HELENA – World-class ice climber Guy Lacelle died in an avalanche during an ice climbing event in Montana.
His death Thursday morning was confirmed by John Irvine, the sports marketing manager for Arc’teryx, a company that makes ice climbing equipment and which sponsors Lacelle and the Bozeman Ice Festival. Irvine said he learned of Lacelle’s death from a festival organizer.
Irvine called Lacelle a “fanatical ice climber” and called his death is a “huge, huge loss.”
“He loves climbing and he loves sharing the sport with other people,” Irvine said. “That’s what his life was all about.”
Irvine says Lacelle was a foreman for a tree planting company in British Columbia during the summer and took the winters off to ice climb.