Tributes to 'action man' son who died in Alps

James Ryan, 36, died when he was hit by a torrent of snow and ice on a skiing holiday with friends in the Italian Alps.

Speaking from their home in Huddersfield, his parents Mel Ryan, 76, and his wife of 50 years, June, 72, spoke with pride about their "action man" son.

Mr Ryan said his son was an expert skier who had first strapped on a pair of skis at the age of five.

He added: "He was not just a good skier, he was very good indeed. You get a lot of good skiers, but there aren't many as good as James was. He'd even done guiding himself.

"He was an action man, he loved skiing, went parachuting, did sailing – you name it, James had done it. He was the perfect son. He was never in any trouble, he was a super lad, just too good to be true."

He said that his son's wife, Helen, was "totally shattered" and too upset to talk about her husband's death.

James Ryan had flown out last week for an adrenaline-filled eight-day holiday after taking time out from his job as a lawyer in Leeds.

The father-of-two had been looking forward to the challenge of skiing the demanding Haute Route from Chamonix in France to Zermatt in Switzerland.

After arriving on Thursday afternoon, he had a day of training followed by an off-piste run on Saturday before the group was due to begin their assault on the challenging Haute Route, which is notorious for the threat of avalanches.

In a bitter twist of fate, the guide accompanying the group had checked the Haute Route and decided it was too dangerous to ski because of heavy snow and loose ice.

The group instead transferred to Aeosta where the tragedy happened.

Mr Ryan's father said: "The day before James died, they had an off-piste run and said it was a beautiful day, absolutely superb weather. On the day of his death they skiied to the top of a mountain and had lunch there.

"The guide told me before James died he told them, 'you just can't beat this'. He had been having a horrendous time at work but he always said that as soon as you got out in the snow you forgot all about it."

Mr Ryan was swept away by the avalanche while he was skiing at the back of the group.

His father said: "He was just so unlucky. There were six of them and he was the only one of that group to be hit by the snow. He was buried eight feet under the snow by the force of the avalanche but they managed to get him out in just four minutes."

Mr Ryan was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

His father added: "I wanted to know whether he would have suffered at all but I was told he would have died almost straight away, which is some comfort.

"We found out about what had happened just an hour after he died. It was just complete disbelief when the news came through. He's already so sorely missed."

Mr Ryan was an associate at a Leeds-based law firm, Walker Morris, where he specialised in corporate law, and his colleagues yesterday paid tribute.

The chairman of Walker Morris, Peter Smart, said: "He was just an absolutely fabulous young man. It's the one comment everybody makes about him. He was one of life's truly nice people."

Mr Smart said he told Mr Ryan's colleagues the news at a meeting yesterday morning and they were all "absolutely stunned".

"I've already had a lot of emails from clients, friends and connections of this firm and all of them were devastated to hear of his death," he added.

"He was a genuinely nice person and a first class corporate lawyer."

Mr Smart said Mr Ryan had worked for the firm for about seven years.

As well as his wife, Mr Ryan leaves behind two children, William, aged three, and a five-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.