Police investigating the mysterious death of a British skier found alone on the Alps have released a photograph of the man.
The 27-year-old, identified as Patrick F, was found lying at the side of the road in Flaine, France, at around 7am.
It is understood he had been on a week-long break with friends and spent the night of March 30 in the social bar of the Grand Massif alpine sports domain.
He was found unconscious at the side of the road the next morning, and was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Gendarmes from nearby Scionzier are carrying out enquiries in the area.
A source said: “The deceased’s body was found late in the evening lying by a road nearby.
“Efforts were made to revive him, but he was declared dead at the scene. We are appealing to anybody who might have seen him on the night of March 30 – a Wednesday – to come forward.
“The aim is to try and piece together the circumstances leading up to this tragic death.”
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British national who died in France and are in touch with the local authorities.”
Flaine is known as the “big snowy bowl” in skiing circles owing to its abundance of snow in the area during the season.
Its website boasts: “An environmental observatory, the first in France and a Green-certified ski area world.
“This eco-responsible label crowns the efforts of tourism companies in their approaches including development sustainable.”
It comes as another British skier was found unconscious on a slope in the Alps on March 24.
An investigating source said at the time: “Emergency services were alerted at 7am on Sunday morning, but the first team on the scene was unable to resuscitate the man.
"He was alone on the slopes, but further enquiries suggested he was on holiday from England with a friend."
The tragedies in Meribel-Mottaret, in the Savoie region of France, are the latest in a series of fatalities involving skiers in the French alps.
In January, a 40-year-old Frenchman was charged with manslaughter after colliding with a five-year-old British girl on the slopes at Chamonix.
She was airlifted to hospital, but died from her injuries before she could be placed in intensive care.
Magistrates have said the man was skiing at "excessive speed" and had ignored a warning sign referring to children at a ski school.
In the same month, French actor Gaspard Ulliel, 37, died on a piste in La Rosiere, also in Savoie.
Eight people died in the shortened 2020/2021 season in France, with some 100,000 people injured on the slope, according to French tourism ministry figures.
