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Professional skier Kyle Smaine, 31, died in an avalanche Sunday afternoon in Japan on the eastern slope of Mount Hakuba Norikura, according to multiple sources.
Halfpipe gold medal winner Smaine had spent 10 days in Japan on a promotional photo shoot for Ikon Pass and Nagano Tourism, the Mountain Gazette reported. Smaine and another pro skier, Glacier, Washington-based Adam Ü, went for another run down the slopes after they were done working for the day, and that’s where they came in contact with the avalanche.
“It was the last run of the last day of our trip. We had no camera gear with us. We were going out for fun,” Ü said. “We heard the crack. We realized it is a big one. We started running and then we got hit.”
Grant Gunderson, the photographer for the trip, recounted what happened on his Instagram page:
Adam, Kyle and the other skier tried to run.
