tahoe avalanche kills at least eight; several victims tied to local ski academy
A powerful avalanche struck a group of backcountry skiers near Donner Summit on Tuesday, killing at least eight people and leaving one person missing and presumed dead. Officials say multiple people on the expedition had connections to a nearby ski-focused academy; the school confirmed the ties but declined to release names. Rescuers faced a fierce winter storm and dangerous avalanche conditions while racing to reach survivors.
Chaos on return from three-day trip
The group of 15 skiers had spent two nights at remote huts near Castle Peak and were returning to the trailhead when the avalanche struck midday. The avalanche hit after the party left the Frog Lake huts, located at roughly 7, 600 feet above sea level northwest of Truckee. Emergency alerts from guides’ devices began arriving late morning Pacific time; in Eastern Time that was about 2: 30 p. m. ET.
Six people were found alive. They used satellite-texting features on their phones to contact rescuers while sheltering on the mountain; rescue teams reached the survivors later that day. crews arrived to the survivors at about 8: 30 p. m. ET after traveling by snowcat and then skiing the final miles into the area. Two survivors were transported to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Rescuers located multiple deceased skiers both before and after reaching the survivors. While agencies continued searching, authorities shifted from rescue to recovery for the missing person. The scene remained hazardous and recovery efforts were slowed by near-whiteout conditions and ongoing avalanche hazard.
Local academy confirms community impact
The ski-focused private academy located a few miles from the incident said multiple people on the fatal trek were connected to its program. School leadership described a tight-knit community shaken by the losses and said they would not be releasing names or further personal details. The academy’s main hall was quiet Wednesday, with only a few students and parents inside as a storm continued to pummel the area.
Officials and community leaders stressed how interconnected mountain communities can be, with students, guides and local residents often overlapping across trips, guiding services and search-and-rescue crews. One local official noted surprise that a backcountry trip had been underway given the extreme winter conditions, while others emphasized that judgment calls in the backcountry are complex and depend on many shifting factors.
Rescue efforts hampered by storm and high avalanche danger
With Highway 80 closed by the storm and fresh loading of snow on unstable layers, rescuers improvised to reach the site. Ski resorts and local teams deployed snowcats and ski teams to traverse the blocked roads and deep snow. At one point roughly 50 rescuers were converging on the area from multiple directions before skiing the last miles to reach the survivors and the avalanche debris field.
Forecasters had warned of high avalanche danger in the region as new snow was loading unstable slopes, increasing the likelihood of naturally triggered avalanches that can start high above and propagate down through cloud bands. In avalanche incidents, time is critical: burial can cause asphyxiation within an hour for fully buried victims, and blunt force trauma is also a frequent cause of fatality.
Authorities cautioned that recovery work would remain dangerous until weather moderates and avalanche risk subsides. Teams were prioritizing the safety of first responders while continuing efforts to recover the remaining missing person and investigate the full circumstances that led to the disaster.
