Tributes to Oxford graduate killed on climbing trip in French Alps

A British woman who died in a climbing accident in the French Alps has been named as Lydia Press, 24, of Edenbridge, Kent.

She was killed when she fell 1,300ft after slipping on ice near the summit of the Tour Ronde, a peak in the Mont Blanc massif above Chamonix.

Ms Press, an experienced alpinist, was climbing with her boyfriend, Arnaud Viel, 26, a Frenchman, who is a former student at Imperial College London. Mr Viel, who comes from Rennes but lives in the UK, was taken to hospital in Chamonix with leg injuries.

A police spokesman said the pair were roped together as they ascended the 12,460ft (3,798m) mountain on Friday in good conditions. Ms Press graduated from St Peter's College, Oxford, with a degree in environmental geochemistry and was a former president of the university's mountaineering club. A club spokesman said: "Lydia was a popular and valuable member of the club who, in the past five years, had not only become a very talented all-round climber but had also ... introduced many of our current members to the sport."

Katja Broadbent, a friend of Ms Press and fellow climber, said: "Quite unusually, she was already a capable climber when she started, quickly outshining many who had been at the club for longer. She treated everyone as an equal ... and had a happy confidence about her that inspired others, too. Everyone admired Lydia, but she had the gift of making you feel good about yourself."

Her parents, Nigel Press and Julia Corfe, and her older sister, Naomi, were planning yesterday to travel to Chamonix, where Ms Press had been staying.