French mountain town reels from Nepal avalanche

The French mountain town of Chamonix was reeling Monday from an avalanche in Nepal that left nine people dead and three climbers missing, many from this community in the Alps. Authorities in Paris said four of the dead and two of the missing were French citizens, among them guides well-known in the Chamonix community and international winter sports circles. One of the two missing French climbers was Remy Lecluse, 48, a well-known Chamonix-based mountain guide and extreme skier, local residents said. Two of the dead were also identified as locals -- Fabrice Priez, 45, the technical director for the Chamonix branch of the UCPA outdoor sporting organisation, and mountain guide Ludovic Challeat. "Chamonix is still a small village where all the locals know each other and went to school together," said local man Eric Houal. Perched at the base of the Mont Blanc massif, Chamonix is a major centre for winter sports in France, especially for mountain climbing, and the town is no stranger to climbing tragedies. Earlier this year it mourned the death of nine foreign climbers -- three Britons, three Germans, two Spaniards and a Swiss national -- killed in an avalanche on Mont Maudit in the Mont Blanc massif. "There is never zero risk on the mountain, we know that, but we never get used to this kind of tragedy," Houal said. The Nepal avalanche left nine dead, including four French, one Nepali mountain guide, a Spaniard, a German and an Italian. A Canadian was also among the missing. French authorities have not officially identified those killed and missing after the Nepal avalanche, but most residents here were expecting bad news. "We are waiting to know who was involved, but certainly there will be people that we know," said local resident Laurent Sohn, adding that "the mountain has its rules" and "risk is part of the job" for guides. Rescuers in Nepal had given up hope of finding more survivors after the group of climbers was hit by a wall of snow in their tents near the peak of the 8,156-metre (26,759-foot) Manaslu in the early hours of Sunday. Lecluse in particular was well-known in the area, after living in Chamonix for 25 years and working as a local mountain guide. An experienced skier, Lecluse carried out more than 500 extreme descents -- long, steep descents on mountain peaks -- in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes and elsewhere. "He was recognised in France and abroad as someone with a lot of experience, who went everywhere there were beautiful slopes to ski," said Denis Cabrieres, head of France's SNGM union of mountain guides. Priez, one of the deceased guides, was an experienced climber and skier, and a teacher at Chamonix's ENSA mountain climbing school, said the UCPA's local head, Jean-Philippe Lacoste. "He was well-known in the profession and appreciated by the young people he taught," Lacoste said, adding that Priez had recently married and was the father of a two-year-old girl. text he