TRAGEDY IN PATAGONIA: French Freeride Star Juliette Willmann Dies in Argentine Avalanche

French freeride skier Juliette Willmann died Tuesday after an avalanche swept her and her husband down Cerro Crestón near El Chaltén in Argentina’s Patagonian Andes.

The 29-year-old former Freeride World Tour competitor was killed while ski touring near El Chaltén, Argentina. Her husband survived the avalanche and was taken for medical care.

Willmann, 29, and Pierre-Idris Mehdi, 30, were skiing in the Lago del Desierto area when the avalanche struck at approximately 12:30 p.m. local time on September 29. Initial reports from Santa Cruz authorities said the pair were carried roughly 400 meters—about 1,300 feet—down the slope.

Other skiers reached Willmann before the main rescue teams and found her buried beneath approximately five feet of snow with no vital signs. CPR was attempted with medical guidance provided by radio, but she could not be revived. Rescuers reached the site shortly before 5 p.m. and confirmed her death. Mehdi survived and was taken for medical treatment.

The remote location significantly complicated the response. Rescue personnel traveled toward the incident with medical equipment, oxygen, a defibrillator and a stretcher before continuing on foot through difficult mountain terrain. National park officials, police, civil-defense personnel, medical workers and specialized mountain rescuers took part in the operation.

Authorities are investigating the circumstances of the accident. A preliminary official report said the cause of death and any injuries sustained in the slide would need to be established through an expert examination.

A career shaped by the mountains

Willmann was born in Marseille and grew up in the Ubaye Valley in southeastern France, in a family deeply connected to skiing. Her father was a ski coach, her mother was a ski instructor and her older sister competed in alpine skiing. Willmann began skiing at the age of two and spent her early years racing alpine disciplines before moving toward freeride skiing as a teenager.

She began competing in freeride qualifying events at 19 and earned a place on the Freeride World Tour for the 2018–19 season. She remained on the international circuit through 2022, competing against some of the leading big-mountain skiers in the world. Her results included two second-place finishes in Andorra during the 2021 season.

Willmann’s time on the tour was marked by both progression and setbacks. Injuries interrupted her development, but she continued to build a reputation for technical skiing and a willingness to pursue challenging terrain.

Her transition away from regular competition was documented in RISE with Juliette Willmann, a film that followed her move from organized freeride contests toward steep skiing, ski mountaineering and big-mountain projects. She later based herself in Chamonix, one of Europe’s main centers for high-level alpine skiing.

Outside skiing, Willmann was also involved in mountain biking, running, judo and rugby. She held qualifications as both a ski instructor and mountain-bike instructor, reflecting a broader connection with mountain sports rather than a career limited to competition.

A final expedition in Patagonia

Willmann and Mehdi had been traveling through South America before the accident, sharing photographs and updates from their ski missions in Patagonia.

One of their recent outings took them to Cerro Madsen near El Chaltén. The pair climbed toward the summit and skied the mountain after an approach of roughly 10 kilometers. In a social-media post, Willmann described the trip as an extraordinary experience and wrote that she and Mehdi felt fortunate to be exploring Patagonia’s mountains.

Cerro Crestón is located in the same wider region around El Chaltén, a destination known internationally for climbing, trekking, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. The area’s remote terrain and rapidly changing conditions make rescue operations particularly demanding.

The accident came only days after the couple had been documenting their time in the mountains. Those posts now form part of the final public record of Willmann’s expedition and show an athlete still pursuing the high-alpine objectives that had defined the later part of her career.

Tributes from the freeride community

News of Willmann’s death prompted tributes from skiers who competed with her and followed her career.

Spanish steep skier and former Freeride World Tour competitor Aymar Navarro described the loss as difficult to comprehend, writing about the anger, helplessness and emptiness left behind. American skier Jackie Paaso called Willmann one of her favorite athletes from her time on the World Tour and remembered her as kind, strong, intelligent, talented and full of life.

The tributes reflect the dual impression Willmann made within the sport. She was respected for her ability on demanding terrain, but colleagues also remembered her personality and the enthusiasm she brought to life away from competition.

Her career also represented a path increasingly followed by elite freeriders: moving from contest skiing into independent projects, films and high-mountain objectives. That transition can offer athletes greater creative freedom, but it also places them in more remote and consequential environments where rescue is slower and conditions are less predictable.

A loss felt beyond competition

Willmann’s death is a profound loss for the French and international freeride communities. She had already established herself on the world circuit, but her later work suggested that she was still developing as an athlete and exploring a new phase of her skiing.

Her story was not defined solely by contest results. It included the move from alpine racing to freeride, a place on the Freeride World Tour, recovery from injury, film-making, instruction and ambitious ski-mountaineering projects in some of the world’s most demanding ranges.

The investigation into the avalanche remains ongoing. For now, Willmann is being remembered by friends, family and fellow athletes as a skier who approached the mountains with skill, curiosity and respect—and whose life was cut short while pursuing the environment that had shaped her from childhood.