TRUCKEE, Calif. – Tuesday's avalanche on Castle Peak, a rugged area in the Donner Pass region of California's northern Sierra, killed at least 8 skiers, officials said Wednesday. The tragedy marks the deadliest U.S. avalanche since the 1981 disaster on Mount Rainier that claimed 11 lives.
Avalanche Warnings persist for the region as search and rescue teams attempt to recover the victims and the final missing skier, who is presumed dead.
First responders rescued six of the 15-person party late Tuesday after a grueling, hours-long, multi-agency operation.
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A group of 11 clients and four professional guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides were on the final leg of their three-day backcountry excursion when the avalanche struck around 11:30 a.m. local time.
One guide was among the four men and two women who were saved. The survivors were able to shelter and contact emergency responders through the SOS function on an iPhone.
Two of those rescued were hospitalized and one has since been released.
The Sierra has been blasted with feet of snow since Sunday as rounds of storms make their way across the region through this Saturday.
Two teams of roughly 50 skilled rescue workers and volunteers were dispatched to the avalanche site a few miles north of Interstate 80, which was closed at the time due to heavy snow.
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The initial rescue team arrived at the scene by ski around 5:30 p.m. after snowcats and other heavy rescue equipment were hampered by extreme blizzard conditions and the constant threat of secondary slides, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said Wednesday.
"Extreme weather conditions, I would say, is an understatement," Moon said.
The two survivors who were injured had to be carried out of the backcountry by rescue teams to the waiting snowcats.
Some of the rescued said some people were able to yell "avalanche," just before being overtaken, Nevada County Sheriff Operations Captain Rusty Greene described.
Officials said Wednesday the operation is ongoing but has switched to recovery. Those recovery efforts are being restricted by winter storm conditions and will resume once the weather permits.
All eight people located dead were wearing avalanche beacons, the sheriff's office said.
Avalanche Warnings were in place during the time of the tragedy as heavy winds and snowfall created dangerous conditions.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, 30 mph gusts were recorded at the time of the avalanche.
Experts said the threat was compounded by the weeks of dry weather California and other parts of the West were experiencing before the storm.
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"When we have long dry periods with snow on the ground, we form weak layers in the snowpack," Dr. Ethan Greene told FOX Weather Now Wednesday.
"And you get a bunch of snow on top of it, that's where the avalanches break," explained Dr. Greene.
This phenomenon is known as a "persistent weak layer," which Dr. Greene said the local avalanche center warned about at the time.
Officials noted that the avalanche was roughly 100 yards in length and about a mile from another avalanche that happened in January.
They described it as a D2.5 on the Avalanche Destruction Scale — a standardized system used across North America and Europe to categorize the power and potential impact of an avalanche.
The sheriff's office said the group was departing from the nearby Frog Lake backcountry huts, attempting to return to the trailhead.
Sheriff Moon said Blackbird Mountain Guides, the ski excursion company, was very cooperative with law enforcement and were part of the response and conversations were still ongoing about the decision by the company to depart from the camp site.
In a statement, the ski company said all the guides were either part of the American Mountain Guides Association or certified in backcountry skiing.
"This was an enormous tragedy, and the saddest event our team has ever experienced," Zeb Blais, founder of Blackbird Mountain Guides wrote.
"In addition to mourning the loss of six clients, we also mourn the loss of three highly experienced members of our guide team. We are doing what we can to support the families who lost so much, and the members of our team who lost treasured friends and colleagues."
The survivors range in age from 30–55.
Officials said the identity of the avalanche victims are not being released out of respect for the families.
Soda Springs, California, which is roughly 10 miles from Truckee, has tallied more than 5.5 feet of snow since Sunday.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, an additional 1-2 feet of snow is expected across the Northern Sierra Nevada through Friday.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
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