The Gausta Marathon Norway: British tourist killed in horror avalanche while scaling frozen waterfall with friend

The man died in the disaster on Friday (21 February) but his body was only recovered on Tuesday (25 February) as mountain rescue teams' efforts were hampered by appalling weather. His pal - a man in his 30s - was airlifted to hospital by helicopter but his injuries were not believed to be life threatening.

The intrepid pair had tackled the icy slope of frozen falls dubbed The Gausta Marathon near Rjukan when they became trapped in a wall of ice and snow. Jørn Knustad, a climbing guide in the area, said: "The waterfall is about 17 rope lengths long and is the longest we have here. That is why it was originally named Gausta Marathon."

The survivor, also British, was rescued on Saturday afternoon and flown to Ullevål Hospital after a descent which took teams “several hours”, officials said. Mr Knustad said the area where the pair claimed is not popular with trippers because the waterfalls there take a long time to climb. He added: “It is unlikely that they were poorly trained - they would hardly have embarked on such a trip. A snow and ice avalanche is the cause of this incident."

Temperatures have plunged to -6C in the region in which the disaster happened. It has also seen heavy snow, and more is forecast for the rest of the week. It follows a similar tragedy in Italy which saw a British boy die in a skiing accident last week. The 14-year-old boy crashed into a tree while going down a trail in Cortina d'Ampezzo, which is in northern Italy.