Littlehampton man killed in French avalanche

James Rourke, 26, was off-piste on the Grande Motte in the popular resort of Tignes on Thursday with a friend, Sam Harber, 25, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, when they were overcome by the huge 500-metre-wide avalanche.

It broke around 100 metres above the two men at about 4pm and dragged them 800 metres down the glacier, over a series of cliffs, burying them under snow, ice and rocks.

An onlooker alerted the emergency services after seeing the two men engulfed by the avalanche. They were believed to have been killed instantly by the impact of rocks and ice carried with the snow.

Avalanche warnings were issued earlier in the day and both men were wearing avalanche beacons to allow them to be located if they got trapped.

James' body was found by search and rescue teams on Friday, the signal from his beacon leading rescuers to his body.

Mr Harber's beacon was ripped from his jacket pocket by the force of the avalanche. He is presumed dead and the search for his body has had to be postponed due to poor weather conditions and the risk of further avalanches in the area.

Earlier this year the pair had climbed the Grande Motte to raise money for the Asian tsunami disaster appeal, raising more than 18,000.

James' parents, who have lived in Littlehampton for the past three years, flew to France to identify him and returned to Littlehampton yesterday full of praise for the rescue team which found his body and carried it down from the mountain.

James' body will be re-patriated in the next few days by an international funeral directors.

Peter Rourke, James' father described his son as a "free spirit" who had been working winter seasons in ski resorts for the past six years and had lived all over the world.

He said: "James was fantastic. He was the best son and lived his life to the full. He did everything that he ever wanted to do but was always in contact his mum Anne-Marie, his sister Christie and myself. We are a very close family.

"He had many plans for this summer and was talking about going to South Africa and him and Sam were planning to go to Canada next winter, working their way round there and snowboarding."

Both men were in France working for tour company Snowline VIP in the nearby resort of Val d'Isere.

Snowline managing director Andy Sturt said: "James and Sam were loyal, valued and extremely popular members of our team. They will be hugely missed. Our thoughts and sympathies at this time are for their families, friends and colleagues."