Scottish skier: 'I sliced my artery but thought I had a dead leg'

The Scot needed more than 20 stitches on his leg

A Scottish skier has described how he sliced his leg to the bone with the edge of his ski - but thought he just had a dead leg.

Jim Battison, from Oban, was on a skiing holiday in France with two friends when he had the accident.

"I didn't feel pain. It was like a dead leg. I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't bend my leg until I looked down," he said.

He was taken to hospital in Thonon-les-Bain and needed more than 20 stitches.

Warning: This article contains details and an image which some readers may find distressing

The Scot said blood from a severed artery was "spurting" over the snow.

Mr Battison and his two friends, Colin and Rory, were on an "easy run" from France through to Switzerland when he felt like he wanted to stop and moved to the edge of the piste.

"I stopped beside this marker and just collapsed", he told BBC Radio Scotland's John Beattie programme.

"But I ended up swishing down the slope at a fair speed, stopping further down, and Colin said, 'Are you ok?'"

"I said yeah yeah, I've just got a dead leg. And then I looked down at my leg and I saw the blood going 'whoosh', spurting up, and I thought ooh, no I'm not."

Jim Battison was bandaged up by a ski patroller before being airlifted to hospital

His friends stuffed a string vest into the wound in an attempt to reduce the blood flow before help arrived.

"The only time I nearly fainted was when Rory took off his Glasgow string vest to try and stem the blood. No top on the slopes! I thought, that's hellish," he said.

Two ski patrollers arrived to dress the wound before Mr Battison was taken down the piste by skidoo and then airlifted to hospital by helicopter.

Mr Battison said his ski had sliced through a minor artery, leading to a lot of blood loss.

"The edge of the ski went from just above my left knee at a 20 degree angle about 20cm (8 in) probably, biting through flesh, muscle, down to the bone and splitting a small artery as well," he said.

Mr Battison being loaded into the helicopter at the bottom of the piste

Despite the gruesome injury, Mr Battison said he was still keen to get back to the slopes as soon as possible.

"I've got to see the surgeon again on 4 February. I'm desperate to get back out but I can't even bend my leg yet," he told the BBC.

"The surgeon said four weeks until recovery, but that doesn't mean recovery on to skis I don't think."