A Swedish athlete who placed second in women’s skiing during the Freeride World Tour event in Haines in March died in an avalanche July 14 in Farellones, Chile.
Matilda Rapaport, 30, died while filming during a period of elevated avalanche conditions, according to the website snowbrains.com.
Rapaport is the second medal-winner from the spring Haines competition to die since March. Two-time world champion snowboarder Estelle Balet of Switzerland, 21, died in an avalanche April 19 in Switzerland. Balet placed second in women’s snowboarding in Haines.
Rapaport, who skied in Haines three times, can be seen in a 2016 video posted on the Snowbrains website, describing getting partially buried in an avalanche here in 2015. Footage of the 2015 avalanche is included in the video.
“I got caught in an avalanche and got dragged all the way down the mountain. I wasn’t fully buried but I couldn’t get myself out, and that was a very scary experience,” Rapaport said.