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Estelle Balet, who won the Freeride World Tour in 2015, died
in the one km long avalanche above the Swiss village of Orsières
despite efforts of emergency crews to save her, police in the
canton of Valais said in a statement.
Last year, Balet became the youngest champion of the Freeride
World Tour, in which skiers and snowboarders compete by riding
down steep, often-rocky ungroomed slopes. Events are sometimes
halted due to avalanches, including last February at a
competition in Austria.
Police said Balet was the second person to ride down the slope
on Tuesday during filming.
She had been freed from the avalanche by the time emergency
crews arrived. "Despite immediate efforts to revive her, she
died at the scene," police said. "An investigation has been
started to determine the causes of the accident."
Balet, who is sponsored by the Swiss watchmaker Swatch, had been
wearing a device meant to help locate people in avalanches, as
well as a helmet and an airbag designed to increase the chances
of surviving a snow slide.
(Reporting by John Miller)
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