Snowboarder Falls to His Death After Taking Wrong Turn

A 40-year-old British doctor has been killed after falling at least 30 meters on to rocks when he took a wrong turn while snowboarding off-piste in the French Alps.

The man, who has not been named, is thought to be a married father of two from Hampshire. It is the third British death at a European ski resort this year.

The accident happened on Tuesday afternoon when the man was snowboarding above the hamlet of Joseray, less than half a mile from the center of Val d'Isère. He went off-piste and apparently took a turn never used by locals or off-piste guides and fell on to the rocks.

Some reports suggested he may have fallen up to 80 metres, although this has not been confirmed.

The accident comes less than a week after British businessman David Monk, 46, was killed when a prank went wrong in a resort in the Italian Alps.

Monk, from Ware, Hertfordshire, died when he and some friends pulled padding from a ski barrier and used it as a sledge. They hit the barrier at the bottom of the slope and Monk died from severe head and chest injuries.

In January, British snowboarder Monica Davis, 35, from Coton-in-the-Elms, Derbyshire, died when she went off a marked piste in the Alpspitz region of Germany after becoming separated from her husband and friends. She fell into a canyon, where rescuers found her frozen body the following morning.

Tuesday's incident happened just a few meters from last weekend's downhill skiing World Cup route.

Four mountain rescuers and two doctors arrived at the scene within minutes, but the man was already dead. He was taken off the mountain by helicopter.

A witness said: "It was only a few meters from the téléphérique de l'Olympique [the cable car route near the piste], but it's a piste that goes nowhere. Visibility was good and the risk of avalanche medium. This was no avalanche, just an unfortunate fatal wrong turn."

The dead snowboarder was attending a four-day medical seminar at the resort's congress center.

The Foreign Office said it had received no information about the latest incident. A spokeswoman said: "We are aware of media reports but as yet nothing seems to have been reported to our consulates."

Val d'Isère is renowned for its long season, high-altitude skiing and historic village center. It is also famed for its lively après-ski, and is particularly popular with British people.