A Colorado man who went missing while skiing in Japan earlier this week died in an avalanche, his wife confirmed through a set up to pay for search and rescue efforts, .
“After an exhaustive search, I am devastated to report that Mat will not be returning home at this time,” reads the message posted Saturday. “The search and rescue teams have determined that he perished in an avalanche, and due to the extreme conditions, we will be unable to recover him until Japan’s long winter season has passed.”
Mathew Healy of Littleton was skiing Sunday (Colorado time) at Hakuba Happo-one, a large, popular winter resort north of Nagano, Japan, when the experienced skier took a last, solo run and disappeared.
“He is very experienced; he’s skied all over,” Meghan Fehler of Denver, a friend of Healy’s .Healy, a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy, works as a physician’s assistant. His wife, Brooke Healy, serves in the U.S. Air Force and is based in Okinawa. The couple have two children.
she last saw her husband about lunchtime Monday (Japan time) at a resort restaurant.
“He’s a very good skier and likes backcountry skiing,” she told Stars and Stripes. Volunteers searched the ski area Tuesday (Japan time) but came up empty.
