 Poster: A snowHead
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The frozen body of a British student has been found face down in the Isere, the river that starts in the ski resort of Val d’Isere. The body was discovered by a season worker early this morning. The air temperature was -10 degrees.
The fire brigade had considerable difficulty recovering the body of a young woman "dressed in town clothes". The police immediately began an inquiry to identify the victim (Rachel Ward) who was not carrying any identification. A camera found on the body showed pictures taken at Durham university. Students from the establishment are in the resort for the "On the Piste" week organized by the eponymous tour operator.
It seems the woman had decided to return along to her accommodation after a night out with friends. At 1h15 on the Monday night she sent a message to the phone of one of her friends saying that she was lost. It seems that she may have attempted to cross the river, lost her footing and fell into the icy-water.
The inquiry to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the death is ongoing but it resembles a tragic series of similar incidents in French ski resorts. In August 2004 British Solider Blake Hartley disappeared returning along to his campsite after a night on the town. His body was only found in January, 2007 in the River L'Arve, 60km from Chamonix. There have been a number of accidents in les Deux Alps with lone revelers losing their way above the cliffs of Venosc.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 14-01-09 15:00; edited 3 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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What a tragic tale...
I walk around by myself at night a lot, whether on holiday or just on a night out. I know the risks, but if I didn't do this I'd have no social life. With this in mind, I don't drink excessively and I'm pretty careful to keep to well lit streets...
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So awful. Condolences from us too 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Shocking news. Read it earlier this afternoon. As liam said, condolonces to her family.
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Very tragic.
Frosty the Snowman, wasn't there also a similar report more recently near La Daille?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Frosty the Snowman, ahhh yes. Thanks. Memory is clearly unclear these days 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Yet another senseless, tragic and unnecessary death in Val D'Isere.
Wasn't it only last season another student died of hypothermia in Val D'Isere when his mates lost track of him after they all drank too much.
Please guys stick together in groups and look after each other. It beggars belief but I saw loads of students in December going out dressed only in T-Shirts and shorts waiting to get into the nigh clubs in temperatures below zero.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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A couple of seasons ago in St Anton someone fell over (drunk) late at night in town. It snowed all night which was enough to cover the body. The alarm was raised in the morning about a missing person.
The civil defence force & army were called out & probed with rods sniffer dogs the whole town, gardens,railway embankment, river until it was found 
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I've been in VdI when these student weeks are on and it's pretty scary. The kids wander around in next to nothing in freezing temps and by 9-ish they're all pretty well gone so by 11-ish they can barely stand up. I know I was hardly a picture of innocence in my youth and when I was in a ski resort I was probably even worse but looking back now I was probably lucky. We're never going to stop people "having a good time", especially youngsters, but as someone has said above, at least try and look after one another.
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You know it makes sense.
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I've found a young lad passed out drunk in the street in Val d'Isere, starting to be covered in snow. Fortunately we were able to take him back to his hotel.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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 lucky, lucky lad
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Poster: A snowHead
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Very sad
There was a similar incident in Mottaret between Christmas and New Year. A young man, a technician at the Meribel Ice Rink, left a club, and was found the next day, drowned, in a river. A minutes silence was observed at the French Ice Hockey final a few days later, which was held in Meribel.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Very sad, but I can't help thinking of Darwin in some of these cases
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I did some daft things in my youth (long time ago) when I had a belly full of beer, but what has changed is this sort of cult idea whereby young people go out totally under dressed in cold weather.
I know Newcastle was famous for it, but it seems to have caught on everywhere now and in ski resorts it's obviously particularly dangerous.
This is a very sad case, but as we has seen from several posts it's not the first time and I am afraid that it will not be the last.
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We found someone drunk outside the apartments in les Arcs. My mate dragged him inside where he would at least be warm and he was so drunk he thought that he was being attacked and begged to be left alone.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| richjp wrote: |
| I did some daft things in my youth (long time ago) when I had a belly full of beer, but what has changed is this sort of cult idea whereby young people go out totally under dressed in cold weather.. |
When I lived in Didcot a couple of decades ago the girls used to go out in nothing at all even when it was -5C! Still at least knickers were bigger back then.
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Yet another tragedy. i was in VDI last week and was surprised that none of the paths or streets were cleared meaning many were very slippery. Apparently this is town policy, partly linked to prepartion for the World Championships where they are reuired/have promised to keep the town white with snow. The gossip from the medics and physios was that they have had booming business in injuries as a result of people slipping in the town. We don't know if the recent death was related to slipping on a path, but plently of injuries could have been prevented by proper clearing of paths and streets.
