Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger was killed Monday in an avalanche in her native Switzerland, simply days after her twenty sixth birthday.
The nation’s winter sports activities federation, Swiss-Ski, introduced Tuesday that the younger athlete died within the resort city of Arosa, on the heels of her Dec. 14 birthday.
Native authorities stated Hediger was practising off-piste, or away from ready ski runs, with another person and leaving a closed observe when she was caught within the avalanche, based on Le Parisien.
Emergency companies positioned Hediger after a two-hour search and did not resuscitate her. An investigation is now underway.
“We are stunned and in our thoughts with Sophie’s family, to whom we express our deepest condolences,” Walter Reusser, CEO Sport of Swiss-Ski, stated Tuesday. “For the Swiss Ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has a dark shadow over the Christmas days. We are immeasurably sad. We will keep an honorable memory of Sophie.”
The group famous that Hediger grew up in Zurich-area Horgen however spent a variety of time in Arosa.
There had been an excessive amount of snowfall within the days main as much as the avalanche, based on Le Parisien.
An estimated 2,300 landslide avalanches had been reported to the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Analysis (SLF) final winter, up from 293 the earlier winter.
“There, her life has now found a tragic, abrupt, much too early end at freeriding, a beloved hobby,” stated the federation.
Freeride snowboarding, also referred to as backcountry or sidecountry snowboarding, typically includes foregoing established trails for unmarked mountain routes.
Swiss-Ski stated that, after conferring with Hediger’s household and life associate, it will not additional element the circumstances surrounding her dying and requested privateness for her family members.
Hediger additionally completed her first two World Cup podiums within the 2023-24 season, based on the federation.
She additionally hoped to win a medal on the world championship in March in Switzerland’s Engadin.
Hediger final posted on Instagram on Dec. 15 to share that she’d competed in her first world cup of the season at Cervino Ski Paradise.
