Kyle Smaine was halfpipe world champion and World Cup winner - now he is dead. The freestyle star dies in an avalanche accident in Japan, triggered by a group close to him. Two survivors describe the drama on the mountain in Nagano Prefecture.
The ski freestyle scene mourns the American Kyle Smaine: the 2015 halfpipe world champion died in an avalanche in Japan. In the 2017/18 season he won a World Cup in Mammoth. Most recently, Smaine was active as a freeskier, worked as an advertising medium and was involved in film projects. The death was confirmed by the family. Smaine was only 31 years old. Another skier died in the accident.
According to media reports, the drama happened on the 2,469-meter-high Hakuba Norikura Mountain in Nagano Prefecture, where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held. Just hours before his death, the California native posted a happy video of himself on Instagram. "It's what brings me back to Japan every winter. Incredible snow quality, non-stop storms and some really fun terrain that just seems to get better the more you explore."
The American Adam Ü, a survivor of the group of five, later described the drama on the mountain. "We saw them coming. We heard it crash and realized - it's a big thing. We started running, then we were caught," he told the "Mountain Gazette". Grant Gunderson, another member of the group, was there as a photographer but left the slope moments before the departure. According to him, an Austrian skier from another group started the avalanche.
"That was my worst nightmare scenario. Adam, Kyle and another skier tried to run away. Adam was buried under five feet of snow for 25 minutes and is unharmed. It's a miracle. The skier who was buried under the snow next to him , died of internal injuries. Kyle was thrown 50 meters by the air blast, buried and killed," Gunderson reported. As the Reuters agency writes, there was an avalanche warning. In the days before it had snowed heavily.
