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Freeride World Tour World Champion dies in Avalanche
2016 Women's snowboard champion in a fatal avalanche
Tragic news as the winner of this years women's snowboarding in the Freeride World Tour, Estelle Balet, has died in an avalanche.
The 21 year old Swiss national was filming in Le Portalet when the couloir she was snowboarding avalanched.
Emergency support was called for at 8am today and when they arrived on scene she had already been dug out from the debris, but was sadly unable to be resuscitated.
After coming in 2nd place in this years Freeride World Tour event in Chamonix, she went on to win the overall title in Verbier earlier this month.
The Freeride Wold Tour said in a statement today:
"The Freeride community has experienced a tremendous loss today as we learned that one of the most hopeful young talents and current snowboard World Champion, Estelle Balet, has tragically passed away in an avalanche. The mortal avalanche occurred earlier this morning in the canton of Valais. Estelle Balet was a naturally gifted shining star and demonstrated remarkable talent as she quickly became a household name on the Freeride World Tour, bringing home her second title as World Champion just a few weeks ago in Verbier. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Estelle Balet as we send our deepest sympathy and condolences during this very difficult time."
Such a tragic loss of someone so young and so talented. Our thoughts are with her friends, family and fellow competitors on the tour.
