A professional skier was left in agony after he plunged 30ft off a mountain while training with friends.

Kieran Troup, 24, attempted a routine cliff drop - a jump over the edge of an icy crag on to soft snow below - on the Bluebird Pow trail in Kappl, Austria.

An injured skier whose horrific mountain tumble was caught on video is fundraising for essential surgery so he can get back on the slopes again.

With a camera strapped to his helmet, Kieran made the dive - but the impact upon landing knocked the athlete out of his skis, and sent him tumbling 30ft down the mountain.

Kieran, from Aberdeen, Scotland, says he felt a "pop," followed by agonising pain - and immediately knew something wasn't right."

A trip to the hospital revealed that Kieran had suffered damage and tears to his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and would require surgery to recover full movement to his knee.

The skier, whose horrific mountain tumble was caught on video, is fundraising for essential surgery so he can get back on the slopes again.

"I hit a drop, and my skis double ejected from the impact," said Kieran."

"I did four or five tomahawks after that – when your feet go over your head. "

"I knew right when I landed that I'd torn something in my knee - I was devastated."

"I could feel the pop, and I was screaming. I've never had pain like that."

Friends and physiotherapists came to his rescue, checking his injuries and helping him ski on one leg back to the bottom of the slopes, all while in "agony."

Kieran says NHS waiting lists for the surgery can take up to three years, during which, his skiing career would be put on pause - and with an expected 10 month recovery time, he felt he had no other option than to seek private care.

The surgery has an estimated cost of between £8-10k, and with Kieran now unable to return to the sport until 2026 at the earliest, he has begun a GoFundMe to help afford the cost.

"On the NHS, it takes about three years," he said."

"People can live their lives without an ACL – their knee doesn't really work properly and it's not ideal, but you can do it. "

"My job is to be a professional skier, and the last thing I want is to try and compete with a handicap."

"The recovery from the surgery takes 10 months – or at least 10 until I can ski properly again. "

"If I were to have the surgery now, I'd be back next year – it's a long recovery. "

"The reason for going private is to get it done as soon as possible – the NHS isn't really an option."

"My family and followers have been really supportive about everything, but I'm quite stressed, because I'm not quite sure how I'm going to pay for the surgery."

Kieran, who has been skiing for as long as he can remember, says this injury is the worst he has ever suffered - but still hopes to return to the slopes as soon as possible.

"I've broken my leg skiing and done some pretty bad stuff to my body skiing, but I've never ended up finishing a season early," he said."

"I didn't do a single competition this year. I did a month of filming and training, and that was my season over."

"My whole life has been skiing. I started when I was five, and I loved it."

"I got onto the British team for ski racing and was there from 14-18, and all I wanted to be was a professional ski racer."

"When I was 18, I quit ski racing and moved to Canada to become a ski instructor, and found a love for freeride skiing. "

"Ever since then, that's all I've wanted to do. Hopefully everything goes well - I just want to come back stronger."

The link to Kieran's GoFundMe can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-freeride-skier-and-former-coach-with-his-surgery