British skier dies as he slips on ice and plunges 100ft down ridge in Chamonix
Rex
A British skier - the third to die in the past two weeks - has fallen 100 feet to his death in the French ski resort of Chamonix.
Paul Benning, 57, slipped on ice and plummetted down a steep ridge of 30 metres while ski touring on the Crochues-Berard traverse. The accident happened on Thursday morning.
Fellow skiers of the father-of-four immediately alerted rescuers but he was declared dead at the scene.
'He was on hard, icy snow,' a spokesman for the mountain rescue team told the Daily Mail.
'He slipped and fell a considerable distance – 30 metres.'
It's believed that Mr Benning lived in Les Houches in the Chamonix Valley.
The tragedy comes days after two Britons died in the French resort of Val d'Isere - Ed How, 37, was killed after falling 650 feet while skiing off-piste on Tuesday, and Tom Lynch, 22, died after smashing into a snow-making cannon.
Ski touring, which is becoming increasingly popular, is a form of backcountry skiing where special bindings are worn on skis to free the heel and allow a natural walking motion on flat and extremely steep terrain.
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