Former Huntingdonshire businessman and keen adventurer died in fall on French mountainside

AN adventurer who was found on a French mountainside died in a fall, an inquest heard.

Bob Bickerdike, of Buckden Road, Brampton, was on holiday with friends Simon Wardle, David Hopkins, Ian Williams and Mark Smithson in the Abondance area of the French Alps.

He was on a solo hot air balloon flight on February 10, 2011, when he landed close to the summit of Tréileslières as wind flows prohibited him from passing the peak into the next valley.

The 64-year-old secured the balloon then told Mr Wardle, who was coordinating the flight from the valley floor, that he was heading to a nearby chalet.

That was the last time anyone spoke to Mr Bickerdike.

A search was launched and at 10pm, five hours after the last contact, Mr Bickerdike’s body was found in a ravine.

He died of multiple injuries sustained in a fall, an inquest at Lawrence Court in Huntingdon concluded on Thursday.

Mr Bickerdike was a devout Christian and a keen adventurer, balloonist, skier, motorcyclist and sailor.

David Morris, South and West Cambridgeshire coroner, concluded: “Bob Bickerdike died from injuries sustained as he fell on a mountainside in France.”