US Ski Champion Kyle Smaine Killed By Avalanche in Japan

U.S. professional freestyle skier Kyle Smaine was killed in an avalanche while skiing in Japan on Sunday, Jan. 29.

Kyle Smaine, an American professional skier, was one among the five foreign skiers who were caught in an avalanche on the eastern slope of Mount Hakuba Norikura in the Nagano prefecture in Japan on Sunday, Jan. 29. The avalanche killed avalanche and another skier. However, the other three people at the party survived, Fox News reported.

In his last video on Instagram, Smaine was seen jetting down a powdery slope in central Japan, whooping and laughing. However, just nine hours after the 31-year-old posted the body cam footage, an avalanche knocked the champion halfpipe skier off his feet, killing him and another skier. The identity of the second man killed was not released.

Meanwhile, Grant Granderson, a photographer in the group, said Smaine was “thrown 50 meters by the air blast and buried and killed” following the avalanche, Yahoo News reported.

“Yesterday was my absolute worst nightmare scenario,” Granderson wrote on Instagram following the incident.

Even though authorities did not disclose the names of the killed skiers, Granderson and Smaine’s wife revealed Smaine’s passing on their Instagram pages.

An avalanche advisory for the Nagano region was reportedly in place since Jan. 24, and on Jan. 27, two days before the fatal incident. Japan’s meteorological agency had issued a heavy snow warning saying that the weather conditions could cause a “surface avalanche.”

Granderson missed the deadly ski run because he was exhausted from 10 days of skiing and had returned to the base camp when Smaine and fellow skier Adam Ü went for another run. Adam was found buried 1.5 meters deep for 25 minutes. However, he escaped and was unharmed.

Smaine, a pro skier from South Lake Tahoe, won the halfpipe at the World Championships in 2015 and the World Cup three years later.

Tributes poured in after Smaine’s death was confirmed.

“I know you had the best runs in your life out there in Japan and could never blame you for doing what you loved,” his wife, snowboarder Jenna Dramise wrote on her Instagram.

“I can’t wait to see you again. Tonight I hope to ride some pow or bikes with you in my dreams.”