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SuburbanSkier, That's a very good point, Zermatt has similarly lethal paths. When I was there last January I did go out, have several (or more) glasses, and walk back to my hotel alone. Perhaps I was just a little luckier than others.
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SuburbanSkier, I think you can reasonably expect some icy/snowy paths and streets in most ski resorts, not just Val D'Isere. The very sad accident announced in this thread doesn't seem to have been the result of an icy street.
davidof, of what relevance is the size of the knickers the girls weren't wearing? Surely they'd be the first garment discarded?
Purple blotches and goose pimples seemed de rigeur in Portsmouth, when I used occasionally to pick up my daughter from sleazy clubs (the only kind Portsmouth has - thankfully she's now married and living in Brighton). I used to hate those trips down there, watching very young girls falling around in vest tops.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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What awful news. My wife's god-daughter is out there with Durham University. It must be awful for the dead girl's friends who are probably feeling extremely guilty, and as for her parents, probably just thinking that they had succesfully launched their daughter into adulthood, one can only guess how they're feeling. Awful awful awful.
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| Nick L wrote: |
| What awful news. |
I agree. Given that wondering about alone seems to be a major cause of death in ski resorts hopefully people will read this and stick together a bit more when they go out on the town. You don't expect it walking back from a bar or disco.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It happens a lot in Russia, I remember reading.
Nick L, the poor girl was a friend of a friend of my daughter at Durham.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Sad event and all the more wasteful for being so predictable and so preventable . . every bloody season this stupidity happens
| davidof wrote: |
| When I lived in Didcot a couple of decades ago the girls used to go out in nothing at all even when it was -5C! Still at least knickers were bigger back then. |
The knickers are the same size, it's the αrses that have got bigger . . .
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You know it makes sense.
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Very tragic indeed. My thoughts are with her family.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Same thing very nearly happened at Valmorel last week, Scottish guy spent all night in the river on the way back from bar apparently, was found the following day.
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Poster: A snowHead
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The PM hasn't been completed yet so no-one knows if Ms Ward was drunk or just lost and confused (see snowheads News). The Gendarmerie says she was crossing the river on what looked like a "snow bridge" but had city boots on with little grip. I remember a similar incident in Chamonix in '99 when a rep did the same thing.
Please please do not try to cross rivers in ski resorts - that's why they put in bridges!
BBC reporting is so full of non-sequiturs these days
> A local newspaper said she froze to death after sending a text message to a friend at 1.15am saying she was lost.
Ok so sending a text message is a cause of hypothermia?
They then wibble on about Rob Gauntlett which has zero relation with this incident. They may just as well say John Smith was killed in a frontal collision driving to Tignes on Sunday.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snow bridge?
so is that like, ice and snow over the water? seems like a stupid question but im surprised that people would try and cross something like that, esp at night, drunk, and alone
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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According to the Metro website, they are considering charging her friends for neglect.
Someone on our recent Uni trip to VT ended up passing out UNDER a car.
Luckily(ish) the end of the night was pretty early in the morning so they were only under there a couple of hours before the sun came up, but that could've ended up alot worse.
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Im no angel but rule number one with my friends is no one goes home or wanders off on their own. We go together - all our mums drilled it into us from an early age and we've stuck to it. It seems that these drinking tours (why cant they just go on their own?? - they even have to be bloody spoonfed their social lives!) are run by ppl just out of uni who dont give a monkeys about anyone. Now yes she was a grown up and should have known better but her friends are really really crap and should feel partially responsible at least imo.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Nadenoodlee wrote: |
| but her friends are really really crap . |
Bit of a harsh thing to say of her friends (who are, no doubt, going through a terrible time) unless you know exactly what happened and all the circumstances ! Tragic! What a terribly sad story.
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Hypothermia is an unfeeling killer.
If you do not respect it then you will pay the price where ever you are in the world.
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Joanne Mountainsun, no its not harsh - they let her go off on her own, drunk and in a strange place. Thats pi$$ poor friendship as far as im concerned.
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Nadenoodlee, When folks get drunk they lose much rationality. It can be impossible to keep track of all members of a group in such situations. If someone wants to go walkabout then there is little you can do about it. All it takes is an instant for them to be lost from your site.
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Frosty the Snowman, I think that is very sad if people think like that. Maybe I am very lucky to have friends who care about each other's safety. WHy didnt they raise the alarm when they got back home and realised she wasnt there? Being drunk is fine - but using it to excuse yourself of any responsibility is a bit rubbish.
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FAQ
