French Skier Adèle Milloz Dies at Age 26 in Climbing Accident

Former ski mountaineering champion Adèle Milloz died Friday at age 26 while climbing in the French Alps.

The French Mountain and Climbing Federation announced Milloz's death Saturday (via Gina Martinez of CBS News). The organization said it's unclear how she and another woman she was practicing with died.

According to Adam Sage of the Times, Milloz and the woman, 30, were climbing up the Aiguille summit in the Mont Blanc mountain range. Milloz was working to become a mountain guide.

Eyewitnesses saw Milloz and the woman fall and alerted emergency personnel.

Milloz was the gold medalist in ski mountaineering at the 2017 Winter Military World Games in Sochi, Russia. Per USA Today's Steve Gardner, she retired as a competitive skier in 2019 and focused instead on becoming a mountain guide.

Ski mountaineering, also known as skimo, combines climbing up a slope and then skiing down. The discipline was added to the schedule for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.