Avalanches Hit Backcountry Skiers, Snowboarders in Hokkaido; Foreigners Make up Large Proportion of Those Affected. Urge people to “gather weather information and assess what risks are involved before heading to the mountains.”

An investigation by members of the Hokkaido branch of the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice concluded that the avalanches occurred at the two sites after unstable layers of snow collapsed on top of hard snow, a phenomenon called “surface avalanche.”

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Of the 66 people involved in accidents during the 2022-23 season, 21 were foreign nationals. For the 2024-25 season, the figure rose to 76 foreigners out of 94.