A search and rescue team found the two missing skiers on a 2,100-meter-high mountain in Nagano Prefecture dead on Monday after being trapped by an avalanche the day before. According to the Mountain Gazzette, one of them is world champion snowboarder Kyle Smaine.
Although the Japanese authorities have yet to confirm it, the publication by Kyle Smaine's wife also suggests that one of those killed in the avalanche is the snowboarding champion. Jenna Dramise has published a post on Instagram with photos of her husband and an emotional text. "Picked you up hitchhiking in New Zealand in 2010 and who would have thought we'd get married 13 years later. I look forward to riding with you tonight in my dreams."
The two men, one American and one Austrian, were cross-country skiing outside the patrolled areas of the Tsugaike mountain resort in the town of Otari, along with eleven other people in three groups, all foreigners, when the attack occurred. avalanche around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The other 11 descended the mountain, nine on foot and two on a snowmobile, and the search for the remaining two could not be resumed until this morning due to weather conditions and other factors. Authorities had issued an avalanche warning for the northern Nagano region, including the town where the resort is located, and according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the region has seen heavy snowfall in recent days, with more than 100 centimeters of Accumulated snow on Sunday.
In Gunma, a 46-year-old man died on Sunday after being trapped in another avalanche while snowboarding with three of his friends, Japan's state broadcaster NHK reported today. On the 28th, two other avalanches, which occurred at the Nozawa Onsen resort, also in Nagano, caused one death, while in Hokkaido, on the 13th, a German woman died in the Kutchan municipality after also being trapped by an avalanche
