A British teenager fell 160ft to his death in the French Alps after making a mistake while abseiling, police said today.

Ian Jackson, from Guisborough near Middlesbrough, was on holiday with two friends who witnessed the accident.

The 19-year-old made a mistake with his ropes while abseiling down after a climb in Chamonix, at the foot of Mont Blanc, yesterday afternoon.

He died from his injuries while he was being airlifted to hospital in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr Jackson’s two friends were watching from below, having already made the descent, as he abseiled down the Les Gaillands rock face at 4pm.

A spokesman for the Gendarmerie's High Mountain Squad said although the teenager was an experienced climber, he had died after a basic mistake. "He obviously got his rope handling wrong," he said.

As the abseiler began climbing down Les Gaillands, he forget to put his rope into the descender which is meant to slow and brake his fall, according to the gendarmerie. Nor did he have a back-up locking device, which stops the fall even if climbers are unconscious.

"The result was that there was nothing to retain him so he kept on going right down to the bottom," said the spokesman. "He fell tens of metres."

"He was a practised climber and the only cause of the accident seems to have been simple oversight. This sort of mishap is very rare, but it does happen from time to time."

Mr Jackson’s devastated parents paid tribute to him today.

His mother Angela, 55, added: “He was always happy go lucky, very laid back and had a very kind nature," she told the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette newspaper.

“But no matter what - he would never have stopped his climbing."

His father David, 51, described his son as a "very bright student" who was popular and had "loads of friends".

“He loved climbing. He had climbed Ben Nevis, crags in North Wales and on holiday in New Zealand and the Alps."

Mr Jackson's climbing partner Franco Cookson, from North Yorkshire, paid tribute to his friend.

“Yesterday afternoon Ian Jackson, 19, of Guisborough, fell in a sport climbing accident, whilst threading a chain at Les Gaillands crag in Chamonix,” he wrote on the UKclimbing.com website.

“He died in the helicopter on the way to Geneva hospital. Ian was an experienced climber and was emerging as a talented Alpinist.

“He had a bright future ahead of him and was about to start a geography degree at Bangor University this September.

“His eternal optimism and complete lack of ego will be a great loss to the climbing community.

“Ian will be deeply missed by his family and friends. Thanks Ian for the last two weeks of great climbing and company out in Cham.

“Franco, Will, Luke, Tom, Tom, Felix, Big Ian and Moe.”

Mr Jackson was on a gap year and was working in a fish and chip shop in between climbing trips.

He was an experienced climber who had his own blog on the sport, where he wrote that he had been serious about climbing since the age of 16: "I was a pretty fat kid, didn’t do much other than eat and play computer games. Early teens i got into Scuba diving, which got me outside, but didn’t do much for exercise. I was introduced to rock-climbing when I was 14 by Chris Woodal. Climbing made me way to competitive for Scuba Diving, and I soon became bored of this expensive hobby, climbing took over when I was 16, after a trip to the Dolomites.

"These last years I’ve lost my belly, and took climbing seriously, finding it a vent from life, and somewhere to push myself competitively, I’ve learnt a lot about myself, some of it good, some of it bad. Climbing is my demon, but its also my cure!

Les Gaillands is a crag popular with climbers in the Chamonix Valley, around 20 minutes walk from Chamonix itself, and offers stunning views of Mont Blanc from the top.

Is used for training purposes and is not particularly difficult or dangerous, according to local experts.

Mr Jackson is the fifth climber to have died in the Alps this month.

"We're getting a lot of accidents at the moment," said the gendarmerie spokesman. "There's no link between them except that often they seem to involve a simple oversight of some sort."

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