33-year-old Joshua Sellens was killed in an avalanche on Monday local time while backcountry skiing on Mt Yotei in Hokkaido, Japan.
The incident also killed fellow New Zealander Isabella Bolton, and left another, Lars Meier Blattner, with a shoulder injury.
Sellens, co-founder of the Japan-based adventure company Niseko Zen, and Bolton, a ski guide, were part of a six-person group when the avalanche struck.
The avalanche, described as a “surface avalanche” by the Hokkaido branch of the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice, was 2km long and up to 20m wide, indicating a fresh layer of snow coming loose and sliding downward. Despite the relatively small snowfall of 5-10cm in the 48 hours preceding the incident, no avalanche warning had been issued for the Mt Yotei area at the time.
Image credit: Oga, CC BY-SA 3.0
