Japan avalanche due to sudden heavy snow

OTARI, NAGANO PREFECTURE, JAPAN(reuters) 1. AERIAL OF SNOWY LANDSCAPE IN NAGANO PREFECTURE 2. SNOW FALLING ON MOUNTAINSIDE 3. MOUNTAIN RESCUERS GETTING READY WITH THEIR SKI EQUIPMENT 4. RESCUERS WALKING WHILE CARRYING SKIS 5. RESCUERS WALKING UP STAIRS TO GONDOLA STATION 6. GONDOLA CARRYING MOUNTAIN RESCUERS DEPARTING STATION AT TSUGAIKE KOGEN SKI RESORT 7. (NIGHT SHOT) AMBULANCE AND MEDIA WAITING OUTSIDE SKI PATROL CENTRE 8. EMERGENCY SERVICES PERSONNEL STANDING INSIDE SKI PATROL CENTRE 9. (NIGHT SHOT) RESCUERS HOLDING SHEET TO BLOCK VIEW OF PEOPLE MOVING BETWEEN AMBULANCE AND SKI PATROL CENTRE STORY: 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 (January 30) was U.S. professional skier Kyle Smaine, an outdoor magazine said. The men were among five foreigners engulfed in Sunday’s (January 29) 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. 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.