Snowboarder falls 80ft to death

Ally · 03-04-2008, 02:52 AM

Quote:

A snowboarder from Leeds died when he fell 80ft down a crevasse in the French Alps, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

It is believed the 32-year-old man had removed his snowboard and walked across a bridge which collapsed under him.

He had been snowboarding off-piste on an 8,500ft-high stretch of the Valle Blanche, near Chamonix, with a group of friends on Sunday morning.

Mountain police were alerted and his body was recovered at about 1830 GMT. His family have been informed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...re/7276274.stm

SkaredShtles · 03-04-2008, 09:44 AM

Off piste in Europe is serious business...

LamarCrazed · 03-04-2008, 07:36 PM

Of all the freakin ways to go and he wasn’t even boarding. Wonder if his family is going to sue the ski park for the crappy bridge maintenance. You figure that would be the last thing you would worry about.

SkaredShtles · 03-04-2008, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LamarCrazed

Of all the freakin ways to go and he wasn’t even boarding. Wonder if his family is going to sue the ski park for the crappy bridge maintenance. You figure that would be the last thing you would worry about.

Umm... they're talking about a SNOW bridge. Which is simply a "bridge" of snow which has naturally formed over a crevasse.

And in Europe "off piste" means "non-maintained" sort of like backcountry skiing here... you're on your own and if you screw up, it's your responsibility.

LamarCrazed · 03-06-2008, 01:01 PM

Wow I totally misread the article and apologize for the idiotic sounding post. I've been boarding for about 5 years now but all in ski parks on the west coast. I'm realizing how "green" I really am! But this forum has been helping me.