Industry News
Aspiring Canadian ski racer Lily Kunstadt was seriously injured while training at Saas-Fee, Switzerland, on August 31. The only 13-year-old ski racer from the Club de Ski Mont Tremblant, Canada, was hit by a malfunctioning T-bar going down the mountain as Kunstadt was going uphill on the T-bar.
While training with the Club de Ski Mont Tremblant at Saas-Fee, a dangling T-bar traveling downhill hit Kunstadt and catapulted her into the air. When Kunstadt hit the ground, she broke her back in two places, fractured ribs, and sustained second-degree burns to her face. Her coaches rushed to the scene, and the aspiring athlete was airlifted to Lausanne Hospital, where she underwent a seven-hour surgery to repair four broken vertebrae. At this point, Kunstadt has not regained feeling in her lower body and cannot see clearly out of her left eye, and she remains in the ICU.
Her parents, Eric and Shannon Kunstadt, have flown to Switzerland to be by her side. Lily Kunstadt’s father, Eric, runs the Kunstadt Sport ski and bike store in Kanata near Ottawa, Ontario, together with his siblings Ron and Monica. Once she is stable enough, she will be repatriated to Canada on a special plane. It is expected that Kunstadt will have to remain in ICU for at least a month. To help with the financial burden of the long recovery ahead of Lily Kunstad, a GoFundMe campaign was started by Marie-Hélène McKinlay, President of the Club de Ski Mont Tremblant.
Saas-Fee is a popular ski resort for summer training with ski racing clubs and national ski teams. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating the accident, but so far no report has been made available to the public.
