JULIAN FINE emailed his mother the night before he died. He was snowboarding at the Chilean ski resort of Portillo, and having a ball. "Life really doesn't get much better than this," he wrote. "Lots of love, miss you all."
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On Tuesday the 31-year-old caught a poma, or T-bar lift, to one of the most difficult runs. He was almost at the top when he lost his grip and slipped, becoming trapped in a rocky section of the mountain. As he tried to climb out, he fell from a ledge.
Mr Fine, from Petersham, was a popular disc jockey, known to fans as Jules Fine. He was learning Spanish and was 10 days into his second extended holiday to South America, during which he planned to snowboard, travel and teach English.
His mother, Ina Fine, said the last email from her son summed up his attitude to life.
"Just a quick one to let u know I'm in Portillo and having the time of my life," he wrote, before describing the many activities he was enjoying at the resort. "Oh, I also just had some of the best snowboarding in my life too."
Mrs Fine said the family was struggling to deal with the loss of the eldest of three sons.
"We're a very close family," she said. "They all surf and snowboard. His brother [Anthony, 20] was on a surfing trip in Bali [and was arranging
to fly to Sydney] and the other one [David, 27] flew back from the Gold Coast last night.
"Julian was 31, competent, had degrees from university … but he was an adventurer and traveller more than anything else," she said. He lived in Japan for several years, "teaching English in the morning and going snowboarding in the afternoon".
While in Sydney, he had worked at the University of Sydney library and taught English as a second language.
David Fine recounted his brother's zest for life, and his talents as a musician. "He did a lot of things in life and did them in style," he said. The family stressed that the death was an accident, and that Mr Fine was not reckless.
The Australian embassy in Santiago said Mr Fine's body had been taken to the town of San Felipe. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would repatriate the body.
News of Mr Fine's death has stunned dancers.
"Rest in Peace Jules. You will be missed greatly by the breakbeat community," wrote one poster on the dance music forum inthemix.com.au.
