Japan Today is reporting Joshua Sellens, a 33-year-old guide, and fellow New Zealander Isabella Bolton, 21, residents of Kutchan, were killed in the avalanche that struck Mt Yotei in Hokkaido, on Monday.
The pair were among a party of six who were backcountry skiing.
A third New Zealander, Lars Meier Blattner, 21, a resident of the town of Rankoshi, sustained a shoulder injury, according to the Kyodo News.
Sellens is listed as the co-founder of the Japaense-based adventure company Niseko Zen.
“He pretty much lives in ski boots during the winters, chasing steep and deep lines across Hokkaido, sipping that always inviting, piping hot tea above the most exhilarating skiing this island has to offer,” the company’s website says.
In an earlier statement, the family of Bolton, 21, told The New Zealand Herald she was “full of vitality and passion for life”.
“Isabella was full of vitality and passion for life. Her adventurous spirit and love for skiing and the outdoors led her to study for a Diploma in Outdoor Adventure Guiding in Banff, Canada.”
The family said Isabella worked on ski fields in Canada, Tekapo and Wanaka, and in November 2023 travelled to Japan to pursue a job in Niseko, where she “thrived” as a ski guide.
Japanese police told local media that emergency services in the town of Kutchan received a call for help at about 11am on Monday.
A man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s were taken in an unresponsive state to hospital, where they were pronounced dead. A third person was injured.
According to Kyodo News the Hokkaido branch of the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice said that, based on a field survey conducted Tuesday, the incident was a “surface avalanche,” in which a fresh layer of snow comes loose and slides downward, measuring approximately 2 kilometres in length and up to 20 metres in width.
The Japan Times also reported the Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory stated that no avalanche warning was issued for the Mt Yotei area, nor was it snowing heavily around the time of the incident.
The estimated snowfall for the 48-hour period through the time of the incident was between 5 to 10cm, not conducive to avalanche conditions.
Local media also reported that another avalanche was struck at 12.40pm on Monday at Mt Iwao-nupuri, about 15km west of Mt Yotei.
