Big White Ski Resort's account of daughter's crash into tree upsets Victoria dad

A Victoria B.C. father believes his daughter should be acknowledged for her bravery and not criticized for her skiing after she crashed into a tree at Big White Ski Resort and sustained serious injuries. 

Frank Egan was on a ski trip with his family at the Kelowna-area ski resort this month when his daughter Carly lost an edge on a turn, slammed into a tree and fell into a two-and-a-half-metre tree well.

"She fractured not just one bone — she fractured seven," Egan said.

"She fractured her pelvis in three different places. Her femur was fractured. It was a compound fracture meaning that the bone came out the back of her leg."

The 17-year-old also broke bones in her face and had internal bleeding that required four blood transfusions, according to her father.

The impact knocked Carly unconscious for several minutes.

When she regained consciousness, Carly was able to untangle her legs, get into a sitting position in the tree well and find her cell phone to call 9-1-1.

She spoke with rescuers and was able to direct them to her location by throwing one of her gloves up and out of the tree well onto the surface of the snow above her, according to Egan.

Carly was airlifted to Kelowna General Hospital and underwent three surgeries in the intensive care ward.

Complete disregard for code

Egan called his daughter's actions while injured 'heroic' but that's not how she was portrayed in an online news report about the incident that quoted Big White Ski Resort's senior vice president Michael Ballingall.

Ballingall told Castanet media "the skier was skiing out of control with a complete disregard for the alpine responsibility code." 

Ballingall blamed the crash on Carly's use of an iPhone app that skiers use to track how fast they are going on the slopes.

The article reported Carly skiing as fast as 90 kilometres per hour.

Ski resorts' account 'false in every regard'

Egan took exception to the Ballingall's comments calling them "false in every regard."

"To have her characterized in that way was upsetting to her and upsetting to us," Egan said. "She wasn't skiing out of control. She was obeying all the rules of skiing."

Egan admitted his daughter was using an app on her iPhone to track her skiing, but he said she never reached a speed of 90 kilometres per hour before she crashed.

"You know if she was going 90 kilometres per hour she would have been killed," he said.

According to the data on the app Carly reached a top speed of 77 kilometres per hour on her run and was travelling at a speed of 48 kilometres per hour when she crashed into the tree, according to Egan.

Ballingall told CBC News the crash was a horrible tragedy and an emotional issue for everyone at the ski resort.

But he stood by his comments saying he based them on accounts witnesses provided on the day of the crash.

"Big White Ski Resort's standpoint is very simple. We promote the alpine responsibility code and skiing in control is the number one position on the code," he said.

Concern over ski-tracking apps

"These (ski tracking) apps have caused accidents at many resorts in Canada and around the world and it's up to all of us who ski and snowboard on the mountain to ski in control," said Ballingall.

Meanwhile Carly is still in hospital and has a lengthy recovery ahead of her.

Egan said he is very appreciative of the ski patrollers and first responders who helped his daughter after her crash, as well as the doctors and nurses who treated her in at the hospital.

Despite the incident and the ski resort's characterization of his daughter's crash in the media, Egan said his family will likely return to Big White. 

"We think it is the best ski hill in Canada," he said.  "We did have a negative time in terms of the media reporting, but we are going to get past it as a family."

Egan said his family is now focusing on his daughter's story of survival.

"She showed incredible bravery and strength and cool, calm thinking when the accident happened," he said.