Eight people were killed in an avalanche during a backcountry skiing expedition on the California side of Lake Tahoe on Tuesday, authorities said in an update Wednesday.
One person is still missing but presumed dead, officials said, as searchers fight near-whiteout conditions. Six others in the party survived, ranging in age from 30 to 55 years old.
"We did have conversation with the families of the folks that are still outstanding and let them know that our mission went from a rescue to a recovery," Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon told reporters. "It’s a difficult conversation to have with loved ones."
The bodies of those killed remain at the scene, where significant avalanche risk persists.
"The risk is still as high with the mission moving to a recovery. We want to really make sure that our first response responders are safe," Moon said.
Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo, whose deputies are assisting in the search, said it could be some time before all nine bodies can be recovered.
“We’re all so committed to seeing this through until the end,” Woo said. “At this point, I’m going to have to wait for, hopefully, a decent break in the weather and make sure we get every last soul off that mountain.”
The avalanche was about a football field in length, authorities said. It struck at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, sometime after the skiers had left a set of backcountry huts at Frog Lake, according to Blackbird Mountain Guides, which had four guides leading the trip. The skiers had been staying at the lake, which is northwest of Lake Tahoe and north of the Donner Summit, since Sunday.
“The group was in the process of returning to the trailhead at the conclusion of a three-day trip when the incident occurred,” Blackbird Mountain Guides said in a statement Tuesday.
The avalanche initially left nine unaccounted for. The sheriff’s office was able to remain in contact with the six survivors — one guide and five clients, according to Moon — via an emergency satellite messaging service that allowed them to send text messages.
Authorities sent a search-and-rescue team on skis into the area on Tuesday afternoon after receiving notice of the avalanche from Blackbird Mountain Guides and through the satellite messaging system.
The survivors took shelter in a treed area as they waited for hours for rescuers to traverse risky avalanche terrain in a whiteout to reach them.
Moon said the survivors found three bodies before rescuers reached them. Two survivors were injured and had to be transported out by rescue crews; the others were able to travel on their own with emergency responders. Two survivors were hospitalized, both with non-life-threatening injuries, and one has been released, according to Moon.
She said Blackbird Mountain Guides has assisted in the emergency response with search-and-rescue crews.
"They responded with us. They wanted to do everything that they could to assist," Moon said.
In mountain towns, backcountry skiers tend to form tight-knit communities, with significant crossover between powder aficionados, mountain guides and search-and-rescue crew members.
“One of the nine missing decedents is a spouse of one of our Tahoe Nordic search and rescue team members,” Woo said. "This has not only been challenging for our community, it’s been a challenging rescue, but it’s also been challenging emotionally for our team and our organization.”
Although the ski group was guided and prepared for the terrain, Moon said the snow and wind on Tuesday were dangerous and challenging to manage.
