Former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio today led tributes to a millionaire investor who was killed in an avalanche in the Italian Alps.
Graeme Porteous, 48, was skiing off-piste with 10 friends and two guides on the last day of a holiday in Argentera, Piedmont, when the group was struck by a 45ft-wide wall of snow.
The father of three survived the initial impact but suffered multiple injuries when he was slammed against a pine tree and he died five minutes later. The rest of the group escaped unharmed.
A former investment banker and University of Edinburgh graduate, Mr Porteous was a manager for Mobil Oil before working for JP Morgan and UBS investment banks and Vitol, an energy and commodities trader.
He was an “angel investor” in renewable energy and infrastructure, working from the £5.8 million Wimbledon home he shared with his children and wife Alexandra. He was also chairman of youth charity the Dallaglio Foundation Rugby for Change, set up to help disadvantaged young people.
Mr Dallaglio said: “We were so saddened to hear of the tragic death of Graeme Porteous.
"Graeme was instrumental in guiding the Dallaglio Foundation in setting up a programme that uses rugby to help disadvantaged young people get their lives back on track. Graeme has helped leave a real lasting legacy.”
Raffaele Bagnis, head of the Alpine rescue team, said: “They had gone off-piste and provoked the avalanche. There was too much snow to be out there.”
Captain Giuseppe La Torre, commander of the Carabiniere military police, said: “There are lots of avalanches because of snowfalls followed by sun. It can be very dangerous and this was indicated to skiers.”
The group was questioned until late on Saturday evening before returning home last night. The avalanche was one of several in Italy over the weekend in which two other skiers died.
