Slide Kills Friend Skiing With Charles : Prince, Wife and Duchess of York Unhurt in Alps

An avalanche roared down on Prince Charles’ skiing party Thursday, killing a close friend. The future British king was unhurt, but a witness said he trembled and wept as a rescue helicopter arrived.

Swiss officials had warned earlier in the day of possible avalanches in the area.

The dead skier was identified as Maj. Hugh Lindsay, 34, a former aide to Queen Elizabeth II, the prince’s mother. Buckingham Palace said another skier, Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson, suffered leg injuries.

Charles was not injured, and his wife, Diana, and pregnant sister-in-law, the Duchess of York, were safe in a chalet at the time of the avalanche, said the palace statement issued in London.

Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, were attending an official engagement in London when informed of the avalanche. The queen later talked by telephone to Charles, 39, at the Alpine chalet where the royal party had stayed since arriving Tuesday.

Witnesses on the mountain said the prince looked distraught after the avalanche struck, burying two of the six people in his party. One said he was weeping and shaking when the helicopter came.

Buckingham Palace said Charles and the others were off the main ski trails near an extremely steep run and were stationary when the snow began to move.

Charles has vacationed in the Klosters ski area for years, knows it well and is considered good on the slopes.

The party, including a guide, was on Mt. Gotschnawang when the avalanche rushed down from about 100 yards above at 2:50 p.m., said officials of the Grisons canton, or state.

The snow missed Charles, the guide and two other members of the party. Lindsay and Palmer-Tomkinson were flown to a hospital in Davos, the officials said.

Hanspeter Kirchhofer, an investigating magistrate in Davos, said Palmer-Tomkinson was being treated for fractures of both legs and was “doing well under the circumstances.”

The Gotschnawang station on the cable car, which skiers ride up the mountain, is at 7,540 feet and the prince’s party had skied down to about 5,800. The Swiss Federal Avalanche Research Institute had warned of considerable avalanche danger above 5,200 feet in northern Grisons.

Lindsay was the 12th snowslide victim of the winter in Switzerland.

Earlier Thursday, a Polish mountain climber was killed on the north wall of Mt. Eiger, about 95 miles to the southwest. He and three Polish climbers who were saved had ignored avalanche warnings, the Swiss Air Rescue Service said.

Charles, Diana and the Duchess of York, who is married to Charles’ younger brother, Prince Andrew, had posed for photographers Wednesday at Klosters. The 28-year-old duchess, the former Sarah Ferguson, is expecting her first baby in August. Andrew, having returned to his navy duties, is not with the group.

Prominently Displayed

Thursday’s British newspapers displayed the pictures prominently, including one of Diana, an experienced skier, taking a fall on the gentle slope where they posed.

Lindsay was a close friend of Charles and Diana, who attended his wedding last July. He frequently accompanied them on their annual ski holiday at Klosters.

Palmer-Tomkinson and her husband, Charles, also vacation with the royal couple at Klosters.

Harold Brooks-Baker, publisher of the Burke’s Peerage directory of the aristocracy, said his representative in Switzerland told him the royal party was warned of the avalanche danger.

“We have constantly suggested to the Royal Family that they be more prudent,” he told a reporter. “They constantly act as though nothing can harm them. . . . After all, these people don’t belong just to families but to the world. They are more than ordinary public figures.”

Charles had a spectacular fall on Gotschnawang in 1979, landing on his hip and escaping unhurt.