A CLIMBER from the region has died after he was hit by falling ice while climbing in Switzerland.

Daniel Simon Hulme, 36, of the Mount Vale area of York, was struck on the head by a falling block of ice.

The blow fractured his skull and Mr Hulme was taken to hospital in Sion, in the Valais region, where he died on September 6.

A post mortem into the climber's death was held by York coroner David Coverdale.

Mr Coverdale said that he did not know the full details of the tragic accident or even the name of the mountain involved.

But the inquest heard that a post mortem had ruled the cause of Mr Hulme's death as a brain haemorrhage and fractured skull due to trauma.

His parents Elizabeth and David, and sister Amanda, who live in Bishopthorpe, York, declined to comment.

Mr Hulme's funeral is at St Andrew's Church, in Bishopthorpe, at 1.45pm on Wednesday, September 19.

He is the second North Yorkshire climber to have died trying to scaling a peak in the Alps this year.

Mark Emerson, 30, of Settrington, near Malton, perished in July as he tried to climb Mount Blanc.

Mr Emerson died along with his New Zealand girlfriend Jane Jerram, 26, a French student Clement Morgane, 25, and a 27-year-old Chilean.

They died from cold and exhaustion after they were exposed to 75mph winds, minus 15C temperatures and heavy snow.