Eight of the nine people reported missing after a massive avalanche about the size of a football field struck a ski group near Lake Tahoe were confirmed dead Wednesday, Nevada authorities said, making the incident one of the deadliest US avalanches in decades. A ninth person is presumed dead.
The victims were three professional guides and six of their clients who were returning Tuesday after spending two nights at the remote Frog Lake Ski Lodges in the Castle Peak area, north of Interstate 80 near Donner Summit. Six people from the 15-member group – five clients and a guide – survived and were rescued after a major operation on Tuesday afternoon and into the night.
Most of the guests who were guided across difficult terrain in a winter storm were women and mothers of children on the ski team at nearby Sugar Bowl Resort, a person familiar with Tuesday’s tragedy told the Chronicle.
The person, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said the trip was part of what had historically been an annual trip where husbands and wives took turns skiing. The field trips were not affiliated with the Sugar Bowl and were organized by United Parents.
The identities of the dead skiers were not released Wednesday because their bodies remained in the slide area and next of kin had not been notified, officials said.
A Sugar Bowl spokeswoman, Rachel Soeharto, declined to comment Wednesday.
“We are unable to comment on this matter; please direct any questions to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Department, who are handling the situation and can provide verified updates,” Soeharto said.
Sheriff Shannan Moon said the Nevada County dispatch center received a 911 call reporting the avalanche at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday near Castle Peak, “a very remote rugged area” that is “not a groomed area or a ski resort area,” but backcountry terrain in the Tahoe National Forest near the Pacific Crest Trail.
Moon said the group was on a three-day trip led by Blackbird Mountain Guides in Truckee. One customer backed out at the last minute, she said. The party spent two nights at the Frog Lake ski lodges and was returning to the trailhead on the third day when the avalanche hit, Moon said.
The six people who survived were located late Tuesday after taking shelter under a tarp during the heavy snowfall, Moon said. Two were injured and taken out by the snow cat. They were hospitalized but were expected to survive.
“Extreme weather, I would say, is an understatement,” Moon said, describing high winds, heavy snow and blackout visibility.
Rescue crews arrived at the area shortly after 5:30 p.m., but a snowcat — a specialized vehicle equipped with treads — was only able to get about two miles to the scene because of the avalanche danger, and rescuers skied the rest of the way, Moon said.
California Office of Emergency Services Chief Don O’Keefe said his staff “communicated with one of the guides for over four hours” by text, relaying information to Nevada County as rescuers mobilized.
Moon said the survivors began searching for missing members of their group and found three bodies before rescuers arrived. Capt. Rusty Greene, the incident commander for the initial response, said the ski party was “pretty close together” when the slide happened.
“It was reported to us … that they were trying to get out in a group, that someone saw the avalanche, yelled avalanche and overtook them pretty quickly,” Greene said.
One of the injured skiers was released from the hospital Tuesday night, and the other was expected to be released Wednesday.
Moon said her office had been in contact with the guide company about its decision to continue the trip despite forecasts warning of a high avalanche danger. Blackbird, she said, cooperated with officials by providing the travel manifest and other information. The avalanche warning was issued Tuesday morning as major blizzard forecasts began to take shape last week.
“In the back country, it’s beautiful. There’s not a lot of people there, and that’s where a lot of people like to recreate,” Moon said. “I like to recreate in that area. But Mother Nature, it doesn’t seem to matter.”
The Sierra Avalanche Center confirmed a large avalanche on a north-facing slope near 8,200 feet and classified it as a D2.5 slide — strong enough to cause serious injury or death. Chris Feutrier, Tahoe National Forest supervisor, said the avalanche was about a football field long and resulted when a persistent thin layer failed under a heavy load of new snow.
“That persistent thin layer is still there and has recharged with another three feet of snow,” Feutrier said Wednesday. “The danger remains high.”
Moon said search teams moved the bodies to one marked area of the avalanche zone to facilitate removal when conditions permit.
Greene said the steep, “vertical” terrain and storm conditions meant crews were only able to remove survivors who needed medical attention late Tuesday and that “actual casualties are still located in the avalanche area.”
Moon said the operation had gone “from a rescue to a recovery.”
“Due to the ongoing challenges of weather, avalanche conditions, the effort remains ongoing as well as our search for the remaining skier,” Moon said, adding that weather and safety were the biggest constraints to locating the person’s body.
Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue deployed two snow cats and 28 team members to help. He said the incident was personal to that group: One of the dead was the wife of a member of the Tahoe Nordic team.
Greene said there was no road in the search area and it had to be accessed by snowcat, snowmobile or skis. Moon noted that the avalanche was about a mile from a fatal slide in the same Castle Peak area in early January.
Hardy Bullock, the Nevada County supervisor who represents the area, said about 90 people were involved in the search Tuesday night. With the storm continuing, he said, “It would probably be a body recovery and not a rescue.”
The avalanche was the nation’s deadliest since 1981, when 11 climbers were killed on Mount Rainier, according to the Colorado Avalanche Center, which tracks data dating back to about 1950.
This article was originally published at 8 dead in Tahoe avalanche; Among the victims are the mothers of Sugar Bowl youth skiers.