Eight of the nine people missing in a massive avalanche on a guided backcountry ski group near Lake Tahoe were confirmed dead Wednesday, officials in Nevada County said, making the event one of the deadliest U.S. 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 Huts in the Castle Peak area north of Interstate 80 near Donner Summit. Six of the 15-member group — five clients and a guide — survived and were rescued after a major operation on Tuesday afternoon and night.
Most of the guests who were guided through difficult terrain by the winter storm were women and mothers of children on ski teams 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 had historically been an annual trip in which husbands and wives would take turns skiing. The visits were not affiliated with the Sugar Bowl and were hosted by immediate parents.
The identities of the dead skiers were not released Wednesday because their bodies remained in the slide area and next of kin were not notified, officials said.
Sugar Bowl spokeswoman Rachel Soeharto declined to comment Wednesday.
“We cannot provide comment on this matter; please direct any inquiries to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Department, who are handling the situation and can provide verified updates,” Soherto said.
Sheriff Shannan Moon said the Nevada County dispatch center received a 911 call around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday reporting an avalanche near Castle Peak, “a very remote area” that is “not the Castle area or the ski resort area,” but the backcountry terrain of the Tahoe National Christian Forest near Pail.
Moon said the group was on a three-day trip run by Blackbird Mountain Guides of Truckee. One client backed out at the last minute, she said. The party spent two nights at Frog Lake Ski Huts and was hit by an avalanche on the third day while returning to the trailhead, Moon said.
Moon said the six survivors were found Tuesday evening, sheltering under tarps amid heavy snowfall. Two were injured and pulled out by snow cats. They were hospitalized but were expected to survive.
“Extreme weather conditions, I would say, is an understatement,” Moon said, describing hurricane-force winds, heavy snow and whiteout visibility.
Rescue crews reached the area shortly after 5:30 p.m., but because of the avalanche danger, a snowcat — a special vehicle equipped with treads — could only get about two miles from the site, and rescuers scanned the rest of the way, Moon said.
Don O’Keefe, chief of California’s Office of Law Enforcement of Emergency Services, said his staff was “communicating with one of the guides for over four hours” via text, relaying information to Nevada County as rescuers deployed.
Moon said the survivors began searching for missing members of their group and found three bodies before rescuers arrived. Captain Rusty Green, the incident commander for the initial response, said the ski group was “close together” when the slide happened.
“It was reported to us … that they were trying to get out as a group, that someone saw an avalanche, screamed an avalanche, and it caught them quickly,” Green said.
One of the injured was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday night, while the other will be discharged on Wednesday.
Moon said his office has been in contact with the guide company about the decision to go ahead with the trip despite warnings of high avalanche danger. Blackbird, she said, is cooperating with authorities, providing their travel disclosures and other information. An avalanche warning was issued Tuesday morning, while forecasts for major snowfall began to take shape last week.
“The back country, it’s beautiful. There’s not a lot of people there, and there’s a lot of people who like to recreate,” Moon said. “I’d love to recreate myself in that area. But Mother Nature, it doesn’t 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 — powerful enough to cause serious injury or death. Tahoe National Forest supervisor Chris Futrier said the avalanche was the length of a football field and was caused by a continuous weak layer failing under the heavy weight of new snow.
“That persistently weak layer is still there and reloaded with another three feet of snow,” Futrier said Wednesday. “The threat remains high.”
Moon said search teams have moved the bodies to a single marked area of the avalanche zone for removal if conditions permit.
Green said steep, “steep” terrain and storm conditions meant crews were only able to evacuate survivors who needed medical attention Tuesday night, and “the actual dead still exist in the avalanche zone.”
Moon said the operation had “moved from rescue to recovery.”
“The ongoing challenge of the weather, the avalanche conditions, the effort continues and our search for the remaining skier continues,” Moon said, adding that weather and safety were the biggest obstacles to finding the person’s body.
Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue deployed two snowcats and 28 team members to assist. He said the incident was personal to that group: One of the dead was the husband of a Tahoe Nordic team member.
Green said there is no road in the search area and it must be accessed by snowcat, snowmobile or skis. Moon noted that an avalanche happened about a mile from the fatal slide in the same Castle Peak area earlier in January.
Nevada County Supervisor Hardy Bullock, who represents the area, said about 90 people were involved in the search Tuesday night. As the storm continues, he said, “it will probably be a body recovery and not a rescue.”
The avalanche was the nation’s deadliest since 1981, when 11 climbers died on Mount Rainier, according to the Colorado Avalanche Center, which tracks data dating back to 1950.
This article was originally published Mothers of Sugar Bowl youth team skiers among 8 dead in Tahoma avalanche.