U.S. professional skier named as one victim of Japan avalanche

TOKYO (Reuters) -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 U.S. professional skier Kyle Smaine, an outdoor magazine said.

The men were among five foreigners engulfed in Sunday’s avalanche, which took place at about 2:30 p.m. (0530 GMT) on the eastern slope of Mount Hakuba Norikura in the ski resort, a Nagano police spokesperson said.

Police declined to confirm details about the men, whom media said were from Austria and the United States, but outdoor magazine “Mountain Gazette” said in its online edition that the U.S. skier was Kyle Smaine, 31.

“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 2,469-m (8,100-ft) 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.

(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Bradley Perrett, Clarence Fernandez and Sharon Singleton)