A British woman working as a tour rep at an Austrian ski resort is in intensive care after using her snowboard as a sledge on a steep slope.

Annie Ferrier, 24, from Norwich, was travelling so fast as she reached the bottom of the slope that the snowboard she was sitting on with a female friend took off and flew more than 20ft before crashing into a parked car.

Police said Miss Ferrier was working for British holiday company Inghams in St Anton and had been at the popular apr�s-ski bar Krazy Kangaroo which is on a slope just outside the village.

Together with a 26-year-old woman from New Zealand she decided to use a snowboard, which belonged to the 26-year-old, as a sledge to slide down the piste from the bar.

The bar, about 600 metres higher than the village, can only be reached by walking up and down the ski slope.

A St Anton police spokesman said: "Shortly after the bar the slope turns very steep - about 25 degrees. It was on this steep run when the women lost control over the board.

"About 120 metres after the bar they went over the edge of the piste where there is a 1.5 metre drop."

Emergency services administered first aid before taking Miss Ferrier to Zams hospital.

Doctors at Zams moved her to the intensive care ward at an Innsbruck Clinic where she is being treated for serious head injuries.

The New Zealand woman, who was not named, suffered only minor injuries.