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An Ontario man who fell in love with the Canadian Rockies has been identified as the climber who fell to his death on Tunnel Mountain.

Matt Snell, 26, was climbing with a friend on Friday when he fell 25 to 40 metres while descending the Le Soulier rock face near the Banff townsite where he lived.

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The climber accompanying Snell became stranded and was brought to safety by rescuers

Snell was an avid outdoorsman and photographer, say family and friends.

In a Facebook post, his parents, Sandra and Dwayne Snell, said a visit to Alberta in 2014 left him enchanted with the province’s natural beauty.

He returned the following year and stayed, making Banff his home in 2017 where he’d taken a job with Parks Canada.

The grieving parents had bittersweet words for how their son lived and died in his beloved mountains.

“We want to call this mountain a beast for taking our son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend to so many,” they wrote.