Kyle Smaine, a world champion freestyle skier from Tahoe, dies after Japan avalanche

A former world-champion freestyle skier from South Lake Tahoe died in an avalanche while backcountry skiing in Japan on Sunday. Kyle Smaine’s father told NBC News that the 31-year-old was skiing in Nagano Prefecture on Japan’s Honshu island when the avalanche happened. Another skier from Austria also died, The Associated Press reported.