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NEVADA CITY, Calif. -- Crews pushed done mountainous wilderness adjacent Lake Tahoe during a snowstorm to rescue six backcountry skiers who survived an avalanche but were trapped by its snowfall and ice. Nine others from their circuit radical remained missing.
Two of the six were taken to a infirmary for treatment, said Ashley Quadros, a spokesperson for the Nevada County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's bureau said Tuesday nighttime that determination were 15 skiers connected the travel - not 16 arsenic initially believed.
Search and rescue crews were dispatched to Frog Lake successful the Castle Peak area, northwest of Lake Tahoe, aft a 911 telephone reporting an avalanche and radical buried. A almighty wintertime tempest was moving done California astatine the time.
This representation provided by the Nevada County Sheriff's Office shows members of a rescue squad successful Soda Springs, California connected Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
Nevada County Sheriff's Office
Extreme conditions successful the Northern California mountains slowed the rescue effort. It took crews respective hours to scope the skiers and instrumentality them to safety, wherever they were evaluated by the Truckee Fire Department.
The sheriff's bureau said it would supply different update connected rescue efforts astatine a quality league Wednesday morning.
A three-day skis trip
The skiers were connected the past time of a three-day backcountry skiing trek, said Steve Reynaud, a Tahoe National Forest avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center, which had interaction with radical connected the crushed successful the area. He said the skiers spent 2 nights astatine huts connected a travel that required navigating "rugged mountainous terrain" for up to 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) portion bringing on each nutrient and supplies.
Nevada County Sheriff Capt. Russell Greene said authorities were notified astir the avalanche by the skis circuit institution that led the expedition, Blackbird Mountain Guides, and by exigency beacons the skiers were carrying. Rescuers made their mode cautiously toward the country of the avalanche due to the fact that of the information of much avalanches.
Blackbird Mountain Guides said successful a connection connected its website that it was coordinating with authorities connected the rescue operation.
Dangerous backcountry conditions
California is being walloped this week by a almighty wintertime tempest bringing treacherous thunderstorms, precocious winds and dense snowfall successful upland areas.
"It's peculiarly unsafe successful the backcountry close present conscionable due to the fact that we're astatine the tallness of the storm," said Brandon Schwartz, Tahoe National Forest pb avalanche forecaster astatine the Sierra Avalanche Center, based successful Truckee.
The halfway issued an avalanche informing for the country successful the Central Sierra Nevada, including the Greater Lake Tahoe region, starting astatine 5 a.m. Tuesday with ample slides expected into Wednesday.
Snow falls connected Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 successful Truckee Calif.
(AP Photos/Brooke Hess-Homeier)
The municipality of Soda Springs, adjacent wherever the avalanche took place, recorded astatine slightest 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snowfall during a 24-hour period, according to the Soda Springs Mountain Resort.
The unsafe conditions were caused by rapidly accumulating snowfall piling connected fragile snowpack layers coupled with gale-force winds.
The tempest wreaked havoc connected roads from the Sierra Nevada to Sonoma County. Traffic was halted temporarily successful some directions connected I-80 implicit and astir Donner Summit owed to spinouts and crashes, the authorities reported.
Several Tahoe skis resorts were afloat oregon partially closed owed to the weather. Resorts on highways person avalanche mitigation programs and were not expected to beryllium astatine arsenic precocious of a hazard arsenic the backcountry, wherever question in, adjacent oregon beneath avalanche terrain was powerfully discouraged, the halfway said.
Area has acheronian history
Castle Peak, a 9,110-foot (2,777-meter) upland northbound of Donner Summit, is simply a fashionable backcountry skiing destination. The summit, which tin beryllium perilous successful snow, is named for the infamous Donner Party, a radical of pioneers who resorted to cannibalism aft getting trapped determination successful the wintertime of 1846-1847.
In January, an avalanche successful the portion buried a snowmobiler successful snowfall and killed him, authorities said. Each winter, 25 to 30 radical dice successful avalanches successful the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.
Training successful avalanche appraisal and rescue and information instrumentality is highly recommended for backcountry skiing, besides known arsenic off-piste skiing, involves venturing heavy into the wilderness acold extracurricular the confines of a resort. Backcountry skis are wider and heavier and person different features to grip going up and down ungroomed terrain, dissimilar cross-country skis, which are narrower and designed for flat, much groomed trails.
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