"7 lives used up"

Jochen Schweizer: Serious skiing accident in Salzburg

Jochen Schweizer had a serious accident while skiing in Leogang in December. The entrepreneur now explained: "I've used up my seven lives."(Bild: Johannes Simon / SZ-Photo / picturedesk.com)

"I think that was my seventh life. I've used them all up now," Jochen Schweizer told the "Bild" newspaper, still in shock. The entrepreneur, who is also known from the Vox show "Die Höhle der Löwen", had a serious accident while skiing in Austria.

"I've already cheated death several times. And this time again," Schweizer continued. 

Jochen Schweizer had a serious accident while skiing in Leogang in December. The entrepreneur now explained: "I have used up my seven lives."(Bild: Johannes Simon / SZ-Photo / picturedesk.com)

Flown "unchecked" into the forest
As the 67-year-old revealed to the Bild newspaper, the dramatic skiing accident took place in Leogang back in December. "I was skiing down the valley run to my house. And then there was a 90-degree bend at the bottom. There were a few snowboarders on the left. I pulled out to the right and then turned sharply inwards. And somehow I went from the sun into the shade. That's when it happened."

He was lucky in his misfortune, Schweizer continued. He didn't fall, but instead flew about 100 meters and 15 meters into a forest - "unbraked" and "without touching the ground", as he explained.

Accident could have been fatal
In the end, he "landed in a six-meter gap in a tree in the deep snow. I must have been doing 100 kilometers." He knows: "If I had hit a tree there, I would have been dead on the spot."

In an interview with the "Bild" newspaper, Jochen Schweizer spoke about his dramatic skiing accident.(Bild: Sven Hoppe / dpa / picturedesk.com)

However, Schweizer still suffered serious injuries in the fall. He hit his back on a tree stump hidden in the snow. His shoulder blade was shattered into six pieces and all the central tendons were torn off. He also broke his entire back arch. In addition, two tendons in his left leg were torn off his thigh and Schweizer suffered a palm-sized hematoma on his skull.

Eyewitnesses rushed to his aid, Schweizer continued. "I was lying down there completely dismembered. Three men then dragged me up. I was in brutal pain, but I skied down to my house on my right ski." Only then did he call the hospital and ask for an ambulance.

"Had all the guardian angels in the world"
Schweizer was finally operated on in Munich. Five bone anchors were screwed into his shoulder to reconstruct and reattach his tendons. The final healing will probably take months.  

This accident has "changed my thinking", says Schweizer. "I now simply have to acknowledge that I no longer have the same abilities at 67 as I did at 27. I had all the guardian angels in the world! My Buddhist gratitude mantra is: 'Thank you for everything, I'm not complaining about anything'."