Death at 10,000ft: French world champion ski mountaineer, 26, and female climbing companion killed after falling from Mont Blanc
- Double gold-medallist Adèle Milloz, 26, and an unnamed friend, 30, fell on peak
- Ms Milloz was at the end of her training to become a professional mountaineer
- She was remembered as a 'luminous young woman' by local guides chairman
- Experts warned that record dry conditions had made the Alps 'more dangerous'
A world champion ski mountaineer and her female climbing companion fell to their deaths in the French Alps as they climbed Mont Blanc.
Adèle Milloz, 26, and an unnamed friend, 30, died on the Alpine peak's route to Aiguille du Peigne before 6.15pm on Friday, mountain guides confirmed.
They were more than 10,000ft up, traversing from Aiguille de Peigne (3,192m) to nearby peak Aiguille du Midi (3,842m).
The exact circumstances of the fall are not yet clear.
Ms Milloz, who grew up in the Alps, won gold in individual and team sprint ski mountaineering at the Winter Military World Games in Sochi five years ago.
She had retired from skiing in 2019 and was near the end of her training to become a professional mountain guide.
Milloz was remembered by her former coach as 'talented and motivated', with Chamonix mountain guides chairman Olivier Greber adding: 'Adèle was a luminous young woman'
Milloz, 26 (left), was a two-time ski mountaineering world champion and a formidable climber reaching the end of her training. Right: she is pictured on an Alpine summit
Her former coach Thierry Galindo remembered her as 'talented and motivated'.
Milloz is pictured atop a coastal mountain peak
And Company of Guides of Chamonix chairman Olivier Greber told AFP: 'Adèle was a luminous young woman.
'The whole company feels infinite sadness today.'
The French Mountain and Climbing Federation also stated: 'We will always miss her smile.'
Fellow hikers discovered the women's bodies on the route, which is considered relatively straightforward, after 6.15pm.
The deaths have been ruled an accident, with police now investigating the exact circumstances of the tragic fall.
A High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon spokesperson said: 'The high mountains have become more dangerous with the drought.
The mountain route where Milloz and her companion fell to their deaths is located, as is the 3,842m Aiguille du Midi summit they were traversing toward. Inset: Mont Blanc in Europe
Milloz is pictured scaling an Alpine peak on a sunny day. Record dry conditions had made the French mountains 'more dangerous', experts warned, due to a higher likelihood of rockfalls
Mont Blanc (Refuge du Gouter point pictured) is the highest mountain in Europe, at 4,809m
'But access was not subject to any particular prohibition.'
Climbers were last month advised to postpone their trips onto the Alps as record dry conditions made dangerous rockfalls more likely.
France just underwent its hottest July on record, with temperatures reaching 42C (107.6F) in parts of the country.
Hundreds of firefighters from Germany, Poland, Romania and Italy were drafted to Gironde near Bordeaux to help tackle a blaze that began burning in early July as Europe's record-breaking summer heatwave got underway before reigniting several days ago - forcing 10,000 people from their homes and enflaming 7,000 hectares of pine forest.
More than 60,000 hectares (230 square miles) have gone up in flames so far in France this year, six times the full-year average for 2006-2021, data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows.
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