The final moments before Sydney schoolboy Max Meyer’s death
A Sydney schoolboy has been swept to his death in a devastating Austrian avalanche while on a skiing holiday of a lifetime with his family who ventured off the designated trails at St Anton am Arlberg to take a final run down a steep valley.
A Sydney schoolboy has been swept to his death in a devastating Austrian avalanche, buried under tonnes of snow in front of his horrified family.
Max Meyer, 16, a top student at Sydney International Grammar School, was killed while skiing with his parents and younger brother at a ritzy resort in the Tyrolean Alps on Wednesday.
The family, all experienced skiers on the holiday of a lifetime, had ventured off the network of designated trails at St Anton am Arlberg to take a final run down a steep valley known as the Steissbach at 4.30pm when tragedy struck.
A local newspaper reported they made an emergency call to rescue services before a large shelf of snow broke loose in the “extremely steep terrain’’, swallowing up Max and his 55-year-old mother. She managed to escape uninjured but the wall of snow carried the teenager away, the Tiroler Tageszeitung reported.
“The avalanche finally came to a standstill in the valley floor and was up to four meters high in places. The teenager was completely buried,’’ it said.
Rescue crews hurried to help but it took between 20 and 30 minutes to locate Max who was buried about two metres deep and could not be revived. His German-born father, 58, and 14-year-old brother escaped injury.
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Reports said the family realised soon after they started down the mountain outside the organised ski area that they needed help in the “rough, untracked and very steep terrain.’’
“Because of the terrain and the great snow depth, it was no longer possible to get ahead, which is why the family made an emergency call,” the rescue service said. Authorities have launched an investigation into the accident.
St Anton has been contending with record snow falls which have already claimed more than a dozen lives across Europe.
The area was on avalanche alert after more than three metres of snow fell in the area in recent days and another metre is forecast in the next 48 hours.
The snow dump was so heavy the International Ski Federation called off this weekend’s round of downhill racing at St Anton despite crews removing 120,000 cubic metres of snow.
In Slovakia, a 37-year-old man died in an avalanche in the Mala Fatra mountains and a 20-year-old woman died was buried by another avalanche in Upper Bavaria.
News of the accident shocked the teenager’s school community in Ultimo where he was being remembered as a bright student with huge potential.
At the exclusive school Max’s extra-curricular achievements were well known — he starred in the mock legal trial team and travelled to NASA in 2017 with the robotics club.
Schoolmate Hugh McIntyre said Max excelled not only in science but also languages.
“He was an absolute buzz to be around and so smart, especially in languages,” he wrote on social media.
“He was always first to participate in initiatives at school and always striving to be more involved. Absolutely heartbreaking. He will be missed by all of his peers.”
Schoolteacher Claire Loh, who took students on a US trip of space facilities, paid tribute to the teenager.
“Such a bright boy. We had him in our robotics club in 2017 and he was on the 2017 NASA trip. Always excited to learn new things. Just an enormous loss,” Ms Loh said on social media.
By age 13 Max was proficient in writing complex computer code and by 16 his dreams had progressed to being an astronaut harbouring a desire for a career with global impact.
The gifted student used the complicated science of coding to invent a solar-powered plant-watering system with his classmate when he was in Year 7 in 2015.
At the time, Max shared his invention with News Corp as part of a feature story on children who coded.
“How it works is, this mini computer … is connected to various sensors, including a moisture sensor, a rain sensor and a light sensor,” Max explained in an online video.
“This is aimed at conserving water … most normal watering systems, they would just water the plants at certain times of the day, say 6am and 6pm. This is trying to be a smart watering system.”
Last year the International Grammar School student told the Inner West Courier he had aspirations to be an astronaut and discussed his passion for space.
“I just want to get into space, it’s the dream,” Max said in May.
“I always knew I liked science but when I went to space camp last year, I thought, why can’t I do that.”
“Even if I don’t get there, there are so many jobs where you can impact on an international level.”
Max said he had ambitions to study astrophysics and aeronautical engineering and hoped to one day work at the European Space Agency.
Yesterday the school’s principal Shauna Colnan informed the community of Max’s death.
“I have spoken with Max’s father and have extended my deepest condolences on behalf of the IGS school community, and offered the family all of our support. We will continue to support the family through the coming days and beyond,” she said in a statement.
“I have also advised our school community that if they need support, they can reach out to our counsellors and to senior staff and me for help.”
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