Norwegian magazine vg.no tells us a few details in their article about the accident:
The accident happened on friday the 7th of May while skiing a line Fred himself called “hairy” – a narrow and steep chute including a “three stager” cliff drop. Before the first mandatory air the helicopter filming above sprayed so much snow around that Fred couldn’t see anything. “This is a line where falling is absolutely out of question. Therefore, the helicopter coming so near should never happen! It was a total whiteout. So, I fell anyway and now I am very lucky to have no further damage”, explains Syversen when watching the video of the fall first time.
Fred Syversen crash in Tamok
Again, Fred survived with relatively few injuries – bruised shoulder and hand combined with some scratches on his face.
Fred says that the high speed might have saved him from more serious injuries. At speed the momentum goes more forward than just hard down. However, Fred still admits that he was afraid of breaking every bone in his body (Note: And we believe that!). In the end of the fall, entering the “runout” zone, Fred also had some good luck when avoiding the sharp rocks lurking in both sides of his path.
Fred Syversen looks forward for a quick recovery – another freeride competition in June?
After all Fred doesn’t blame the helicopter pilot for the accident. Everyone who was on the filming team has spoken out about what happened.
“What is happening (in the video) is that I try to stop desperately because of not seeing anything in the snow cloud. Eventually I realize that I just can’t stop and choose to take the downhill option…”
After landing the first drop Fred started a dramatic series of cartwheels for several hundred meters until he finally stopped. First Fred was afraid of dislocating his shoulder but a check in hospital excluded this. Fred is still out of skiing for a while to heal the shoulder and hand. But he looks forward to be back in a freeride camp in Stryn, Norway held on the 10th of June.
We hope fast recovery for Fred and wish all the luck in the future too. Seems like being a professional freerider requires quite a lot of it – and a built of a tank in addition!
Ski photo by Aadne Olsrud, other photos are screenshots from the video. Ps. I just chatted with Aadne. He was on the accident site and picked up Fred on his snowmobile after the fall and drove him to the heli. I’ll try to talk with him soon and ask some more questions! Full story with Photos HERE – HomeboySki.com