KEY POINTS:
A New Zealander has been killed in an avalanche while snowboarding in France.
Daniel James Hedlund, 30, was working as a chef at the Alpaka Hotel in Tignes, a ski resort in the French Alps.
On a day off on Wednesday, he went snowboarding with two friends. He jumped off a small cliff, and was was buried under about 1.5m of snow by an avalanche.
One of the men he was with tried to dig him out with a shovel, while the other went to get help.
A ski patrol used a heart defibrillator on Mr Hedlund, but could not revive him.
A doctor was flown to the scene by helicopter but Mr Hedlund died 45 minutes later.
Police said the group had been properly equipped with beacons and shovels.
Mr Hedlund's mother Christine Smith from Milford told the Herald that her son was snowboarding, away from the crowds and chair-lifts.
"He was really adventurous. He always loved sport. As a family we travelled and went tramping. We know he went with a big smile."
Mr Hedlund, who attended Westlake Boys High School, left New Zealand when he was 18 to work in restaurants in London and has been travelling ever since.
"He has never been in one place for more than three months," Ms Smith said.
He started working as a kitchen hand in New Zealand and trained as a chef while working overseas.
Mr Hedlund had always loved snowboarding and travelled to "wherever the snow was", Ms Smith said.
He had lived in Tignes since November, and had worked at the resort several times before that.
He had been travelling with his South African girlfriend, Ruby Roberts, whom he met about four years ago.
Miss Roberts was at the hotel, where she works as a waitress and housekeeper, when the accident happened.
Miss Roberts is to bring his body back to New Zealand. A funeral date has yet to be set.
"He was very well liked in the village by the small community," Ms Smith said.
Mr Hedlund last saw his family in April, when he gave his sister Gemma away at her wedding in Auckland.
