Eight skiers dead after California avalanche, authorities say | California
Eight skiers lost in an avalanche at Castle Peak in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains have been confirmed dead, officials said at a news conference Wednesday.
While one skier was still unaccounted for, six stranded skiers were later rescued.
The avalanche, now among the deadliest on record in the U.S., occurred about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Lake Tahoe, engulfing a group of backcountry skiers, including four guides and 11 clients.
The sheriff’s office revised the number of people in the group to 15 from a previous estimate of 16. “This is an ongoing incident and some facts are changing,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at Wednesday’s news conference. Although 12 people signed up for the ski tour, “one person decided to withdraw from the trip at the last minute”.
The sheriff’s office received a 911 call reporting the avalanche around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. About 46 emergency first responders joined the search team, which included the Sno-Cat vehicle, Moon said.
Sno-Cat managed to reach a location about 2 miles from where the six survivors were sheltered by the Nevada county sheriff’s office in a makeshift shelter built partially from tarpaulin sheets. he said in a Facebook post late Tuesday.
Search and rescue volunteers skied the remaining 2 miles, where they found six survivors who were able to recover the bodies of three of the missing skiers, Moon said. First responders were able to find five more bodies, but were unable to return them to Sno-Cat due to weather conditions.
Two of the six surviving skiers “were unable to move due to injuries they sustained during the avalanche,” Moon said.
“Due to extreme weather conditions, it took several hours for rescue personnel to safely reach the skiers and transport them to a safe location where they were medically evaluated by Truckee Fire,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Moon said the two injured skiers were taken to the hospital. While one of the injured, whose injuries were not life-threatening, continued to be treated, the other was stabilized and released.
Of the six survivors, five were customers of the ski company and one was a tour guide. The sheriff’s office did not provide any additional information about the deceased, except that “one of the nine missing persons was the spouse of one of our Tahoe Nordic search and rescue team members,” said Sheriff Wayne Woo of Placer County, which provides mutual aid to Nevada County.
Conditions in the region this week, with heavy snowfall, strong winds and low visibility, have revealed what scientists believe are the consequences. Central Sierra Snow Laboratory in the name Some of the worst conditions the region has experienced in years.
Sierra Sun in question It was stated that ski rescue teams from Boreal Mountain ski resort and Tahoe Donner’s Alder Creek adventure resort were sent to reach survivors.
Colorado avalanche information center counted There have been six avalanche deaths in the United States so far this season. It is stated that avalanches have killed an average of 27 people a year in the USA in the last decade.
The avalanche near Truckee, Calif., occurred during a winter storm warning for much of Northern California, with heavy snow predicted in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada. The town of Soda Springs, near where the avalanche occurred, recorded at least 30 inches of snow in 24 hours, according to Soda Springs Mountain Resort.
The hazardous conditions resulted from snowdrifts rapidly accumulating on fragile snowpack layers combined with high winds. Chris Feutrier, forester for the Tahoe national forest, home to the Sierra Avalanche Center, said the avalanche was “about the length of a football field.” The land where the incident occurred has since been filled with 3ft of snow again, meaning “the danger is high” for another avalanche to occur.
The Sierra avalanche center issued an alert before dawn Tuesday warning of “high avalanche danger” in the ski area, the sheriff’s office said. The center lists five people Six people have died in other avalanche incidents so far this season.
“It’s especially dangerous in the backcountry right now because we’re at the peak of the storm,” Brandon Schwartz, lead avalanche forecaster at the Tahoe National Forest’s Sierra Avalanche Center, told The Associated Press.
Another Tahoe national forest avalanche forecaster, Steve Reynaud of the Sierra Avalanche Center, said skiers were on the final day of a three-day backcountry ski trek in the area having contact with people on the ground.
Reynaud told the AP that the skiers spent two nights in the huts on a journey that required navigating up to 4 miles of “rugged mountainous terrain” while bringing all the food and gear with them.
Nevada County sheriff’s captain Russell Greene said the ski tour company leading the expedition notified authorities about the avalanche.
“I don’t think it’s a wise choice,” Greene told the AP of a ski company’s decision to take paying customers into the backcountry under those circumstances, adding, “but we don’t know all the details yet.”
Reuters reported that the area around Castle Peak, a 9,110 ft mountain north of Donner Peak, is a popular backcountry ski resort. The peak takes its name from the infamous Donner party, a group of pioneers who resorted to cannibalism after being stranded there in the winter of 1846-1847.
California governor Gavin Newsom was notified of the avalanche and state officials were “coordinating a multifaceted search-and-rescue effort” with local emergency crews. The Governorship said in X.
“Please avoid the Sierras during this current storm in the coming days,” Woo said in an appeal to the public. “Please allow us to focus all of our resources on recovering and bringing these bodies home for the family.”
