Speaking from her hospital bed at the Otara Spinal Unit, she told the Northern Advocate of the terrifying moments when she realised she was seriously injured.
"It just felt like I had been winded. I thought I just needed a few moments to take a breather and then get back up.
"Then I realised I couldn't move my legs."
Miss Kissick was taken to a hospital in Vancouver, where it was determined that she'd fractured two vertebrae in her spine.
"I never really felt scared - just that life had taken a huge turn."
She'd taken out full travel insurance before the trip, particularly because she planned to go snowboarding and had heard many horror stories. The treatment cost has run into the thousands.
"Thank goodness I had it [insurance].
"The numbers we are getting back on the bills [being covered] are phenomenal.
"It would take more than a lifetime to repay."
The cover included two months' stay at Vancouver Hospital and all medical treatments over there.
"There I was sitting in a hospital for two months, looking at the very mountains I had wanted to climb."
Miss Kissick's travel insurance also allowed for return flights to Canada for her parents to visit her, as well as her flight home - a massive undertaking requiring a stretcher strapped over nine reclined plane seats. She was accompanied by a doctor and a nurse.
She's well aware of the struggle ahead.
"I'm slowly making progress, coming to grips with my new body," she said.
Miss Kissick and her family may never receive help from the ACC scheme because the injury occurred overseas.
Her mother Glenis, a nurse, said this was in part because Alicia had a year-long working holiday in Melbourne before her OE, despite returning home to Whangarei for four days in between.
Their case was declined by ACC, so the family appealed. A decision is due in June.
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