U.S. professional skier among 2 dead in Japanese avalanche

One of the two foreigners swept away in an avalanche in Japan while back-country skiing in the central prefecture of Nagano and found without vital signs was US professional skier Kyle Smaine, the outdoor magazine said.

The men were among five foreigners swept away in Sunday’s avalanche, which occurred at about 2:30 p.m. local time on the eastern slopes of the 2,469-meter-high Mount Hakuba Norikura, a Nagano police spokesman said.

Police declined to confirm details about the men, who were cited by media from Austria and the United States, but outdoor magazine Mountain Gazette said in its online edition that the US skier was 31-year-old Kyle Smaine.

“It is with great sadness that we report the death of South Lake Tahoe professional skier Kyle Smaine in an avalanche in Japan,” the magazine wrote.

He said that Smaine, on a work trip to the area, was taking free skis at the end of the day with some other skiers when there was an avalanche.

The Associated Press reported that three of the five survived – two unharmed and the third with a shoulder injury. He walked down with the rest of the party, leaving two people without vital signs when they were exhumed, police said.

The AP also said that another party of eight foreign skiers, who saw five of them plunged into an avalanche while also skiing outside the area’s designated ski slope, were quickly dug out.

US photographer Grant Gunderson, who had been skiing with Smaine before the avalanche, said in a post on Instagram that the ski group in the area “consisted of two Canadian mountain guides and four or five emergency doctors/nurses etc. do everything you can for Kyle and the other skiers.”

Japan’s weather authorities have issued an avalanche warning for the region, following heavy snowfall in the past few days.