A New Zealand woman, killed in an avalanche in the French Alps, is being described as a 'remarkable woman'.

Carol Nash-Hamilton was one of six skiers swept away over the weekend.

She had been living in France since the early 1990s.

South Island-based mountain photographer Colin Monteath knew Ms Nash-Hamilton before she moved overseas.

He says she was an inspiration in the climbing scene in the 1980s, at a time when there weren't many female climbers.