TRIBUTES have been paid to a father of two from Huddersfield who died after being swept away by a 400- metre-wide avalanche on a skiing trip in Italy.
James Ryan, 37, was skiing off-piste in Val di Rhemes with a group of friends and a guide when he was caught in the tumbling snow on Sunday.
He died on the way to hospital, a mountain rescue spokesman said.
One of his companions, who was also engulfed in the snowfall, survived.
Mr Ryan, a married father of two young children, is understood to have lived in Farnley Tyas.
He had worked as a corporate lawyer at Walker Morris solicitors in Leeds for about eight years.
Company chairman Peter Smart said: “James was one of life’s truly nice people.
“I have had a flood of inquiries from colleagues and clients and they all say the same thing – that he was a gentleman. That’s exactly what he was.
“He was also a first class corporate lawyer.
“We are all utterly shocked.”
The accident happened just three days into a 230km trip along the Haute Route, or high level route, between Chamonix in France and Zermatt in Switzerland.
Skiers sleep in mountain huts along the way.
The avalanche, thought to be about 400m wide, happened at about 5pm, when the group was skiing near the Punta Paletta run on Mount Rosso.
Mountain rescue teams said the weather in the region had been warm and the avalanche risk had risen because fresh snowfalls had not had the chance to bind to the slopes.
Both men were pulled alive from the snow, but Mr Ryan died before he made it to hospital.
Mr Smart said: “I had been talking to him only last week about the trip and he was really looking forward to it.
“His colleagues and friends will miss him dearly and our hearts go out to his wife, Helen, and two young children.”
The incident is the latest in a number of mountain-related deaths recorded in the Aosta region this year.
More than a dozen people have been killed in avalanches in the Italian Alps this winter.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Saint-Christophe, in a province of Aosta, on March 28.
“Next of kin are aware and we are providing consular assistance.”
