SHOP OWNER'S FATAL FALL ON SKIING TRIP; Holiday tragedy in Switzerland

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), March 5, 2009

Byline: By KATIE GRANT News Reporter

A MUSIC entrepreneur fell to his death on a snowboarding holiday in Switzerland.

Huddersfield businessman Rob Williams, 29, was missing for seven hours before he was found by rescue teams late on Monday night in the up market resort of Verbier.

Mr Williams owned Dolphin Music at Market Street with business partner and childhood friend Jason Tavaria.

On Monday, the pair became separated from the rest of the ski party and got lost in a forest in bad weather.

Mr Tavaria was found safe, but local police later confirmed Mr Williams had fallen 66ft on to a bed of rocks.

The winner of BBC TV's Apprentice show, Michelle Dewberry, was also in the resort.

She raised the alarm on microblogging site Twitter writing: "Two of our ski party been missing since 4pm. Conditions terrible. 1 guy found but trapped. 20 man team searching for other."

Another entrepreneur, Alex Hoye, wrote: "Urgent: If anyone has or knows Rob Williams of Dolphin Music's mobile, please send. Mtn rescue in progress."

Thick fog meant a helicopter rescue could not be mounted and 10 mountain guides set out on foot to find the pair.

Friends called Mr Tavaria's mobile and the entrepreneur used Google Maps to send a latitude and longitude of his position which was forwarded on to mountain rescue.

Friend Michelle Dewberry said: "Rob's death was both tragic and completely unexpected.

"I am deeply shocked and saddened. My thoughts are with his family at this very difficult time and I am sorry for their loss."

Williams and Tavaria own a string of Dolphin Music shops across the country.

The successful businessmen started the company selling music online from their student digs in Liverpool in 1999.

They used their credit cards and pounds 1,500 of their own money to set up the company which is now worth millions.

The company was listed 37th in the Fast Track 100 league table of the UK's fastest-growing private companies in 2007.

Despite also having music shops in Liverpool and Gateshead the businessmen encouraged support of local music.

Festival programmes of last week's Mrs Sunderland Music Festival at the town hall were available at their Huddersfield shop, as well as flyers for other events around the town.

The news of Mr William's death comes after a spate of similar holiday incidents this year.

Last week, two tourists from Yorkshire died after falling down a steep valley in the French Alps. Christopher Lockwood, 28, of Leeds and Richard Ryan, 27, of York, made the wrong turning after leaving a bar in the early hours of Thursday morning.

In January, Rachel Ward, a former Greenhead College pupil, froze to death in an icy river on a French skiing holiday.

CAPTION(S):

DEATH FALL: Rob Williams, owner of the Dolphin Music Shop (above right); SKI SCENE: Verbier