- Rescue teams facing dangerous conditions.
- The sheriff says avalanche danger was widely predicted.
- Avalanches claim an average of 27 lives each winter in the US.
At least eight skiers died in an avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, and a ninth is presumed dead, authorities said Wednesday, making the disaster one of the deadliest avalanches in U.S. history.
Rescuers on skis were able to reach six survivors amid an intense winter storm that had dumped several feet of fresh snow in the High Sierra in recent days. A skier is still missing.
The avalanche, the size of a football field, according to authorities, occurred in the Castle Peak area of Truckee, California, about 10 miles north of Lake Tahoe, around 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, engulfing a group of backcountry skiers who were completing a three-day guided tour.
One of the rescued skiers is still being treated at a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Survivors had taken shelter in a makeshift shelter, partly constructed of tarps, and communicated with rescuers via radio beacons and text messages.
Two rescue teams, totaling about 50 members, were dispatched from Tahoe Donner’s Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Alder Creek Adventure Center and approached the avalanche zone from the south and north.
Extreme conditions for rescuers.
Rescuers faced “extreme” conditions, Moon said, including blinding snow and gale-force winds. One team was able to use a snowplow to get within two miles of the survivors and then ski to the crash site.
The eight dead skiers were found with their beacons active and their bodies will be recovered when weather permits, authorities said. One was married to a member of the search and rescue team.
The group of skiers was finishing a three-day excursion with Blackbird Mountain Guides at the time of the avalanche. The tour group included four guides and 11 clients, who stayed at Frog Lake Backcountry Huts located near Donner Summit, just northwest of Truckee, at approximately 7,500 feet elevation (2,300 meters).
In a typical winter, the mountain receives more than 400 inches of snow, making it one of the snowiest places in the Western Hemisphere.
Moon noted that forecasts largely predicted the storm and the resulting avalanche danger and said his office is still talking to the guide company about its decision to pull people out.
The Sierra Avalanche Center extended the avalanche warning it issued Tuesday, saying a “major” danger could continue throughout the day Wednesday.
Blackbird issued a statement Tuesday saying it was working with authorities to support the rescue operation.
The company was founded in 2020 and operates in California, Washington state and British Columbia, as well as numerous popular ski locations abroad, according to its website. The company offers guided ski trips, alpine climbing trips and avalanche education.
Avalanches have claimed an average of 27 lives each winter in the United States over the past decade, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, which had counted six avalanche deaths in the United States so far this season before Tuesday’s disaster.
