U.S. acrobatic skier Kyle Smaine, the 2015 halfpipe world champion, has been buried by an avalanche in Japan, where he had spent the past 10 days, according to photographer Grant Gunderson.
According to the photographer, Smaine, a third skier and he were enjoying the last day at the Tsugaike Kogen ski resort that left him too tired to join his teammates for another descent.
Gunderson was out of danger when, he recounted, an avalanche triggered by a skier from another group produced an «air blast» that hurled Smaine more than 160 feet (48 meters) to his death.
The father of the 31-year-old skier from Lake Tahoe, California, confirmed to NBC News that his son, who won the FIS World Ski Championships halfpipe in Austria in 2015, died in the avalanche.
Smaine had written on Instagram on Saturday that the «incredible snow quality, non-stop storms and really fun terrain» were his reasons for going to Japan every winter. That post, which included a video of Smaine in action, later became an online memorial.
A third member of his group, identified in Gunderson’s Instagram post as Adam, was buried under five feet of snow for 25 minutes, but emerged unscathed. A second skier, whose name is unknown, died in Saturday’s tragedy despite the efforts of rescuers, according to Gunderson.
SOURCE: (dpa/EP)
