Extreme world champ killed in Swiss avalanche
Print Edition
AN avalanche yesterday swept away two-time world extreme snowboard champion Estelle Balet to her death in the Swiss Alps, police said.
The 21-year-old Balet, who had won her second straight title on the Freeride World Tour only two weeks ago, was making a film when she was killed, Swiss police said in a statement.
Balet was speeding down a slope near the resort of Orsieres on her snowboard when the avalanche started and carried her away, police added.
Another snowboarder had been on the slope just before Balet passed.
Balet had been wearing a device meant to help locate people in avalanches, as well as a helmet and an airbag designed to increase the chances of surviving a snow slide.
Rescuers managed to dig her out of the snow, but police said: “Despite an attempt to resuscitate her, she died at the scene of the accident. An investigation has been started to determine the causes of the accident.”
“I feel a huge sadness, a feeling of bitterness and above all solidarity with her family and friends,” Nicolas Hale-Woods, founder of the Freeride World Tour, said. “It is a reminder that no matter how well prepared you are, taking part in freeride in the mountains has an element of uncertainty.”
Balet came from the Valais region and had been snowboarding since the age of 10. She had been on the Freeride World Tour since the junior level.
Last year, Balet became the youngest champion of the Freeride World Tour, in which skiers and snowboarders compete by riding down steep, often-rocky ungroomed slopes. Events are sometimes halted due to avalanches, including last February at a competition in Austria.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
