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Several Skiers Missing After Avalanche in California
Six backcountry skiers were rescued and nine others remain missing after an avalanche swept through Northern California on Feb. 17 as a powerful winter storm battered the region with heavy snow and high winds.
The number of missing skiers was initially reported as 10 but was updated to nine, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post at 10:40 p.m. Feb. 17. Six survivors were rescued in the evening after hours of efforts to reach them and sustained varying injuries. Two were taken to a hospital.
The search for the missing skiers is ongoing, authorities said.
Truckee-based Blackbird Mountain Guides said earlier it was responding to the avalanche and that the group included four guides and 12 clients: “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.”
Search and rescue teams were dispatched about 11:30 a.m. local time after reports of an avalanche involving a group of skiers in steep backcountry terrain in the Castle Peak area northwest of Lake Tahoe, according to the sheriff’s office.
By 3:45 p.m., authorities said at least six skiers had survived and were waiting at the site. The remaining members of the group were unaccounted for.
“Highly skilled rescue ski teams have departed from both Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donner’s Alder Creek Adventure Center to make their way to the six known survivors, who have been directed to shelter in place as best they can in the conditions,” the sheriff’s office said.
At 10:40 p.m., officials said the six had been reached.
Castle Peak, a more than 9,000-foot summit in California’s Sierra Nevada near Donner Summit, is a popular backcountry skiing destination.
Search efforts continued late Tuesday. Gavin Newsom was briefed on the incident, and state authorities were “coordinating an all-hands search-and-rescue effort” with local teams, his office said in a post on X.
Blackbird Mountain Guides confirmed it was responding to a “serious backcountry incident” involving an avalanche near the Frog Lake huts in the Castle Peak area.
“A total of 12 clients and four guides had been staying at the Frog Lake huts since February 15,” the company said. “The group was in the process of returning to the trailhead at the conclusion of a three-day trip when the incident occurred.”
The three Frog Lake huts offer rare overnight access to the rugged terrain, according to the Truckee Donner Land Trust. In winter, visitors must ski, snowboard or snowshoe for miles to reach them and are advised to have avalanche training.
All winter routes to the huts “have some degree of avalanche hazard,” the organization says, adding that each person should carry a beacon, probe and shovel.
A total of 46 emergency responders are involved in the rescue effort, the sheriff’s office said, noting that conditions “remain highly dangerous.”
The Sierra Avalanche Center had issued an avalanche warning in effect from 5 a.m. Feb. 17 through Feb. 18.
“HIGH avalanche danger exists in the backcountry. Large avalanches are expected to occur Tuesday, Tuesday night, and into at least early Wednesday morning across backcountry terrain,” the warning states. “HIGH avalanche danger might continue through the day on Wednesday.”
According to the Sierra Avalanche Center, the slide occurred at about 8,200 feet in the Castle Peak area and was rated D2.5, meaning “large” to “very large” and capable of burying or seriously injuring a person.
“High danger means travel in or below avalanche terrain is not recommended,” the center said, adding that whiteout conditions and difficult navigation are compounding risks.
Castle Peak has seen repeated avalanche activity this winter. A separate slide in early January in the same area killed a snowmobiler.
The avalanche struck as the season’s strongest storms pummeled the Tahoe region with heavy snow and strong winds.
The National Weather Service forecast 12 to 20 inches of snow around Lake Tahoe on Feb. 17, with 14 to 22 inches above 7,000 feet. Southwest winds of 20 to 30 mph, with ridge gusts up to 80 mph, were reported in exposed areas.
Forecasters said snow would continue overnight and return later in the week, prolonging hazardous mountain conditions.
Despite the storm, resorts around Tahoe reported deep powder and significant new snowfall, though many warned of delayed openings, lift closures and avalanche mitigation work due to wind and low visibility.
“If you can make it up the mountain, there’s plenty of powder waiting, but getting on the hill might take patience,” a spokesperson for Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe said, adding that resorts were operating in full winter storm mode.
Travel across the Sierra Nevada was severely disrupted. Interstate 80 was closed from Colfax to the Nevada state line with no estimated reopening time. Authorities warned that conditions over Donner Pass were unsafe and urged drivers to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.
Other mountain routes faced closures or strict chain controls, including Mount Rose Highway, U.S. 50 through the Tahoe Basin and several state highways in western Nevada.
Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the United States, according to the National Avalanche Center. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center reports that most incidents involve backcountry skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers. As of Jan. 11, six people had been killed nationwide in avalanches during the 2025 to 2026 winter season, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. During the 2024 to 2025 season, 22 people died in avalanches.
Alps Avalanche
It was announced today that a third British man has been killed in an avalanche in the French Alps.
He was skiing with four others when the avalanche struck near the resort town of La Grave on Tuesday morning, according to local media. Mountain rescuers were called to the scene, but the Briton and a Polish national were pronounced dead, the BBC reported.
The latest death follows an avalanche at the Val d’Isère ski resort on Friday morning, in which two British men were among three people killed.
Local authorities have launched investigations into both incidents.
An avalanche warning was in place on Tuesday across the northern Alps and the Hautes-Alpes region, which includes La Grave, issued by the national weather service, Météo-France. The risk remained high on Wednesday, with sunshine forecast to thaw ice and destabilise snow.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in France and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Aosta Valley Avalanche
An enormous avalanche powder cloud swept into Val Veny in Italy’s Aosta Valley yesterday, near the Zerotta chairlift at an altitude of about 1,500 metres. The avalanche released from Fauteuil des Allemands, and debris also reached the Zerotta piste. No injuries were reported.
Meteo Valle d’Aosta, which shared video of the घटना, stressed that the footage shows not the avalanche itself but the powder cloud, a plume of light snow lifted by air displacement as the avalanche descends, accounting for only a small fraction of the total snow mass. The main body of the avalanche stopped well short of where the video was filmed.
The cloud does not pose a danger to those positioned on the opposite side of the slope from the slide, it said, as it arrives at reduced speed. “When it reaches us, we are simply inside a snowstorm with wind, lasting a few minutes before it dissipates,” the forecaster explained, urging people not to criticise or insult those who filmed the scene. “The blast reaches you instantly. The only thing to do is crouch down and wait a few minutes for it to pass. Everything else is speculation by those who only experience the mountains via social media and feel entitled to judge.”
Avalanche danger in the Aosta Valley remains high at four out of five. The winter has seen numerous fatalities across the Alps. On Sunday 15 February, three French skiers, Hugo Neuville, Quentin Philippe and Alexis Rassat, were killed in an off-piste avalanche in Val Veny.
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