An Angus man is still nursing his wounds but not a huge medical bill following a dramatic first skiing experience.
Allan Mudie, 40, from Carnoustie, fell on the slopes near Zurich just 56 minutes after first putting on a pair of skis, and ended up in a Swiss hospital.
He turned over awkwardly as he came down the piste and dislocated his right shoulder, broke the ball of his arm into three bits and ruptured his deltoid muscle and nerve.
Allan’s hand was facing the wrong way and he was semi-conscious as he was carried off the slope, before spending three hours in hospital being patched up.
Nine months after his accident, Allan still can’t extend his elbow beyond his shoulder and he continues to undergo physiotherapy to aid his recovery.
Bills totalling thousands of pounds have also continued to drop through his letterbox, including the latest for 1,700 Swiss Francs, which arrived this week.
Luckily, Allan took out insurance the day before his skiing trip on the advice of his friends or he admits he would be nursing a bank account as battered and bruised as his arm.
He said: “I was visiting a friend in Zurich and went skiing for the first time. I’d been looking forward to it for ages and told friends and family to buy me ski gear for Christmas so I’d be kitted out properly.
“I definitely looked the part when I got on the slopes with my new gear but unfortunately it didn’t last longer than 56 minutes.
“Sadly it wasn’t even a spectacular fall I just turned over and fell awkwardly on the slope. The ski pole stuck in the snow as I went down and my arm was pulled right behind me.
“I was in agony but luckily the day before I went to Switzerland I spent £12 on travel insurance. A number of people had said to take out travel insurance as I seem to have a reputation for being a bit gung-ho.”
A couple of months after the father-of-three arrived back in the UK, the itemised bills from the hospital began to arrive.
Allan, who is a partner with Brunton Design chartered architects, estimates they total thousands of pounds. But, having paid an excess, he has simply sent them all on to his insurance company.
Allan is a keen runner and hillwalker. However, he admits he is unlikely to want to take to the slopes again in the near future.