Coronet Peak spokeswoman Alexa Forbes said the Melbourne man was seriously injured at the skifield on July 11.
After attempting a jump he landed on his head and fractured vertebrae in his neck, she said.
He was transported to Queenstown Medical Centre for stabilisation, then to Invercargill Hospital for surgery and then on to Burwood spinal unit in Christchurch.
Ms Forbes said the number of reported accidents this year was under the international benchmark.
"This year our reported accidents are running at 2.1 per 1000 for skiers and 3.7 per 1000 for snowboarders. The international benchmark figure is 4 per 1000," she said.
Wakatipu St John acting team manager Alana Reid said a rise in winter accidents was keeping ambulance crews busier than last year.
There had been 198 call-outs between July 1 and 18, of those 60 were to Queenstown skifields, she said.
It was "well on track" to be the busiest July in years, she said.
In July 2007, there were 284 call-outs and 271 in July last year.
She said the first week in July had been particularly busy as it overlapped with the Australian school holidays and Queenstown had "good" visitor numbers.
The most common skifield injuries were to the lower back, followed by fractures of the elbows, wrists or legs.
Dislocated shoulders were common among snowboarders.
Four new officers were working full-time in Queenstown until mid-October, bringing the team to 12 officers, she said.
The injured man's condition was unavailable from Christchurch Hospital and his family declined to be interviewed.
