Third British skier is killed in French Alps after 100ft fall

 
30 March 2012

A British skier has fallen 100 feet to his death while ski touring in the French Alps.

57-year-old Paul Wenning slipped on ice and plummeted down a steep ridge in the resort of Chamonix He was ski touring on the Crochues-Berard traverse, one of Chamonix's classic ski-tours when the accident happened on Thursday morning.

His fellow ski tourers immediately alerted the mountain rescue but he was declared dead at the scene. The tragedy comes just days after the deaths of two Britons in the French resort of Val D'Isere.

Ed How, 37, a teacher at Charterhouse school, fell 650 feet to his death while skiing off-piste on Tuesday and Tom Lynch, 22, died after smashing into a snow-making cannon on a piste.

The Briton who died on Thursday is believed to live in Les Houches, in the Chamonix Valley.

A mountain rescue spokesman said: "He was ski touring on hard, icy snow. He slipped and fell a considerable distance - 30 metres. We were called but there was nothing we could do to save him unfortunately."

Ski tourers wear special bindings on their skis to free their heel to allow a natural walking motion while traversing and ascending terrain ranging from flat to extremely steep.

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