Professional skier Kyle Smaine -- who won gold at the 2015 Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships -- has died in a terrible ski accident, his family announced.
He was 31.
Smaine was in Japan skiing ... a place he enjoyed frequenting this time of year due to the "unbelievable snow quality," something he talked about on social media before the accident.
Smaine was on the trip with photographer Grant Gunderson, who recounted the frightening events in an emotional Instagram post, calling it his "absolute worst nightmare scenario.