'Lucky to be alive': Family of injured skier recounts harrowing incident at Boler Mountain

George Dlouhy, a lifetime skier and longtime season pass holder at Boler Mountain, was about to start a day on the slopes last week when tragedy struck.

“He put his skis on, and then just entered the line there in the main lift, and as he did not know, he was just focused on getting in line and then going up the lift starting his day, and at that point it was lights out,” said Dlouhy’s son, Jordan.

Jordan said a tree fell from the wooded area behind where his dad was standing in line and landed on him. His injuries are serious.

“Ultimately he suffered an intra-cerebral hemorrhage to his head, proximal humerus fracture, pelvic fracture with a severe you urologic injury, and fractured ribs,” he said.

Dlouhy required emergency surgery to stop the bleeding, and will be in hospital for a lengthy amount of time. 

Marty Thody, a member of the management team at Boler Mountain, was emotional speaking about the incident.

People ride a ski lift at London, Ont.'s Boler Mountain in this undated image. (Supplied)

“You know our whole community, is, our thoughts are with the family, and it’s just not reflective of our operation,” he said.

Thody said Boler has an expert on staff and preventative maintenance is done on the trees before every season, and told CTV News London, “We brought our expert back in and we're [going to] go through the process of likely eliminating the species from the property, it just can't take it.”

Dlouhy’s son believes the injuries would have been much more severe if not for the helmet he was wearing.

“Ultimately, we believe it saved his life along with the paramedics that arrived on scene,” he said.

George Dlouhy is seen in this undated image. (Supplied)

Helmet technology has come a long way in the last decade according to Scott Taylor from Source for Sports.

“The main thing with it is to just prevent concussions, it has a bit of a slip layer that allows for a bit of rotation, about 10 to 15 millimeters and that alleviates a lot of the forces in a fall on the brain.”

Dlouhy’s recovery is expected to be take over a year, but he is improving in hospital, and looks forward to skiing again one day. 

A GoFundMe has since been set up to cover rehabilitation costs.