Double climbing tragedy
RECORD-BREAKING adventurer Rob Gauntlett and a close friend, James Atkinson, both from West Sussex, have been killed in a tragic climbing accident in the French Alps.
Rob (21) from Petworth, plunged to his death along with James , also 21, from Billingshurst, in the Chamonix region on a route on the east face of Mont Blanc.
Mr Gauntlet's mother Nicola said: "We are all just devastated. He's far too young to die. We had spoken about something like this happening only recently.
"We can only take consolation that he died doing something he loved."
Tributes have poured in for the pair. To read them and the full story, see the West Sussex Gazette January 14.