St John Queenstown station manager Craig Downing said staff had been ''extremely busy'' over the weekend, ferrying 11 injured patients by helicopter to hospitals in Queenstown, Invercargill and Dunedin.
St John staff provided clinical care services on board Lakes District Air Rescue Trust helicopters, and Mr Downing said he could not recall his staff having a busier weekend.
The jobs included one medical incident in Ranfurly, and 10 injured skiers needing to be taken off the Remarkables and Cardrona skifields, he said.
That included five missions yesterday alone - all of them skiing-related - to help patients with spinal injuries and fractured legs.
In the most serious incident, a 57-year-old Queenstown man tumbled down a slope while skiing at Cardrona, causing ''severe lower leg injuries, closed head injuries and suspected internal bleeding'', Mr Downing said.
The cause of the accident was not known, ''and he can't recall the incident either'', Mr Downing said.
The man was taken first to Lakes District Hospital, and then transferred by the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter, with an intensive care team on board, to Dunedin Hospital where he underwent surgery.
Mr Downing said a typical day might see ''one or two'' missions, and, although it was ''not unusual'' to have busier days, he had not experienced a workload similar to the weekend's.
''We would normally see busier times at the beginning of the season, when people aren't used to the snow conditions, but at the end of the season you'd certainly think people's bodies are conditioned.
''We've certainly seen a very unusual amount of fractured legs in the last two days.
''I'm not sure if it's rock exposure or it's just the conditions ... but the number of them have been quite substantial.''
As well as highlighting the ''sheer volume'' of work, Mr Downing said it also showed the community ''their rescue helicopter is out working really hard''.
