A Whangaparaoa man and a companion plunged 1130m to their deaths after a paragliding attempt went wrong in the French Alps.
Peter Grounsell, 32, and Scotsman Paul McLeod, 29, fell from Aiguille du Midi, near Chamonix, on September 19.
Rescuers said the pair were about to take off in a double-harnessed paraglider
when they stumbled near the edge and fell.
Mr Grounsell's parents, Clive and Anne Grounsell, have gone to France to bring their son's ashes home.
A memorial service will be held, possibly in Auckland, said second cousin Brian Grounsell. He said Peter had been running an adventure business taking people on mountain tramps, biking and paragliding since 1998.
"He was a very experienced pilot."
Peter Grounsell, who had lived in Chamonix since 1991, had a partner but no children.
Rescuers believed the plan had been for Mr McLeod to unclip himself from the paraglider and parachute to the ground after free-falling a short distance.
"We think they were running to the edge together and at the moment of deploying the parapente they tripped and fell," said Chamonix mountain rescue spokesman Jean Claudon.
"They slid in the snow down the side of the mountain [which was] very high, well over 1000m, and we found them with massive injuries."
- NZPA
