A schoolboy who died when he smashed into a tree on a family holiday was skiing too fast and wearing the wrong kind of head protection, an inquest heard yesterday.

Benjamin Trichler, from Uffington, near Wantage, had been wearing a helmet designed for skateboarding when he crashed head first into the tree at a resort in America's Rocky Mountains.

His body was discovered at the foot of the tree.

Moments before the fatal accident, the 11-year-old, who was visiting his grandparents in the American state of Colorado, was seen by relatives skiing too quickly down an intermediate level run.

An inquest in Oxford heard how Benjamin had spent Christmas with his grandparents before hitting the slopes with parents Grant and Jo and 15-year-old twin sisters Penny and Megan.

The hearing was told how on January 3 this year the youngster had been at the Breckenridge Resort on a blue - intermediate - run.

Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner read a report from American county coroner Joanne Richardson, in which she described how the schoolboy had been hurtling down the piste.

Mr Gardiner said: "She said in her report that investigations revealed how at approximately 9.30am, the 11-year-old male from the UK was on the Bonanza Run when his aunt saw him skiing too fast and he collided with a tree."

The hearing was told American investigators found Benjamin was wearing a skateboarding helmet.

"They are not designed for skiing," said Ms Richardson in her report.

The coroner said emergency services at the 3,000-metre high resort had rushed the schoolboy to a medical centre where he was pronounced dead from a massive head injury.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Gardiner added: "I propose to record a verdict that he died as the result of an accident, the accident being he ran into a tree whilst skiing."

Benjamin, of Hillview, Uffington, had left Uffington CoE Primary School to join King Alfred's School, in Wantage, a couple of months before the accident.