On Saturday afternoon, a 25-year-old man was injured in a snowboarding accident at Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort and was air-lifted to Mercy Regional Medical Center.
Photos By Griz photographer Rob Finn was snowboarding alone near chairlift 3, on what is known as the “backside” of the mountain, when he crashed into a tree, possibly puncturing a lung and breaking several ribs, Sam Arensmeier said, who is a close friend and co-worker of Finn’s,
According to Arensmeier, mountain patrollers informed him that Finn was unable to alert anyone of his injuries, and he was forced to continue snowboarding down the mountain until he was able to make emergency contact.
“Apparently, he was trying to wave people down from where he was, but no one was stopping,” Arensmeier said.
“What I know about it came from ski patrol, who gave me a very brief summary of what happened,” he said. “Essentially, he was on lift 3 and hit a tree. He had a partially collapsed lung and three broken ribs.”
Ski patrollers responded immediately, Kim Oyler said, spokeswoman for DMR, and Finn was airlifted to the Mercy Regional Medical Center.
“He is stable and in good condition and supposed to get out of the hospital (Sunday) afternoon,” Arensmeier told The Durango Herald on Sunday evening.
Asked Sunday afternoon for an update on the Finn’s condition, Mercy Regional Medical Center spokesman David Bruzzese said he could not provide any information because he had already been released.
bmathis@durangoherald.com
