Lake Tahoe avalanche leaves 8 backcountry skiers dead, 1 still missing

Eight backcountry skiers who went missing after an avalanche high in California’s Sierra Nevada north of Lake Tahoe have been found dead, authorities said Wednesday. One remains missing and is presumed dead, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said during a news conference while announcing that search efforts had moved from rescue to recovery.

The skiers were part of a 15-person group returning from a three-day backcountry trek when the avalanche swept through rugged terrain near Donner Pass on Tuesday morning. Six were rescued.

Blackbird Mountain Guides, the ski-tour company that led the expedition, said that a total of 11 clients and four guides had been staying in remote huts below the 9,110-foot Castle Peak and were “in the process of returning to the trailhead” when the avalanche struck.

Emergency crews were dispatched around 11:30 a.m. local time. It took about six hours to reach six of the skiers, who were evacuated “with varying injuries,” according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. Two were taken to the hospital for treatment.

The survivors included one guide and five clients, Moon said. Nine women and six men were on the expedition, she said. Four men and two women survived. The names of the skiers were not released. Moon said that all of the families had been notified.

The rescued skiers used emergency beacons and their iPhone SOS functions to communicate with search crews, Nevada County Sheriff Capt. Russell Greene said. The deceased skiers were also found with beacons, he said.

“Someone saw the avalanche, yelled avalanche, and it overtook them rather quickly,” Greene said.

The bodies of the deceased skiers were located fairly close together but not recovered due to the dangerous conditions, Greene said. Search teams left the mountain late Tuesday. Recovery efforts would begin as soon as it was safe to do so, he said.

Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said that one of the dead was the spouse of a member of the local Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue team. “This has been not only challenging for our community,” he said. “It’s been a challenging rescue, but it’s also been challenging, emotionally.”

The avalanche occurred amid a winter storm that has dumped up to 30 inches of snow in Northern California. Interstate 80 was shut down near Donner Summit on Tuesday indefinitely due to snow. Several Tahoe-area ski resorts were fully or partially closed due to the storm.

The Sierra Avalanche Center had issued an avalanche warning for the Central Sierra Nevada area early Tuesday. It remains in effect until Thursday.

“The potential continues for large to very large avalanches occurring in the backcountry today,” Steve Reynaud of the avalanche center said in an advisory on Wednesday. “HIGH avalanche danger continues with travel in, near, or below avalanche terrain not recommended.”

It’s unclear whether the expedition chose to ignore the warning. Moon said that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

A video posted to the Blackbird Mountain Guides Instagram page on Sunday ahead of the storm showed one of its staffers explaining how a weak layer of snow “could lead to unpredictable avalanches.”

“⚠️Pay close attention to @savycenter [the Sierra Avalanche Center] and use extra caution this week!” a caption on the video read.

In a statement on Wednesday, the company said that “our primary focus and entire team are currently dedicated to the search and rescue efforts in the Castle Peak area.”

It directed further inquiries to the sheriff’s office.

The death toll makes it one of the deadliest avalanches in U.S. history. In 1982, an avalanche at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe killed seven people. One person survived.