Tim Boaz

On 14 March 2005 I was at work when one of my colleagues, and a great bloke to work with, had some really terrible news. His son had just had a snowboarding accident in Chamonix, France and was tragically killed.

I know his Dad quite well and he was really proud of his son and the things that Tim got up to. As I love snowboarding so much, I used to chat to Simon about what Tim was doing in Chamoniz and you could see that he was so happy when he talked about him..

I knew when this accident happened that I was off to New Zealand this year for a Snowboarding Season, but I still hadn't told work that I was going. I also had a small idea of what Simon and his family were going through, as Olie had an accident in Meribel, France a few years ago that was pretty serious too.

Simon is back at work now and I was talking to him about my resignation and my plans to go travelling today. We also talked about Tim. When I told Simon that I am going to NZ for a season, straight away he said "Go for it!" ... He said you have to do things, otherwise one day you will regret it. He said Tim did that..

I just want to say that I will think of Simon and the Boaz family when I am travelling.. I will be thinking of Tim and how his Dad told me to "Go for it!"..

Tim Boaz 1980 - 2005 - R.I.P

Tributes paid to victim of tragic accident
A WORCESTER father has this week paid tribute to his son who tragically died while on a snowboarding holiday as a popular man who was a best mate to the whole family.

Tim Boaz, 25, was in Chamonix, France on the Vallée Blanche route when a snowbridge he was crossing collapsed on Monday, March 14, his body was recovered by mountain rescue.

Mr Boaz's father, Simon, 53, was working in the control room at the West Mercia Headquarters, Hindlip when a colleague took the call from the Foreign Office reporting the death.

He returned to the family home in Morton Road, Fernhill Heath to break the news to his wife Sue, 49, and their sons Chris, 23, and 19-year-old twins Andy and Peter.

Simon Boaz said it was difficult to describe the mixture of feelings and emotions the family have been going through.

"When you lose someone older; uncle, aunt, mother, father, you expect it and you can almost quantify the grief but this is a different kind of emotion," he said.

"As a parent you are angry at yourself, it does not matter how big or old they are, you still want to protect them but you have to let your children do what they want to do."

He described his son as being artistically minded and mad on photography as well as passionate about a wide range of extreme sports including surfing, diving, downhill mountain biking and was a black belt in Kung Fu.

Tim Boaz attended Claines C of E Primary School, Blessed Edward's Oldcorne School, Worcester's Sixth Form and Technology Colleges before leaving for Falmouth College of Art to complete a degree in Photographic Communications.

Details of the accident are still unclear, however, a French off-piste website suggests he was with four friends at 3,400 meters altitude who had removed their boards to walk over the flat section before it gave way to a 30 metre crevasse.

County Coroner Victor Round recorded a verdict of accidental death due to multiple injuries at the inquest into Mr Boaz's death on Tuesday.

The funeral will be held at Worcester Crematorium next Tuesday (March 29) at 3.30pm and there has been a night time gathering of friends and fellow snowboarders in Chamonix town square to mark the death.