A SKIER from York died after falling down a steep, rocky slope while skiing off-piste in the Alps, an inquest heard yesterday.

Jordan Waugh, 23, was with two friends who "went to have some fun on the ski slope" but who all fell after deciding to go off-piste, said assistant coroner Jon Heath.

He concluded that Jordan died accidentally after suffering multiple injuries in the fall, which happened last February at the French ski resort of Alpe d’Huez.

One of Jordan’s friends, Nick White, who worked with him at the resort, said he was a good skier and they had frequently gone off-piste because it was "more fun".

He said the slope had looked "perfectly skiable" when they had set off, following ski tracks in the snow.

But further along, some of the snow had melted in the sunshine since the previous party of skiers had passed through and laid the tracks, leaving rocks exposed.

He said he had stopped to take a ski off when he realised he couldn’t ski any further and had then fallen down the slope.

“I saw a root and grabbed on to the root and managed to stop myself falling,” he said. “I wasn’t injured.”

He then saw Jordan and their other friend, Catriona McKinnie, both falling down a different part of the slope, stopping when they reached some old avalanche detritus.

He went to their aid and found Catriona alive but injured, and he moved her to a safer position closer to some trees so she wouldn’t fall any further.

He then began to try to resuscitate Jordan but he was "completely stationary" and it was fairly obvious he had died.

He said he called a rescue helicopter, which arrived within 10 to 15 minutes and winched him and Catriona up.

Asked by the Coroner whether skiing off-piste was allowed, he said: “Yes. It’s your choice. Off-piste, you are responsible for your own safety.”

He added that they were all wearing helmets at the time of the accident.

Jordan’s mother Karen, who is the proprietor of Kennedy’s Bar & Restaurant in Little Stonegate, paid an emotional tribute to her "kind and really loving" son, telling the coroner: “He was a truly incredible boy – he was every parent’s dream.”

She said he had loved skiing, which she had introduced him to. She said she had wondered what might have happened had she not done this, "but as a family we have no regrets".

She added: “We are devastated naturally but he was doing what he loved doing, and wanted to be there.”

She also said she knew that the two friends accompanying Jordan that day had been suffering, but he chose his friends carefully and had wanted to be with them.

*Six hundred people packed York Minster’s Quire for a funeral and thanksgiving service for the life of Jordan last March.