A boy of seven who fell to his death on a ski trip to France was a Bear Grylls-obsessed “little adventurer”, say friends.
Carwyn Scott-Howell was killed after venturing off a ski run into woodland and plunging down a 160ft cliff.
He had got lost after skiing off as mum Ceri looked after her daughter who had fallen in the snow.
A search was launched and his body was spotted by a helicopter.
Ceri, his dad Rhys, brother Gerwyn, 19, and sister Antonia, nine, from Brecon, Mid Wales, were said to be “devastated”.
The family make award-winning sausages and burgers at their Coity Bach farm in the remote village of Talybont-on-Usk.
Prime Minister David Cameron was photographed at their stall at an agricultural show in Wales last summer.
The family were winter sports enthusiasts and went on at least two ski holidays a year.
The tragedy happened on Friday evening - the last day of their week-long Easter ski trip.
According to early investigations, Ceri lost sight of her son when he continued his descent while she was tending to Antonia on the slope.
Police believe Carwyn ventured off the ski run and ended up in woodland where he became disorientated and plunged down a cliff to his death.
Friends said he would spend his days exploring the fields at the family farm, which sits in the middle of a national park.
One pal said: “Carwyn loved exploring, that’s what he spent all his time doing, he was a little adventurer.
“He was quite fearless really, he’d always be out in nature, clambering around getting muddy and wet.
“It’s just such a tragedy, Carwyn was such a lovely little boy and he was really well known locally, the whole area is just in shock really.
“He idolised Bear Grylls and loved spending his time in the woods, playing and dreaming up stories.
“He’d grown-up in the mountains and used to those kind of conditions which makes this awful accident all the more tragic.”
Carwyn’s family are receiving “consular assistance” from the Foreign Office while police continue to investigate his death.
French police believe he was killed instantly in the fall on Friday after leaving the marked ski slope to look for his family.
But the are unsure how he came to be at the top of the steep 320ft-high cliff, which overshadows the Lac de Flaine.
Local police chief Patrick Poirot, “We are trying and determine exactly what happened and understand every element that led to this tragedy.
“We think that after losing his parents, the little boy didn’t know where to go and skied in the wrong direction. He’s just seven-years-old.
“He left the marked ski slope and probably skied to the top of a cliff.
“He then stopped, removed his skis, walked a little way and then fell. He fell 50 metres.”
Police commander Michel Ollagnon added: “The statements from the family have established that they had been all together.”
“For a reason not yet determined, the child left the piste and was on a trail in the woods. It seems that the little boy liked skiing in the trees.
“He took off his skis at the top of a cliff. He probably panicked.”