"It was a beautiful day, the chairlift soared high above the piste and over some craggy cliffs and we were around two thirds of the way to the top of the mountain. She was sitting on the chair to my right with her small backpack on her knee. Suddenly her body went rigid and her backpack fell onto the cliffs below. Terrifyingly in a fraction of a second, her skis slid off the footrest, she slid forwards off the seat and through the safety bar.

I grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket around the shoulders as she was sliding off the chair and heading for the cliffs underneath. Only her head was above the safety bar, another fraction of a second and she would have fallen out of the chair. Somebody screamed on a chair behind. I could hear the sound of panic all around me.

I had caught her! She was hanging below me, dangling in mid-air. One slip and… oblivion! I secured my grip on her, it was extremely scary but I was convinced that I could hold her hanging below the chairlift until we reached the top.

“Check she is still alive?” I said to myself as the horror and the thought of her falling hit home. Perhaps a minute or two had passed, I shuffled my bum slightly to my left, my hands still linked under her arms. I lowered my right arm bending it at the elbow and her head fell back into the cradle of my right arm. Her appearance was frightening, her eyes were closed and she was unconscious. Her body was heavy, with the added weight of her skis and boots. Her lips were turning blue and she was unnaturally still.

I leant over her placing my right cheek over her mouth, expecting the worst. There was a breeze blowing and I didn’t know whether I could feel her breathing or whether I could feel the wind in the air. I decided quickly to give her the “kiss of life”. A kiss that sealed our fate?!

As I pulled her head back further her airways cleared. She coughed and choked regaining her consciousness immediately. Suddenly, everything went back into chaos. She realised that she was out of the chair and hanging towards the cliffs below. She became hysterical and began kicking her legs, her body swung violently around the corner of the chair to the right, my grip loosened and the situation quickly became perilous. I was now stretching across the chair grabbing onto her for all I was worth.

I shouted at her to try and place her left leg back onto the footrest so I could lever her back up and onto the chair. With considerable effort she stretched out her left leg, placing her left ski onto the footrest and I adjusted my grip on her jacket and levered her up and back into the chair. Immediately the situation became under control, she was sitting upright in the chair, awake, shaken, upset, but safe. The relief swept over me.

I had been Laura’s ski host that day and sometime after the accident we met in the UK and developed a wonderful relationship that has become the strength behind turning our dreams into reality and creating SnowCrazy". Mike Kew.