The snowboarder was visiting the Muikamachi Hakkaisan Ski Resort in Minamiuonuma City, Niigata Prefecture. Photo: Enjoy Niigata
A Canadian snowboarder has died while snowboarding at a Japanese ski resort. The 39-year-old fell into an 82-foot-tall waterfall basin while going off-piste.
The victim has been identified by local press as Ashley Kay Bernice, a Canadian government employee who was visiting Japan with a friend, as the Toronto Sun reports. They were snowboarding at the Muikamachi Hakkaisan Ski Resort in Minamiuonuma City, Niigata Prefecture when the accident occurred.
Firefighters were called to the resort at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, when another skier noticed that Bernice had had gone off the trail and disappeared out of view. However, due to difficult terrain and weather conditions, it took rescuers over two hours to find her.
It turned out that Bernice had fallen into an 82-foot waterfall. She was pulled out of the water at 9:40 p.m. and taken to a local hospital. She was pronounced dead upon arrival, with doctors identifying the cause to be chest trauma.
