An up-and-coming young Norwegian snowboarder suffered a serious spine injury after falling while testing a 10m-high jump in Treble Cone's saddle basin on Tuesday and is now being treated at the specialist spine injury unit at Burwood Hospital, Christchurch.
Filmmaker Matt Pain told the Otago Daily Times yesterday his 22-year-old friend suffered a "permanent injury" from a dislocated spine, which had severed his spinal cord.
He believed his friend would be paralysed from the chest down.
Surgery yesterday had gone as well as could be expected, Mr Pain said.
"He is a strong guy. He hasn't lost it once. He has a good group of friends around him and his family arrives tomorrow."
Mr Pain declined to release the snowboarder's name because his family had not arrived.
Mr Pain is a New Zealander who has lived and worked in Norway for six years.
The Press reported Burwood Hospital has treated five seriously injured snowboarders this year, down from 24 in the 2009 season (two of which were serious spinal cord injuries).
Of the five snowboarders admitted this year, the Norwegian patient was the most seriously injured, the paper said.
Treble Cone media and marketing spokesman Nigel Kerr told the Otago Daily Times yesterday he understood the professional snowboarder, while well-known in his community, had not competed at recent international events in New Zealand and did not have a high profile here.
He was at Treble Cone with a group of professional snowboarders to make a film.
They were using the jump built for a stunt attempt by Swedish freeskier Jon Olsson earlier this month, and it had been "seriously modified" by groomers since Olsson abandoned his attempt, Mr Kerr said.
Mr Kerr said he understood the snowboarder had been attempting a stunt when the accident happened.
