Nagano Police Launch Search for 2 Skiers Caught in Avalanche

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:52 JST, January 30, 2023

OTARI, Nagano — Local police on Monday morning launched search activities for skiers who were caught in an avalanche and were left at the site on the Tengu plateau of Mt. Hakuba Norikura in the village of Otari, Nagano Prefecture.

At 7:13 a.m. on Monday, 12 members of the prefectural police mountain distress rescue team boarded a gondola at the Tsugaike Mountain ski resort. After disembarking from the gondola, they were to head to the site on foot.

The two men left at the site are believed to have been backcountry skiing on an unmaintained snow-covered mountain outside the ski resort.

According to the prefectural police, they are reported to be unconscious.