By BROOKE HESS-HOMEIER, JULIE WATSON and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press
NEVADA CITY, Calif. (AP) — Crews found the bodies of eight backcountry skiers and are searching for one more who remains missing after an avalanche in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, authorities said Wednesday, making it the deadliest U.S. avalanche in nearly half a century.
Authorities have told the families the mission has moved from rescuing people to recovering bodies, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said during a news conference.
Six others from the same group of skiers were rescued Tuesday. They were on a guided, three-day trek in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada as a monster winter storm pummeled the West Coast.
“Someone saw the avalanche, yelled avalanche, and it overtook them rather quickly,” said Capt. Russell “Rusty” Greene, of the sheriff’s office.
The bodies of the eight were fairly close together, Greene said. Three of those who died were guides on the trip. The crews have not yet been able to remove the victims from the mountain because of the extreme conditions, the sheriff said.
The avalanche is the deadliest in the U.S. since 1981, when 11 climbers were killed on Mount Rainier, Washington. Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.
An avalanche in the region killed a snowmobiler in January.
Rescue party guided by beacons in dangerous conditions
The skiers all had beacons that are able to send signals to rescuers, but it wasn’t clear if they were wearing avalanche bags, inflatable devices that can keep skiers near the surface, Greene said.
While they waited to be rescued, the six survivors used equipment to shelter themselves and were trying to stay warm with temperatures dipping below freezing, Moon said. The survivors located three others who had died, Moon said.
Rescuers used a snowcat to get within 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of the survivors, then skied in carefully so they didn’t set off another avalanche, the sheriff said.
One of those rescued remains in a hospital Wednesday, Moon said.
The area near Donner Summit is one of the snowiest places in the Western Hemisphere and until just a few years ago was closed to the public. It sees an average of nearly 35 feet (10 meters) of snow a year, according to the Truckee Donner Land Trust, which owns a cluster of huts where the group was staying near Frog Lake.
The Sierra Avalanche Center warned Wednesday that the risk of avalanche remains high and advised against travel in the area. Multiple feet of snowfall and gale force winds in recent days left the snowpack unstable and unpredictable, and more snow was predicted to fall, the center said.
Skiers were heading for the trailhead when the avalanche struck
Greene said authorities were notified about the avalanche by Blackbird Mountain Guides, which was leading the expedition, and the skiers’ emergency beacons. The sheriff’s office said Tuesday night that 15 backcountry skiers had been on the trip, not 16 as initially believed.
The skiers were on the last day of a backcountry skiing trip and had spent two nights in the huts, said Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center. He said the area requires navigating rugged mountainous terrain. All food and supplies need to be carried to the huts.
Reaching the huts in winter takes several hours and requires backcountry skills, avalanche training and safety equipment, the land trust says on its website. The area near Donner Summit was closed for nearly a century before it was reopened by the land trust and its partners in 2020.
Donner Summit is named for the infamous Donner Party, a group of pioneers who resorted to cannibalism after getting trapped there in the winter of 1846-1847.
Blackbird Mountain Guides said in a statement that the group, including four guides, was returning to the trailhead when the avalanche occurred.
When asked what went through her mind as her staff and volunteers responded to the scene, Moon said she was hoping they would be able to make it there safely. Once they did, she said she was “immediately thinking of the folks that didn’t make it, and knowing our mission now is to get them home.”
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Watson reported from San Diego and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu and Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed.