{"id":216434,"date":"2026-01-13T17:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/olympic-snowboarder-ueli-kestenholz-dead-after-being-trapped-in-avalanche\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T17:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:49:12","slug":"olympic-snowboarder-ueli-kestenholz-dead-after-being-trapped-in-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/olympic-snowboarder-ueli-kestenholz-dead-after-being-trapped-in-avalanche\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Snowboarder Ueli Kestenholz Dead After Being Trapped in Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Former Bronze medal Olympic<\/a> snowboarder Ueli Kestenholz<\/strong> has died at age 50 after becoming trapped in an avalanche while snowboarding with a friend in Switzerland, the Swiss Ski Federation<\/a> confirmed on Tuesday, January 13.<\/p>\n

Kestenholz won the Bronze in snowboard giant slalom at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first year the sport was included in the games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe extend our deepest condolences to Ueli\u2019s family and loved ones,\u201d Swiss Ski president Peter Barandun<\/strong> said in a press release.<\/p>\n

The avalanche occurred on Sunday, January 11 when a snowboarder<\/a>, whom the Valais, Switzerland police<\/a> did not identify as Kestenholz, and his friend, identified only as a skier, were on the eastern slope of the Hockuchriz mountain at approximately 7,900 feet. The cause of the avalanche is still unknown.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Olympic Snowboarder Sophie Hediger, 26, Dies in Avalanche in Switzerland<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tSophie Hediger, an Olympic snowboarder who competed for Switzerland at the 2022 Winter Olympics, has died in an avalanche. She was 26 years old.\u00a0 Hediger\u2019s death was confirmed by the Swiss-Ski Federation on Tuesday, December 24.\u00a0 \u201cWe are stunned and our thoughts are with Sophie\u2019s family, to whom we express our deepest condolences,\u201d Swiss-Ski Federation [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Police say the skier was able to \u201cget himself to safety\u201d but the snowboarder became buried. The friend and rescue workers were eventually able to free him, but he had been injured, and he was transported via helicopter to a hospital in Visp, and later a hospital in Sion, where he died.<\/p>\n

The incident is currently under investigation by the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Kestenholz was a three-time Olympian, returning to the winter games in 2002 and 2006 before retiring from Olympic competition. He also won Gold medals in snowboard cross at the 2003 and 2004 X Games.<\/p>\n

Swiss Ski hailed Kestenholz as a \u201ctrue crossover athlete,\u201d who was also a surfer, skydiver, mountain biker, skier and more.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Olympian Laura Dahlmeier Dead After Being Hit by Falling Rocks During Climb<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tTwo-time Olympic gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier has died after a mountaineering accident in Pakistan. Dahlmeier was on a trip in the region\u2019s Karakoram mountains when she was trapped in a rockfall on Monday, July 28, according to her management company.\u00a0 Dahlmeier\u2019s climbing partner, Marina Eva, alerted rescue services, who dispatched a helicopter to the area [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He told Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger<\/em> in 2023 that snowboarding provided more freedom than skiing, and in 2006, he changed his focus to freeride snowboarding, which took him to more natural terrain rather than pre-established trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkiing came with obligations; there were training times you had to stick to, marked courses you had to follow,\u201d he said. \u201cSnowboarding, on the other hand, was pure freedom. On a slope where a skier made twenty turns, I, as a snowboarder, would carve three wide, fast turns and spray snow meters high. I chose how I wanted to ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI skateboarded, I was a windsurfer, but I only skied in the winter, and on two planks,\u201d he added in an interview with Swiss media company Tamedia two years ago. \u201cSnowboarding offered the opportunity to experience my favorite feeling, gliding sideways, even in winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Pro Skier and Girlfriend Dead After Mountain Fall, Bodies ‘Tied Together’<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tProfessional skier Jean Daniel Pession and his girlfriend Elisa Arlian are dead after falling more than 2,000 feet off northern Italy\u2019s Mount Zerbion. The deaths were confirmed in a Saturday, June 1 statement by the Italian Winter Sports Federation. Pession, 28, was a member of the Italian World Cup ski team who placed 15th in [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He added, \u201cIn the fall, we trained on the glacier at the same time as the skiers. They had to be back at the hotel by 9 p.m., and lights out was at 10 p.m. We set off at that time\u2014and were back by 4 a.m.\u201d<\/p>\n

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