Avalanche
A British backcountry skier in Japan who died in an avalanche on Saturday at Pinneshiri in the Kabato Mountains near Nakatonbetsu-Cho in north Hokkaido was the third avalanche victim in a week in Japan.
34-year-old Barnaby Levy was skiing with two friends when he was caught in the avalanche. He was dug out and airlifted to hospital but later pronounced dead. His two friends were uninjured.
A separate avalanche claimed the life of a 47-year-old man who was snowboarding in Nagano. The avalanche occurred on Mount Norikura in central Japan.
“He was caught in an avalanche when he was snowboarding with two other people outside a ski slope on Mount Norikura” a local fire department official told public broadcaster NHK.
Last week, a French man was caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing with seven friends near Tomamu. The group of six men and two women was skiing off-piste when the avalanche struck mid-afternoon at the Tomamu resort. He was rescued unconscious and later died.
The weather in Japan has been warmer than usual and that has made the snow unstable, according to the authorities. Investigations into all the accidents are underway.
