American freestyle ski world champion Kyle Smaine died along with another man in an avalanche in Japan on 29th January. A search and rescue team found two missing skiers on Monday on a 2,100-meter-tall mountain in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan.
Kyle Smaine and another man went missing on Sunday (29th January). They were skiing outside the patrolled areas of the Tsugaike mountain resort in Otari village with 11 others in three groups when the avalanche came down. A search and rescue team found two missing skiers on Monday on a 2,100-meter-tall mountain in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan. The team confirmed that one of them was Kyle Smaine.
World champion Kyle Smaine went to Japan for a filming tour. Smaine, the 2015 World Halfpipe Champion, was buried by an avalanche on the final downhill. The remaining 11 skiers descended the mountain, nine on foot and two on snowmobiles, and the search for the remaining two could not resume until Monday morning due to weather conditions and other factors.
Authorities have issued an avalanche warning for the northern Nagano region. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the region has experienced heavy snowfall in recent days, with more than 100 centimeters of snow on Sunday.
