Wellington, Aug 19 - A male skier has died after hitting his head on a rock at the Remarkables skifield today.
The accident happened shortly after lunchtime, Queenstown police told NZPA.
The man, a tourist, suffered serious head injuries and was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital where he died.
Policewere trying to contact the man's next of kin overseas and further details would be released later.
Remarkables skifield spokesman Duncan Smith told NZPA he understood the skier was travelling alone.
"He was skiing on an advanced intermediate trail and appears to have lost control and slipped some way down and off the trail," he said.
The man was attended on site by the Remarkables medical and ski patrol, stabilised, then flown by helicopter to Queenstown airport and to Dunedin.
Mr Smith said the skifield trails were not rocky, but the surrounding terrain of the Remarkables had a number of very large "landscape features".
"A tragedy of this kind is very rare and I think this can be described as a very unfortunate accident. Thousands of people ski every day and quite a lot fall over."
The ski area, in conjunction with police, would conduct a full investigation, Mr Smith said.
