Nine backcountry skiers remained missing early Wednesday after six others were rescued from the site of an avalanche near Lake Tahoe in a late-night operation, authorities said.
The group, which included four guides and 11 clients, was caught in an avalanche that struck around 11:30 a.m. local time at Castle Peak, a popular backcountry skiing area in the Sierra Nevada near Truckee, Calif.
The 15 skiers were on a three-day expedition that began on Sunday, and they had been staying at the Frog Lake huts, according to a statement from Blackbird Mountain Guides, the company responsible for the tour group. On Tuesday, the group was in the process of returning to the trailhead at the end of the trip when the avalanche struck near the huts, the statement said.
Six skiers were able to contact rescue teams on Tuesday afternoon by using beacons, officials said. They sheltered under a tarp until rescuers reached them shortly before midnight. Two of the six were taken to a hospital for treatment, the sheriff’s office said.
Rescuers have not been able to locate or make contact with the nine remaining skiers. Officials revised the total number of people on the trip to 15, correcting an earlier count of 16.
If the remaining skiers are not found alive, the avalanche would be one of the deadliest in the United States in decades, according to data compiled by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
A Backcountry Avalanche Warning had been issued for a broad stretch of the Sierra Nevada early Tuesday by the Sierra Avalanche Center. Officials said a combination of rapid snowfall and strong winds was likely to trigger widespread avalanches capable of burying people, as well as to down trees and other debris. Nearly three feet of snow had accumulated at Donner Peak, near Castle Peak, in the 48 hours leading into Tuesday morning.
Forecasters warned that heavy, disruptive snowfall would continue in the area through Thursday, particularly across the northern Sierra Nevada, potentially making rescue efforts more difficult.
The slide occurred during an intense Sierra storm that prompted HIGH avalanche danger warnings, with forecasters cautioning that large natural avalanches were likely across the region. Heavy snowfall and strong winds created widespread instability in the snowpack, particularly at higher elevations.
The avalanche occurred near Donner Summit — a place etched into American history for the ill-fated Donner Party of 1846–47, one of the most tragic overland migration disasters in the nation’s past. Severe winter storms and heavy snow trapped the emigrant group in the Sierra Nevada, leading to months of suffering and loss of life. The parallels are not lost on longtime mountain residents watching this week’s storm unfold.
Rescue teams now face whiteout conditions, deep snow, and ongoing avalanche danger as the search continues. For California’s mountain community, the moment is somber. The numbers alone are staggering.
The search remains active.
UPDATE
Eight of the nine skiers missing since an avalanche on Tuesday near Lake Tahoe have been found dead, Nevada County officials said in a news conference on Wednesday, making it the deadliest avalanche in modern California history.
The skiers had been part of a group of 15, including four guides, on a three-day expedition in a rugged but popular recreational area near Castle Peak. Six others from their group were able to use emergency equipment to contact rescuers and survived.
Two of the six survivors were taken to a hospital for treatment after being evacuated. The high death toll raised questions about why the group had left after forecasters issued warnings about snow storms and winds in the northern Sierra Nevada.
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