A British man died after losing control and falling into a stream as he suddenly swerved off-piste in the Swiss Alps.
The 54-year-old fell while skiing on the 6,800-foot-high Kleine Scheidegg pass in Grindelwald on Friday morning.
He was on an authorised run when he veered off course and plunged into a stream connected to the Rychenbach Falls – made famous by writer Arthur Conan Doyle as the dramatic setting where fictional detective Sherlock Holmes finally confronted his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty.
Police said he veered off the marked piste, fell into an adjacent stream and “remained lying there motionless”.
The skier’s friends provided first aid and immediately alerted the emergency services. He was taken to hospital in Rega, where he died a short time later.
The circumstances of the accident are under investigation, regional prosecutors said.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Switzerland.”
The Rychenbach Falls are marked by a plaque, stating: “At this fearful place, Sherlock Holmes vanquished Professor Moriarty, on 4 May 1891.
There were 28 fatal accidents in the Swiss Alps last winter, the highest number of deaths in five years, according to the mountain emergency statistics of the Swiss Alpine Club.
They said off-piste skiing accounts for 85 per cent of fatal winter sports accidents.
In February, another British skier was found dead at the bottom of a cliff near the Avoriaz ski resort in the French Alps.
The body of the 23-year-old man was found on Monday at the bottom of a cliff on top of which is built the Avoriaz ski resort near the town of Morzine, in the Portes du Soleil region.
