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In Northern California, six backcountry skiers were discovered safe while ten others remain unaccounted for following an avalanche on Tuesday, coinciding with a fierce winter storm sweeping through the region.
Emergency services were mobilized to Frog Lake in the Castle Peak vicinity, situated northwest of Lake Tahoe, after receiving a 911 call around 11:30 a.m. reporting an avalanche with individuals trapped beneath the snow.
Ashley Quadros, representing the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, shared that the rescued skiers were instructed to stay put “as best they can” until ski rescue teams could reach them. A total of 46 first responders were engaged in the rescue efforts.
Three rescue units, two traveling on skis and one operating a snowcat, were en route to the stranded group, which included four professional ski guides, according to Quadros. The sheriff’s office shared footage showing three rescuers equipped with skis advancing through severe blizzard conditions.
Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center, mentioned that the skiing group was concluding a three-day backcountry adventure. He noted that they had been in contact with others in the area and had spent two nights in remote huts. The journey involved navigating up to four miles (6.4 kilometers) of challenging mountainous terrain while carrying all necessary food and supplies.
California is being walloped this week by a powerful winter storm carrying treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas.
“It’s particularly dangerous in the backcountry right now just because we’re at the height of the storm,” said Brandon Schwartz, Tahoe National Forest lead avalanche forecaster at the Sierra Avalanche Center based in Truckee.
Castle Peak, a 9,110-foot (2,777-meter) peak in the Donner Summit area of the Sierra Nevada, is a popular backcountry skiing destination. The area in the Central Sierra Nevada, including the Greater Lake Tahoe region, was facing high avalanche danger in the backcountry with large slides expected to occur Tuesday and into Wednesday.
The dangerous conditions were caused by rapidly accumulating snowfall piling on already fragile snowpack layers coupled with gale-force winds.
Several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe were fully or partially closed due to the extreme weather. The resorts along highways have avalanche mitigation programs and were not expected to be at as high of a risk as the backcountry where travel in, near, or below the avalanche terrain was strongly discouraged, the center said.
In the nearby town of Soda Springs, at least 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snow had fallen in the last 24 hours, according to the Soda Springs Mountain Resort.
Forecasters said the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in northern Shasta County — including portions of Interstate 5 — and parts of the state’s Pacific Coast Range could see up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow before the storm moves through late Wednesday.
The storm wreaked havoc on roadways spanning from Sonoma County to the Sierra Nevada. Traffic was halted temporarily in both directions on I-80 near the Nevada state line due to spinouts and crashes, the California Department of Transportation reported.
In January, an avalanche in the region buried a snowmobiler in snow and killed him, authorities said. Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.
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Watson reported from San Diego.