French ski champion Adèle Milloz dies while mountaineering in the French Alps

French ski mountaineering champion Adèle Milloz and a companion died on Friday while climbing in the mountains Mont-Blanc Mountain range in the French Alps, said the French mountain and climbing association. she was 26

Milloz and an unidentified woman died while mountaineering on the Aiguille du Peigne, the federation said. The circumstances of her death were not immediately clear.

Milloz had a successful career as a skier, becoming the junior world sprint champion and winning gold in the same category at the 2017 Winter Military World Games in Sochi, the federation said. The association announced that she retired from ski mountaineering in 2019 and began training as a professional mountain guide.

The French Mountain and Climbing Federation said it was “with great sadness” at the news of Milloz’s death and will “always miss her smile”.

French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra tweeted that she was “deeply saddened by the death of ski mountaineer Adèle Milloz in Mont-Blanc at the age of 26 and of the woman who was by her side”.

“I offer my deepest condolences to her family, loved ones and colleagues at the National School of Skiing and Mountaineering in Chamonix,” she added.