Eight backcountry skiers have been discovered useless, and one stays lacking following an avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, officers introduced Wednesday.
Search crews on Tuesday braved “extremely harmful” circumstances to rescue six different skiers who had been a part of the identical guided group, authorities mentioned.
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 convey the stays of the eight useless skiers off the mountain as quickly as attainable to be reunited with their households after autopsies are carried out to find out the reason for dying, authorities mentioned.
A rescue ski workforce makes their strategy to the world of an avalanche within the Fortress 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 mentioned the skier who stays lacking is presumed to be deceased.
Moon mentioned that among the many useless had been three guides from the corporate Black Mountain Guides.
Perilous circumstances close to Donner Move, 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, in line with the Sierra Avalanche Heart.
Tuesday’s avalanche was reported round 11:30 a.m. PT within the Fortress Peak space at an elevation of 8,200 toes within the Sierra Nevada northwest of Lake Tahoe, in line with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace.
A gaggle of 15 skiers, 9 girls and 6 males, together with 4 guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides, encountered the avalanche, in line with the sheriff’s workplace.
“The group was within the strategy of returning to the trailhead on the conclusion of a three-day journey when the incident occurred,” Blackbird Mountain Guides mentioned in an announcement.
Based mostly on the accounts of the survivors, Capt. Rusty Greene of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Division mentioned 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 trying to exit as a gaggle, that somebody noticed the avalanche, yelled ‘avalanche’ — after which it overtook them relatively shortly,” Greene mentioned.
Greene mentioned the our bodies of the eight skiers had been positioned close to the place the survivors had been discovered. He mentioned 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 Harmful Drive Scale, the avalanche model of the Enhanced Fujita Scale for ranking tornadoes, which means it was sturdy sufficient to injure, bury, or kill an individual, in line with the Sierra Avalanche Heart. A D3 on the dimensions is robust sufficient to destroy a home.
Location of California avalanche
Map Tiles by Google Earth
Six folks had been efficiently rescued Tuesday night by search-and-rescue groups with various accidents, Moon mentioned. The survivors, who vary in age from 30 to 55, had been taking cowl below a tarp once they had been discovered alive, in line with Moon.
Moon mentioned the deceased skiers had been from a number of totally different states and that their kinfolk had been notified on Wednesday morning earlier than the information convention.
Greene mentioned the our bodies had been positioned in a location the place they are going to be straightforward to get well 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 mentioned. Emergency beacons additionally helped rescuers discover the stranded skiers, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
“As a result of excessive climate circumstances, it took a number of hours for rescue personnel to securely attain the skiers and transport them to security the place they had been medically evaluated by Truckee Fireplace,” the Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement. “Two of the six skiers have been transported to a hospital for therapy.”
Motorists drive on a snow-covered street throughout a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photographs/Brooke Hess-Homeier)
Brooke Hess-homeier/AP
Moon mentioned initially, authorities had been instructed that 16 skiers had been within the group, and 10 had been lacking. She mentioned it was later realized that one individual determined to not make the journey on the final minute.
Rescuers confronted very tough circumstances, together with avalanche hazard themselves, in line with Brandon Schwartz, director of the Sierra Avalanche Heart, which forecasts avalanche circumstances within the space round Lake Tahoe. The realm noticed 2 to three toes 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 mentioned two search groups comprising practically 50 rescuers approached the avalanche web site from the north and the south. Snowcats transported the groups to inside two miles of the avalanche web site, and from there, the rescuers needed to ski to the placement, arriving round 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Moon mentioned 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 mentioned.
Two of the survivors had been initially hospitalized, however Moon mentioned one remained in a hospital on Wednesday.
Snow falls, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif.
Brooke Hess-Homeier/AP
The Blackbird Mountain Guides mentioned the avalanche occurred close to the Frog Lake Backcountry Huts within the Fortress 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, in line with the corporate’s web site.
The corporate lists stipulations for purchasers, 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, in line with the corporate, “capable of hike 4-6 miles and climb 1,500-2,500 vertical toes all through the course of a day.”
The Sierra Avalanche Heart mentioned 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 Fortress 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 features, throughout varied elevation bands,” an organization worker mentioned within the video. “As we transfer into a big storm cycle this week, pay shut consideration to locations the place faceting has been notably sturdy — avalanches might behave abnormally and hazards might last more than regular.”
Requested by reporters why the group was within the space regardless of the damaging avalanche circumstances current, Moon mentioned, “These are the choices the information firm clearly had made.”
“We’re nonetheless in dialog with them on the choice components that they made. However, undoubtedly, a heed for everybody,” Moon mentioned.
The Sierra Avalanche Heart mentioned quickly accumulating snowfall, weak layers of current snowpack and gale-force winds that blow and drift snow “have created harmful avalanche circumstances within the mountains.”
“Pure avalanches are probably, and human-triggered avalanches massive sufficient to bury or injure persons are very probably,” the middle mentioned.
A street is roofed in snow throughout a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photographs/Brooke Hess-Homeier)
Brooke Hess-homeier/AP
The middle has issued an avalanche warning for the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains between Yuba Move on the north and Ebbetts Move on the south, together with the larger Lake Tahoe space, via Wednesday morning.
In an up to date assertion on Wednesday morning, the middle mentioned, “HIGH avalanche hazard continues,” and added, “journey in, close to, or under avalanche terrain not advisable.”
“Elevated uncertainty exists with ongoing reactivity of those buried weak layers below this huge storm snow load. The potential continues for giant to very massive avalanches occurring within the backcountry as we speak.”
Whiteout circumstances 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 circumstances” throughout the Donner Summit.
Interstate 80 over Donner Summit was closed in each instructions on Tuesday and remained closed on Wednesday morning on account of whiteout circumstances and poor visibility.
