My Oxford son died on ski trip ‘doing what he adored’
AN OXFORD undergraduate who died on a university ski trip was ‘doing what he loved’, his grieving father said yesterday.
Matt Smith, 22, was found unconscious the morning after arriving in the upmarket resort of Val Thorens.
His panicked friends called the emergency services but he could not be revived.
Mr Smith, who was studying history at St John’s College, was pronounced dead at the apartment where he was staying.
The qualified snowboard instructor, who is believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest, had gone to a party straight after arriving for the week-long annual Varsity ski trip, which is attended by thousands of Oxford and Cambridge students.
His father Howard, 49, said: ‘ The most important thing for us is that Matt was with his friends. His friends meant so much to him. He was with everybody skiing, close to the snow, doing what he loved.’
The City financial consultant, who also studied at St John’s, said: ‘ Of course it is such a big shock. We are going to France to be with his friends and sort out arrangements.
‘ We don’t know anything more at the moment about what caused his death. We are just thinking of Matt and what a wonderful man he was and what a wonderful friend.’
He and his wife Karen, 48, left their seven-bedroom detached home in Bedford and arrived in France yesterday morning.
Their 20-year-old son Harry wrote on Facebook: ‘I love you so much, Matt. Rest well above the clouds.’
Talented sportsman Mr Smith, who hoped to work in the City like his father and had experience at financial firms BGC Partners and Pamplona Capital Management, was pronounced dead by medics at 8.30am on Sunday.
A post-mortem examination, along with toxicology tests, will take place today in Grenoble. A spokesman for the investigating magistrate said: ‘Interviews are ongoing with friends. We are establishing events leading up to Sunday morning. There have been no arrests.’
The privately-educated student’s 19-year- old girlfriend, Ellie Bagshaw, is understood to have been with him on the ski trip. Prior to the visit, she spoke of her excitement on Facebook, writing: ‘What better way to celebrate the end of MT [Michaelmas term] than a ski trip with all your lovely new friends xxxx’.
The former Cheltenham Ladies’ College pupil is studying chemistry at Oxford.
The Varsity ski trip was first held in 1922 and costs from £339 for self-catered accommo- dation, travel and a ski pass. But it has attracted controversy in recent years because of the drunken antics of some of the 3,000 students who go.
Last year female students stripped down to their underwear for a challenge as part of a contest nicknamed ‘Valley Rally’. Men and women also simulated sex acts with each other in front of onlookers.
This year the trip was billed as the ‘biggest ski party in the world’. Gregory Guzzo, director of tourism in Val Thorens, said 14 staff were employed to patrol the resort at night to help drunk or injured tourists.
According to his LinkedIn page, third-year student Mr Smith had recently completed an internship at Sotheby’s auction house in London.
He served as secretary of the university’s ski and snowboard club and played rugby for his college, as well as being a member of its rowing team. Stunned friends posted trib- utes on social media, including Eoin Barrett-Fulton, who wrote: ‘Still don’t believe it, he was taken far too soon. We all thought he was invincible.
‘I’ll always love you Matt and I hope you’re resting better now. You’ll forever be one of my oldest and greatest friends.’
Alex Jelicic, president of Oxford University Ski and Snowboard Club said: ‘He was well known for being a fun-loving, adventurous individual who brought good humour with him at all times.’
A university spokesman expressed ‘deep sadness’ and said students were being offered support. The £12,720a-year Bedford Modern School, where Mr Smith studied A-levels, described him as the ‘perfect student’ who was ‘ as charming as he was bright’.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘ We are supporting the family of a British national who died in France on December 4.’
‘We thought he was invincible’