Eight skiers have died and one is presumed dead following an avalanche in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California on Feb. 17. Six members of the group survived and were rescued.
The 15-member skiing party, four guides and 11 clients, were engulfed in an avalanche near the Castle Peak area of Truckee, California, about 10 miles north of Lake Tahoe. Calls for rescue reached authorities at about 11:30 a.m. Pacific time on Feb. 17.
The skiers were returning from a three-day backcountry excursion to the Frog Lake huts near Castle Peak when they were struck by a football field-sized avalanche.
Six of the skiers huddled in a makeshift shelter constructed with tarpaulin sheets. They communicated with rescuers via emergency beacons and iPhone emergency mode until they were found.
Here’s what we know so far:
11:30 a.m. Feb. 17: Nevada County Sheriff’s Office receives a 911 call along with emergency beacon messages reporting an avalanche involving a guided party near Frog Lake. The sheriff’s office mobilizes a multi‑agency response with about 46 personnel.
Two rescue teams are dispatched from the Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donner Alder Creek Adventure Center. They approached the avalanche zone from the south and north.
Rescuers from Alder Creek use a snowcat to approach the site, then wary of triggering another avalanche, travel on skis.
5:30 p.m.: Rescuers find six survivors inside a tarp shelter. Four of them are able to walk to the snowcat, two others need assistance.
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What are beacon devices?
Avalanche beacons, or transceivers, are short-range radio transceivers worn by every member of a ski or backcountry party. They’re usually worn on chest harnesses above baselayers and underneath jackets to minimize risk of loss.
The devices are set to broadcast continuously at 457 kHz. They transmit pulsed signals to other members of the group, so members can track or find each other.
If a member is lost or buried in snow, other members change settings on their beacons to “receive” and home in on the signals sent by the missing member. Beacons are used in conjunction with probes to pinpoint those buried and shovels to dig them out.
Has this happened before?
This is the deadliest U.S. avalanche in almost 45 years, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC). Eleven people were killed in 1981 while attempting to climb Mount Rainier in Washington state.
More recently, six climbers died in an avalanche on Mount Rainier in 2014. Five snowboarders were killed in an avalanche near Colorado’s Loveland Pass in 2013.
Avalanches have claimed an average of 27 lives a year over the past decade, according to the CAIC.
What is an avalanche and what caused this one?
Avalanches are rapid, massive slides of snow, ice, rock and soil that can be caused by storms, earthquakes or snowpack deterioration.
The California avalanche was triggered by a powerful winter storm battered the region with heavy snow and high winds. It was the strongest winter storm of the year for the Lake Tahoe area.
Interstate 80 was closed over the Donner Pass, and up to 30 inches of snow were reported, according to the Reno Gazette Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
This is a developing story which may be updated.
Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, Jeanine Santucci, Siobhan McAndrew, Jaedyn Young, Jason Hidalgo, Christopher Cann, Alberto Cuadra, and Shawn J. Sullivan
Sources: USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; Nevada Office of Emergency Management
