US former skiing world champ Kyle Smaine named as a victim of Japan avalanche
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One of two foreign men swept up in an avalanche in Japan was said to be US professional skier Kyle Smaine.
PHOTO: TWITTER
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TOKYO - One of two foreign men swept up in an avalanche in Japan while back-country skiing in the central prefecture of Nagano and found without vital signs on Monday was US professional skier Kyle Smaine, an outdoor magazine said.
The men were among five foreigners engulfed in Sunday’s avalanche,
Police declined to confirm details about the men, whom the media said were 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.
Smaine was a freestyle skier who won gold at the Kreischberg 2015 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.
“It is with great sadness we report beloved South Lake Tahoe Professional Skier Kyle Smaine has died in an avalanche in Japan,” the magazine wrote.
It said that Smaine, on a work trip to the area, was taking a free ski at the end of the day with several other skiers when the avalanche occurred.
Police had earlier said that the five men were skiing in two separate groups on the mountain, which is 2,469m high. The other three skiers had climbed down the mountain on their own on Sunday.
Weather authorities had issued an avalanche warning for the area, following heavy snowfall in the past few days. REUTERS
