Eau Claire (WQOW) - An Eau Claire man who has
spent decades skiing at night took a fall that left him with a broken arm and
no one around to help. Saturday he hit the trails for the first time since
three strangers came to his rescue.
Randall Coleman is back skiing again
for the first time in a month.
"I usually ski here
alone, at night, with a light, and I've been doing this for 35 years,"
said Randall Coleman of Eau Claire.
Coleman was at Tower Ridge nearly a
month ago when he took a fast fall.
"I took a chance at
going on down a hill. It was unusually fast, and then all of a sudden I hit
some slow snow. Then back in the fast stuff, and it caused me to lunge forward
really fast, and on my pole. It caused my upper arm to break," Coleman
explained.
At 9 o'clock at night, there was no
one around to help.
"This is where I
fell, on the bottom of this big hill. And I had to go up this hill, and come
all the way back to the parking lot," said Coleman as he pointed to a map
of the Tower Ridge trail system.
"I could slightly
ski in the skate motion as I made my way up the first uphill. Just enough to
keep moving. But I had to stop quite often because of the pain," Coleman said.
When he finally made it to the
parking lot, Coleman saw headlights and waved for help.
"They were just
driving out. So I waived frantically with my good arm, this arm, and I hollered
as long as I could, and they stopped. They realized I was in trouble,"
mentioned Coleman.
The three girls in the car stopped
to help.
"They helped me get
my skis off, and called the ambulance, and then put my stuff in the car,"
Coleman said.
In all chaos he forgot to ask for
their names.
"I talked to one of
the girls briefly about what she did, but I never got the names. It just kind
of slipped my mind," said Coleman.
So, to whoever the nameless rescuers
are, Coleman wants to extend his thanks.
"I can't say
enough. I'm just so grateful," he said.
Randall will still have to wait
another two weeks before having his cast removed. He's hopeful he can get back
to skiing with two good arms again before the season ends.
