Eight backcountry skiers have been discovered lifeless, and one stays lacking following an avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, officers introduced Wednesday.
Search crews on Tuesday braved “extremely harmful” situations to rescue six different skiers who had been a part of the identical guided group, authorities stated.
The tragedy is the deadliest U.S. avalanche in 45 years, second solely to an avalanche that killed 11 folks on Washington’s Mt. Rainer in 1981.
Crews had been engaged on Wednesday to deliver the stays of the eight lifeless skiers — seven ladies and one males — off the mountain as quickly as doable to be reunited with their households after autopsies are carried out to find out the reason for demise, authorities stated.
A rescue ski staff makes their option to the world of an avalanche within the Fort Peak space of Truckee, Calif., February 17, 2026.
Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace
Nevada County Sheriff Shannon Moon introduced the deaths at a information convention on Wednesday and stated the skier who stays lacking is presumed to be deceased.
Moon stated that among the many lifeless had been three guides from the corporate Black Mountain Guides. The ages of the deceased ranged from 30 to 55, Moon stated.
Perilous situations close to Donner Go, the place the avalanche occurred, continued on Wednesday morning. Rescuers confronted a winter storm dumping greater than 2 inches of snow an hour within the space, grounding rescue helicopters and hampering floor crews attempting to succeed in the lacking skiers, based on the Sierra Avalanche Middle.
Tuesday’s avalanche was reported round 11:30 a.m. PT within the Fort Peak space at an elevation of 8,200 ft within the Sierra Nevada northwest of Lake Tahoe, based on the Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace.
A bunch of 15 skiers, together with 4 guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides, encountered the avalanche, based on the sheriff’s workplace.
“The group was within the means of returning to the trailhead on the conclusion of a three-day journey when the incident occurred,” Blackbird Mountain Guides stated in an announcement.
Based mostly on the accounts of the survivors, Capt. Rusty Greene of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Division stated all 15 members of the group had been collectively when the avalanche occurred.
“It was reported by the people that survived that they had been making an attempt to exit as a bunch, that somebody noticed the avalanche, yelled ‘avalanche’ — after which it overtook them fairly rapidly,” Greene stated.
Greene stated the our bodies of the eight skiers had been positioned close to the place the survivors had been discovered. He stated survivors of the incident had positioned three of the our bodies earlier than the rescue groups arrived.
Preliminarily, the slide measured a D2.5 on the Damaging Pressure Scale, the avalanche model of the Enhanced Fujita Scale for score tornadoes, which means it was sturdy sufficient to injure, bury, or kill an individual, based on the Sierra Avalanche Middle. A D3 on the dimensions is robust sufficient to destroy a home.
Location of California avalanche
Map Tiles by Google Earth
Six folks — 5 ladies and one male information — had been efficiently rescued Tuesday night by search-and-rescue groups with various accidents, Moon stated. The survivors had been taking cowl beneath a tarp once they had been discovered alive, based on Moon.
Moon stated the deceased skiers had been from a number of completely different states and that their family members had been notified on Wednesday morning earlier than the information convention.
Greene stated the our bodies had been positioned in a location the place they are going to be simple to recuperate as soon as the climate permits.
The survivors made a 911 name utilizing an iPhone satellite tv for pc SOS message, the sheriff’s officer stated. Emergency beacons additionally helped rescuers discover the stranded skiers, the sheriff’s workplace stated.
“Because of excessive climate situations, it took a number of hours for rescue personnel to soundly attain the skiers and transport them to security the place they had been medically evaluated by Truckee Fireplace,” the Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace stated in an announcement. “Two of the six skiers have been transported to a hospital for remedy.”
Motorists drive on a snow-covered street throughout a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Images/Brooke Hess-Homeier)
Brooke Hess-homeier/AP
Moon stated initially, authorities had been instructed that 16 skiers had been within the group, and 10 had been lacking. She stated it was later discovered that one individual determined to not make the journey on the final minute.
Rescuers confronted very tough situations, together with avalanche hazard themselves, based on Brandon Schwartz, director of the Sierra Avalanche Middle, which forecasts avalanche situations within the space round Lake Tahoe. The realm noticed 2 to three ft of recent snow within the final 36 hours and extra was nonetheless falling at 2 to 4 inches per hour, Schwartz instructed ABC Information.
Moon stated two search groups comprising almost 50 rescuers approached the avalanche website from the north and the south. Snowcats transported the groups to inside two miles of the avalanche website, and from there, the rescuers needed to ski to the situation, arriving round 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Moon stated two of the survivors suffered accidents that prevented them from strolling. The survivors had been taken again to the snowcats and pushed again down the mountain, Moon stated.
Two of the survivors had been initially hospitalized, however Moon stated one remained in a hospital on Wednesday.
Snow falls, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif.
Brooke Hess-Homeier/AP
The Blackbird Mountain Guides stated the avalanche occurred close to the Frog Lake Backcountry Huts within the Fort Peak space, northwest of Truckee.
The group of skiers had been staying on the huts — which the corporate describes in on-line commercials as “luxury-dormitories” — since Sunday. A 3-to-4-day keep on the huts usually prices $1,795, based on the corporate’s web site.
The corporate lists conditions for patrons, together with requiring skiers to be “adept with their backcountry touring abilities and have a stable basis of touring earlier than the journey.” Prospects are additionally required to be in good bodily form, based on the corporate, “in a position to hike 4-6 miles and climb 1,500-2,500 vertical ft all through the course of a day.”
The Sierra Avalanche Middle stated there was “excessive” avalanche hazard within the backcountry on Tuesday, elevating questions of why the group was within the rugged space.
Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace officers monitor an avalanche within the Fort Peak space of Truckee, Calif., February 17, 2026.
Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace
On Monday, Blackbird Mountain Guides posted a video on Instagram displaying what it described as “atypical layering from our regular mid season snowpack.”
“The result’s a very weak layer in lots of northerly elements, throughout numerous elevation bands,” an organization worker stated within the video. “As we transfer into a big storm cycle this week, pay shut consideration to locations the place faceting has been significantly sturdy — avalanches may behave abnormally and hazards may last more than regular.”
Requested by reporters why the group was within the space regardless of the damaging avalanche situations current, Moon stated, “These are the selections the information firm clearly had made.”
“We’re nonetheless in dialog with them on the choice elements that they made. However, undoubtedly, a heed for everybody,” Moon stated.
The Sierra Avalanche Middle stated quickly accumulating snowfall, weak layers of current snowpack and gale-force winds that blow and drift snow “have created harmful avalanche situations within the mountains.”
“Pure avalanches are seemingly, and human-triggered avalanches massive sufficient to bury or injure individuals are very seemingly,” the middle stated.
A street is roofed in snow throughout a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Images/Brooke Hess-Homeier)
Brooke Hess-homeier/AP
The middle has issued an avalanche warning for the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains between Yuba Go on the north and Ebbetts Go on the south, together with the higher Lake Tahoe space, via Wednesday morning.
In an up to date assertion on Wednesday morning, the middle stated, “HIGH avalanche hazard continues,” and added, “journey in, close to, or beneath avalanche terrain not advisable.”
“Elevated uncertainty exists with ongoing reactivity of those buried weak layers beneath this massive storm snow load. The potential continues for giant to very massive avalanches occurring within the backcountry right now.”
Whiteout situations have been reported within the area the place the avalanche occurred.
The California Freeway Patrol’s Truckee workplace warned that top winds are “creating full whiteout situations” throughout the Donner Summit.
Interstate 80 over Donner Summit was closed in each instructions on Tuesday and remained closed on Wednesday morning as a consequence of whiteout situations and poor visibility.
