Tributes paid to former Greenhead girl killed on French skiing trip

Jan 15 2009 by Andrew Hirst, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Rachel Ward

A FORMER Greenhead College student has been killed in a holiday tragedy.

Twenty-year-old Rachel Ward died on a skiing holiday in the French Alps.

Rachel – who was in the second year of a natural sciences degree at Durham University – was found dead in the upmarket resort of Val d’Isere early on Tuesday.

She froze to death after apparently slipping on ice and falling into the icy Isere River.

Rachel was a student at Greenhead College from 2004 to 2006 where she did A-levels in maths, economics and geography.

She also played hockey for both the college and her county.

Principal Martin Rostron said: “I’ve talked to staff who knew Rachel and they all remember her as a lovely girl who was very bright and popular. She was very well liked here.”

She lived with her family at Skircoat Green in Halifax.

Rachel went out with friends on Monday night, but set out to return to her apartment alone.

At about 1.15am on Tuesday she sent a text message to a friend saying she was lost.