In a tragic accident that happened on June 1, World Cup skier Jean Daniel Pession and his girlfriend, Elisa Arlian, died after falling approximately 2,300 feet off of Mount Zerbion in Italy.
The families of the couple contacted authorities after they never made it home. Then following a search team of three helicopters looking for the 28-year-old Pession and 27-year-old Arlian, they were found buried in the snow.
World Cup skier Jean Daniel Pession and his girlfriend, ski instructor Elisa Arlian, have died after falling more than 2,000 feet off a mountain in Italy. pic.twitter.com/FezpJnPPK0
— Access Hollywood (@accesshollywood) June 4, 2024
As reported by the Italian news source, RaiNnews, the search team rescuers followed the signal from one of their cellphones, before the couple was found together at the bottom of a snow pile.
According to the Italian news Tg3 Twitter account, "They were almost at the summit, just a step away, when suddenly they were betrayed by the mountain they loved so much."
"When they were found, they were still tied together, like in a final embrace."
Notably, Pession was an up-and-coming long-distance skier, as he finished 15th in the World Cup rankings (2021) and was 22nd at the World Championships (2022).
Pession's girlfriend also had a passion for the sport, as she was a ski instructor in addition to being a primary school teacher.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation said in a statement, that when translated into English reads:
"A terrible tragedy strikes the world of winter sports and speed skiing in particular, Jean Daniel Pession, a twenty-eight-year-old member of the World Cup team, lost his life in a tragic mountain accident that occurred above Champoluc (Ao). His girlfriend also died together with Pession."
The president, lavio Roda also said, "On behalf of the entire Federation, I extend our deepest condolences to the Pession family during this unimaginable time of grief."
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