Search crews in California’s Sierra Nevada were racing against fading light and relentless snowfall to find 10 missing skiers after an avalanche swept a guided group on Castle Peak in the Tahoe area, officials said. The slide struck late yesterday morning as a powerful storm pummeled the mountains with heavy snow and high winds.
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said 16 people — four guides and 12 clients — were caught up in the avalanche near the summit west of Truckee. Six have been accounted for, but mountain rescue teams battling treacherous conditions were still trying to reach them while continuing to look for the others as snow continued to fall and visibility deteriorated.
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“Highly skilled rescue ski teams have departed from both Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donner’s Alder Creek Adventure Centre 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.
Authorities did not immediately release additional details about the group’s identities or the extent of any injuries. The scale of the search-and-rescue operation underscores the perilous conditions across the Sierra, where forecasters warned of whiteout travel and unstable slopes as the storm intensified.
Avalanche experts had warned of considerable danger yesterday, with the risk expected to extend into today. The heavy, wind-driven snow can rapidly overload layers in the mountain snowpack, making backcountry terrain especially prone to slides, even for experienced skiers and professional guides.
The National Weather Service said parts of the Sierra above 1,000 meters could see as much as 2.4 meters of snow over a 48-hour period, with ridgetop gusts reaching 90 km/h. Plummeting temperatures and dense snowfall were expected to continue through the evening, forecasters said, creating life-threatening conditions for anyone caught exposed and complicating the work of rescue teams on skis and snowmobiles.
Castle Peak, a prominent 2,800-meter summit north of Interstate 80, is a popular destination for backcountry skiers in the Tahoe region. Fresh accumulations and strong winds can create wind slabs and unstable cornices near ridgelines — hazards that are difficult to detect in flat light and blowing snow. The sheriff’s office said responders were navigating those risks as they moved toward the known survivors and widened the search for the missing.
Officials urged the public to avoid the backcountry amid the ongoing storm, noting that poor visibility and swift changes in the snowpack can quickly turn avoidable incidents into complex rescues. Urban snow totals have already strained resources across mountain communities, and the prolonged storm cycle is likely to hamper ground and air operations for days.
Further updates were expected as rescuers reach the survivors and assess conditions on the slope. For now, the focus remains on locating the 10 missing skiers and safely extracting the six who have been accounted for but are sheltering in place while snow continues to fall across the Tahoe high country.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
