An avalanche tore through California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, killing at least eight skiers, while a ninth person is feared dead, officials said Wednesday. The tragedy ranks among the deadliest single avalanche incidents ever recorded in the United States.
Rescuers on skis reached six survivors amid an intense winter storm that had dropped several feet of fresh snow in the high Sierra in recent days. One skier remains unaccounted for.
The avalanche - the length of a football field, according to authorities - struck in the Castle Peak area of Truckee, California, about 10 miles north of Lake Tahoe, around 11:30am Pacific time on Tuesday, engulfing a group of backcountry skiers who were completing a three-day guided excursion.
One of the rescued skiers is still being treated in a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The survivors had taken refuge in a makeshift shelter, constructed partly from tarpaulin sheets, and communicated with rescuers via radio beacon and text messaging.
Two rescue teams, totalling about 50 members, were dispatched from the Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donner's Alder Creek Adventure Center and approached the avalanche zone from the south and north.
Extreme conditions for rescuers
The rescuers faced "extreme" conditions, Moon said, including blinding snow and gale-force winds. A team used a snowcat to reach within two miles of the survivors and then ski to the accident 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 had been 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 the Frog Lake Backcountry Huts located near Donner Summit, just northwest of Truckee, at about 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 widely predicted the storm and attendant avalanche danger and said her office is still talking with the guide company about its decision to take people out.
The Sierra Avalanche Center extended the avalanche warning it issued on Tuesday, saying a "great" danger might continue throughout the day on Wednesday.
Blackbird issued a statement on 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 skiing spots abroad, according to its website. The company provides 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 tallied six US avalanche fatalities so far this season before Tuesday's disaster.
