French professional skier Juliette Willmann, 29, has died after an avalanche swept her around 1,300ft down a mountainside and buried her under five feet of snow. The athlete was ski touring with her husband, Pierre-Idris Mehdi, when the incident occurred on Cerro Creston near El Chalten, Argentina.
Avalanche strikes at high altitude
The couple were at approximately 3,100m (10,171ft) above sea level when the wall of snow gave way at around 12.30pm on Tuesday, September 29. Both were carried roughly 400m (1,312ft) down the mountain. Juliette was left buried beneath around five feet of snow, while Pierre-Idris, 30, survived the fall with injuries and was rescued.
A distress beacon was triggered approximately 15 minutes after the avalanche struck, as fellow skiers in the vicinity began digging through the snow in a bid to locate her. Juliette was eventually discovered showing no signs of life, with medical professionals guiding CPR attempts via radio. Despite every effort to save her, she passed away.
Rescue operation launched
A large-scale operation involving national parks officials, mountain rescue teams, police, civil defence personnel and medical staff was subsequently launched to retrieve her body from the remote peak.
Career and background
Juliette was a professional freeride and ski mountaineering athlete who competed on the Freeride World Tour between 2019 and 2022. Born in Marseille, she grew up in the Ubaye Valley in the French Alps and first took to the slopes at just two years of age. She hailed from a skiing family, with her father serving as a ski coach, her mother working as a ski instructor and her elder sister representing France in alpine skiing competitions.
Juliette initially pursued alpine skiing before transitioning to freeride and subsequently high-mountain skiing. Following her relocation to Chamonix, she established herself as a prominent figure on the global freeride circuit before focusing on big-mountain skiing and film production. She was also accomplished in judo, running, mountain biking and rugby.
In a 2024 documentary, Juliette said: "In the mountains you are vulnerable. The mountains decide and you have to listen to them, you have to respect them." She added: "Experience plays an important role, but I'm still at the beginning of the process."
Juliette had travelled to some of the planet's most challenging mountain terrain, including Nepal's Dhaulagiri region, where she skied at approximately 19,700ft in 2024. She and her partner had been travelling across Patagonia in the days leading up to the tragedy, posting photographs and footage of their expeditions. In her final Instagram post from Cerro Madsen near El Chalten, she wrote: "We feel so lucky to be here, in the mountains of Patagonia, exploring this amazing place." She added: "This trip in South America keeps blowing our mind."
