Avalanche near Lake Tahoe | 8 dead, 1 skier still missing

Eight backcountry skiers died and one remains missing after an avalanche in the Lake Tahoe area, officials said on Wednesday. The rescue mission is now a recovery mission because the missing skier is presumed dead.Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said a group of 15 skiers was in the Castle Peak area when the sheriff’s office got a report of an avalanche around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. She said challenging weather conditions made it difficult for crews to reach the site of the avalanche.Crews arrived at the scene just after 5:30 p.m. and used a snowcat to travel two miles before skiing the rest of the way to avoid another avalanche. There, they found six survivors, a Black Mountain Guides employee and five clients. The group had made a makeshift shelter.What we know about the group of skiersBlackbird Mountain Guides said the group had been staying at the Frog Lake huts since Sunday and was in the process of returning to the trailhead at the conclusion of a three-day trip when the avalanche occurred. After getting the survivors to safety, crews continued the search for the remaining nine skiers. Moon said crews later found eight of the skiers deceased and that one skier is still missing but is presumed dead given the harsh weather conditions that included freezing temperatures and gale force winds.Moon said the survivors were four men and two women, ages ranging from 30 to 55. Of the survivors, two were too injured to walk and required assistance getting to the snowcat.Both were taken to the hospital, Moon said. One of the survivors has since been stabilized and released and the other is still being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.Moon said that of the other nine skiers, seven were female, and two were men. Officials during the news conference stated that weather, not resources, is posing an issue in finding the remaining skier. They also said Blackbird Mountain Guides is cooperating with the search.»The leadership team at Blackbird Mountain Guides is working in full coordination with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and Nevada County Search and Rescue to support the ongoing rescue operation,» the company said Tuesday. «Blackbird Mountain Guides is in direct contact with the emergency contacts of the affected clients and guides and is providing them with regular updates as verified information becomes available.»The Associated Press reported it was the country’s deadliest avalanche in four decades. In 1981, 11 climbers were killed on Mount Rainier in Washington. This is also the deadliest avalanche in California recorded history. In March 1911, an avalanche in Mono County near Conway Summit wiped out the entire town of Jordan, killing eight people. More recently, seven people were killed in 1982 at Alpine Meadows.»Our hearts are with the victims and their families of this horrific tragedy,» Gov. Gavin Newsom said on social platform X. «Local and state officials quickly mobilized a robust search-and-rescue mission, with nearly 100 first responders working in daunting conditions throughout the night, to search for these missing backcountry skiers. We mourn this profound loss.»Ski expert Brian Hickey weighs in on challenging terrainKCRA 3’s Brian Hickey said he’s done a lot of backcountry skiing on Castle Peak but has not been to Frog Lake. But he said there is steep terrain in the area that is prone to avalanches. On Wednesday, he talked about the conditions rescue crews had to face.Nevada County sheriff’s deputies and a search and rescue team, along with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Washoe County Search and Rescue, and Truckee Fire were involved in the search effort. Nearly 100 first responders were involved in the search effort, Newsom said on X. Capt. Russell Green with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said first responders were notified by the ski tour company after the avalanche. “People go out and use the backcountry at all times,» he said. «We advise against it honestly, but I wouldn’t say that it’s uncommon, not that it was a wise choice.” Avalanche warning issued hours priorEarlier in the day, the Sierra Avalanche Center issued an avalanche warning for parts of the area, which includes Castle Peak. The warning is in effect through 5 a.m. Thursday.The avalanche happened as a snowstorm continued to dump piles of snow in the area, leading to the shutdown of highways and multiple spinouts and crashes. Meteorologist Dirk Verdoorn said that Soda Springs, near Castle Peak, had recorded up to 40 inches of snow so far since Monday.Statements on the lives lost in the avalancheKCRA 3 has received multiple statements regarding the avalanche and the people who lost their lives in it. Sugar Bowl AcademyMultiple members of the Sugar Bowl Academy community and others with strong connections to Sugar Bowl, Donner Summit, and the backcountry community died in an avalanche on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. Nevada County, Placer County, the State of California, and Washoe County in the State of Nevada responded to the emergency through their mutual aid system and were able to rescue six survivors of the avalanche. These emergency responders are still working to recover all of the victims and are not at this time sharing the personal details of the victims and the survivors out of respect for the families affected. Sugar Bowl Academy is similarly not sharing the names of the victims and survivors out of respect for the families affected.Sugar Bowl Academy is focused on supporting its athletes, students, staff, and families through this tragedy. Most importantly, the Sugar Bowl Academy community will continue to be there in the months and years ahead for the families that have lost loved ones.See the rest of the statement here. Blackbird Mountain Guides “This was an enormous tragedy, and the saddest event our team has ever experienced. 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 group involved four guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides and 11 participants. They were returning to the trailhead the last day of a three-day Hut Trip involving backcountry skiing. Five participants and one Blackbird guide survived the avalanche.All of the guides with the group were AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) trained or certified in backcountry skiing. Each guide was also an instructor with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE), the industry standard for avalanche education, and was certified to teach.In addition, guides in the field are in communication with senior guides at our base, to discuss conditions and routing based upon conditions. There is still a lot that we’re learning about what happened. It’s too soon to draw conclusions, but investigations are underway.Our most important focus is on those directly impacted and supporting their needs. As such, we’ve suspended field operations at minimum through February 22, and may extend that into the next week or two. «See the rest of the statement here. See news happening? 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