Urgent Search Underway: 10 Skiers Reported Missing Following Massive Avalanche Near Lake Tahoe

Ten backcountry skiers remain missing following an avalanche near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday, as the region experienced intense snowfall.

The skiers, consisting of four guides and twelve clients, were in the Castle Peak area of the Sierra Nevada near Truckee, California, when the avalanche struck at approximately 11:30 a.m., according to a statement from the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.

The avalanche occurred at an altitude of about 8,200 feet and was classified as D2.5, signifying a ‘large’ to ‘very large’ slide that could potentially bury or inflict serious injury on a person, as per the Sierra Avalanche Center.

Six skiers have been confirmed safe and were instructed to remain in place as they awaited rescue on Tuesday afternoon. However, ten others have yet to be located.

In response, nearly 50 first responders have been deployed to the area to aid the survivors and search for the missing individuals. A SnoCat team is also involved in this extensive search and rescue operation.

They had arrived at Sierra Nevada on Sunday and had been set to check out on Tuesday from the Frog Lake Huts, a backcountry lodge run by the Truckee Donner Land Trust, Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center told the Press-Democrat. 

The land trust notes on its website that usual routes to and from the lodge have ‘some degree of avalanche hazard,’ and Reynaud said it appeared the group was heading toward the Castle Peak trailhead near the Boreal ski area, next to Interstate-80.

That trek, he said, passes through ‘numerous avalanche hazards.’

‘An avalanche burying seven to 10 people would be a very large avalanche, or a group being in a bad location, or potentially both,’ Reynaud said.  

Nearly 50 first responders are scouring the area of the Sierra Nevada’s Castle Peak area near Truckee, California to find six skiers who survived an avalanche – and 10 people who remain unaccounted for

The remote location and treacherous weather conditions have hindered the search efforts

Travel in, near, or below the avalanche terrain in the backcountry was strongly discouraged

It is likely that the group carried snow probes and shovels to be prepared in case of an avalanche, Reynaud suggested.

Still, he said, ‘As soon as you have more than one person or multiple people buried, it becomes a much more difficult rescue.’ 

If a buried person is not dug out within 10 to 15 minutes, ‘survival drops off pretty quickly.’ 

Making matters worse, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office warned that conditions remain ‘highly dangerous,’ with an avalanche warning remaining in effect through Wednesday as the rapidly accumulating snowfall piled onto already fragile snowpack layers amid gale-force winds.

The remoteness of the site where the group is stranded has also hampered the official rescue response, Reynaud said.

‘There’s not an easy way for search and rescue or outside help to get there,’ he said. ‘Even getting rescue personnel to the location to start with has been a major challenge.

‘With the weather right now, conditions are not just dangerous, but hard to get around in the backcountry with all this new snow and wind,’ Reynaud said, adding that the dangerous conditions have made a helicopter rescue impossible.  

Interstate-80 even had to be closed in both directions through the Sierra on Tuesday morning, before it reopened for vehicles with tire-chain controls at 2.30pm. 

The sheriff’s office said conditions remain ‘highly dangerous’ with an avalanche warning remaining in effect through Wednesday 

Parts of Lake Tahoe could see four to eight feet of snow by the time the storm ends on Thursday

The treacherous conditions have already led several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe to fully or partially close.

The resorts 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 Sierra Avalanche Center of the Tahoe National Forest said.

‘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 center.

The National Weather Service has implemented a winter storm warning, which remains in effect through 10pm Thursday for the entire Sierra Nevada range.

The service warned that elevations above 3,500 feet could see four to eight feet of snow by the end of the storm. 

The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office is leading the response and is being assisted by Nevada County Search and Rescue, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Washoe County Search and Rescue, and Truckee Fire.