British skier falls down crevasse as helicopter slides off mountain

Avalanche kills three but Edward Courage, of the brewery family, rescued after five hours

Three British skiers survived an avalanche, and one a 30m fall down a crevasse, after their helicopter crashed and slid down the Swiss Alps, killing three people.
One of the Britons, Edward Courage, is thought to have saved the lives of young brothers Teddy and Guy Hitchens, also believed to be from Britain, by pushing them out of the stricken aircraft as it slid off the summit.
Mr Courage, based in Verbier, was among six people, including the pilot and a mountain guide, that was travelling on board an Air-Glaciers B3-type helicopter. They were due to be dropped off at the top of the Petit Combin mountain near Verbier on Tuesday morning.
Conditions were described as “perfect powder”, “sunshine” and “bluebird”, with “no wind – although there may have been gusts”.
Valais canton police said: “Having reached the summit of a mountain culminating at 3,668m above sea level, for a reason that the investigation will have to determine, the aircraft slid down the northern slope.”
Photos taken after the crash show marks on the mountainside apparently where the helicopter tumbled down. Other skiers reported that the helicopter was then consumed by the avalanche. Debris remained at the scene. There were no ski tracks from the missing helicopter, which concerned other guides at the time.
The pilot, local father-of-two Jerome Lovey, died in the crash, along with young skier James Goff and their guide Adam George, originally from New Hampshire in the United States.
A skier who arrived at the summit shortly after said: “We landed after them on the south side of Le Petit Combin and saw the avalanche. It was horrific. We couldn’t make out the helicopter, it was consumed in the avalanche. We heard of the crash over the radio. We were advised to get safely off the mountain.”
Seven rescue helicopters were swiftly dispatched to search for survivors. “Two injured people were quickly treated before being airlifted to Sion Hospital, and a third person was subsequently rescued,” according to police.
Mr Courage, who is in his sixties and part of the Courage brewery family, plunged an estimated 500m down a near vertical slope. He was swept by the avalanche and then fell 30m into a crevasse.
He and the two other Britons survived. The Hitchens brothers ended up close to each other despite falling a long way after the helicopter crash.
While emergency services swiftly recovered the brothers from under the snow, Mr Courage was stranded on a ledge in the crevasse for five hours before he was located thanks to a transceiver and winched up to safety.
Mr Courage, a figure in Verbier’s English-speaking church community, is reportedly undergoing operations, having suffered broken bones. Two people remain in hospital. Teddy has been released.
Gilbert Crettaz, director of Adrenaline Heliski in Verbier, who has been a mountain guide in the Alps for 25 years, said: “This is the 3,672m peak you can see from Verbier, just to the right of its big sibling, the Grand Combin – what you are looking at is the steep north face. There are many different routes down and all require an advanced level of skiing. It’s a 2,000m descent.”
Those who knew him said Mr George was a highly experienced and trusted guide who has scaled El Capitan many times, along with other difficult climbs such as the North face of the Eiger.
British explorer Tom Avery, CEO of Ski Verbier Exclusive, said: “The Petit Combin (3,672m peak) is a classic Verbier heliski route and Adam George is a much respected and loved local guide. It is a devastating loss to all the community.”
A donations group has been set up for Adam’s wife Caroline George-Ware and daughter Olivia. Adam’s funeral will be held next week.
Mrs George-Ware, co-founder of their guiding company Into the Mountains, said: “We had our first date on a climb and got engaged on a summit.”
The pilot, Mr Lovey, was also an instructor and had been working full-time for Air-Glaciers since September 2022.
It comes as three people were killed on Monday by an avalanche at the luxury Swiss ski resort of Zermatt.
Police on Wednesday said that one of the dead was a young Canadian woman. The avalanche also claimed the lives of a 15-year-old teenager and a 58-year-old Swiss man.
Valais canton police added there may be another skier under the snow after the disappearance of a 30-year-old man was reported on Tuesday.
Around 17 people have lost their lives in avalanches in Switzerland since Oct 1 last year.
An investigation has been opened by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPC), which is responsible for aviation accidents. A safety investigation has also been launched by the SESE (Swiss Safety Investigation Service).