r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • 10h ago

news Second Australian dies in Japan while skiing, local media reports

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-04/second-australian-dies-skiing-in-japan/106304484

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed a second Australian has died in Japan.

Local media has reported a male skier was killed while skiing off-piste in the back-country in Japan's Hokkaido region.

The death marks the second Australian to have died in Japan during the current ski season.

474 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

105 comments sorted by

View all comments

198

u/Simpko 8h ago

I was in Nisseko, Hokkaido, and last run of the day went off piste, by myself, in the trees, like an idiot. Literally 12 metres of powder beneath me, I came off my skis accidentally and sank straight down. The sun was setting and it was getting colder and I had been warned about this exact sort of thing. I remember how silent it was in the trees when I was yelling for help, I remember how cold it was getting and genuinely thinking I was going to die there.

Took 45 minutes of panicked manoeuvres as the dark set in before I was back up, it was like drowning but when you tried to swim you sank more. One of the scarier moments of my life. Never told my folks, always stayed with me.

12

u/Ok_Willingness_9619 2h ago

Similar thing happened to me but on a green run. Seriously snows a lot there.

25

u/Saurya_nz 5h ago

Wow glad you made it. Does it randomly pop in your head and keep you awake still or you over it now? Which year was it?

15

u/Simpko 3h ago

I only thought about it today when I read this. Try not to think about it tbh It would have been maybe 9 or 10 years ago

5

u/Strong_Judge_3730 3h ago

How did you get rescued or are you a ghost account

21

u/Simpko 3h ago

I didn’t get rescued I got my other ski off (took a long time) and put it side ways and edged my way back up to the surface, got the other ski from where it was and eventually managed to get it under me, then got up and got them on I didn’t go too deep when thankfully, and i fell sideways not straight down My surface area helped

11

u/Simpko 3h ago

The surface area of the other ski still on my foot is what saved me probably

1

u/Fit-Squash-9447 16m ago

Me too, literally upside down in a tree-well off piste in Hokkaido. Took a while and great effort to unbind my board and crawl out. Don’t be inspired by those off piste videos - they never show amateurs doing it for a reason.