Extreme sports
Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:09 am
Sports extremists strike me as plain lucky sometimes. This is almost like the nutter who skied down Everest or the skateboarder who took on Mount Whistler after being helicoptered to the summit, if less deliberate. Do we have any paragliders posting here?Ewa Wisnierska, 35, passed out due to a lack of oxygen and flew unconscious for up to an hour covered in ice after reaching an altitude of 9947 metres - near the cruising height of a jumbo jet.
Mr Wenness said her injuries were severe. "She's got bruises all over her body from the hail stones and she's recovering from frostbite to her extremities. She's got bandages over her head because her ears nearly got frozen off." "She just remembers going up, lightning around her in the cloud and she doesn't remember anything until coming to again." He said the size of the hail stones was up to 15 centimetres in diameter. "Apples, oranges, up to rockmelon size. And her glider kept flying perfectly which is the amazing thing in this whole thing. "Basically she can't believe that she's alive.'
Sergeant Scott Tanner of Manilla police said Wisnierska landed between Barraba and Niagra, 60 kilometres away from her launch site. "She was treated in hospital and discharged with frostbite injuries to her face," he said. A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the temperature in the storm at 9,000 metres would have been lower than minus-40 degrees.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/02/ ... ntentSwap1
Mr Wenness said her injuries were severe. "She's got bruises all over her body from the hail stones and she's recovering from frostbite to her extremities. She's got bandages over her head because her ears nearly got frozen off." "She just remembers going up, lightning around her in the cloud and she doesn't remember anything until coming to again." He said the size of the hail stones was up to 15 centimetres in diameter. "Apples, oranges, up to rockmelon size. And her glider kept flying perfectly which is the amazing thing in this whole thing. "Basically she can't believe that she's alive.'
Sergeant Scott Tanner of Manilla police said Wisnierska landed between Barraba and Niagra, 60 kilometres away from her launch site. "She was treated in hospital and discharged with frostbite injuries to her face," he said. A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the temperature in the storm at 9,000 metres would have been lower than minus-40 degrees.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/02/ ... ntentSwap1
I Agree Spot she was one lucky person.