Treacherous backcountry conditions stall the recovery of ski group’s bodies after historically deadly California avalanche

By Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN

(CNN) — After six skiers were rescued from the “horrific” aftermath of an avalanche near California’s Lake Tahoe, the family members of nine remaining skiers received crushing news. The bodies of eight had been left on the icy mountainside, and a final member of the group was still missing, presumed dead among the blanket of snow.

The football-field sized crush of snow and ice is the deadliest avalanche in California’s recorded history and has drawn rescue and recovery resources from as far as Los Angeles – about 500 miles away.

The same dangerous whiteout conditions that caused the avalanche Tuesday have prevented recovery crews from returning to the remote Sierra Nevada backcountry to bring home the bodies, officials said in an update Wednesday.

A spouse of the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue team is among the dead, making the search and recovery effort particularly wrenching for their personnel, said Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo.

The victims also include members of the Sugar Bowl Academy community, the private school and US Ski and Snowboard club said in a statement, without identifying those who were killed or injured.

Blackbird Mountain Guides, the tour company that organized the trip, said six clients and three guides are among those killed, while five clients and one guide survived the avalanche.

“The best thing we can do is surround our athletes and families with care and support while providing the necessary space and time for grief and healing,” Stephen McMahon, executive director of the Sugar Bowl Academy said.

As another storm bears down on the region, incident response teams are waiting for a window when they may safely trek back to the scene.

Here’s the latest:

• More than half the group killed: A group of 15 skiers were returning from a three-day trip organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides, according to Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon. The group included four guides and 11 clients who had paid for the trip. They were headed back to the trailhead when the avalanche struck. Only six people survived, some of whom were injured, Moon said. Eight others were found dead, and another person who is still missing is also presumed to be dead. The survivors consist of four men and two women; those confirmed and presumed dead include seven women and two men, the sheriff confirmed.
• Rescuers grapple with risky conditions: As many as 50 search and rescue personnel from local and neighboring counties descended upon the area to help coordinate the response, Moon said. But battering snow, whiteout conditions and the risk of another avalanche forced crews to take a slow and careful approach. There is no road to the remote scene, so rescue crews used a snowcat vehicle to get within two miles of the site before skiing the rest of the way, the sheriff said. “Extreme weather conditions, I would say, is an understatement,” Moon said.
• Survivor was able to text rescuers: Before rescue units arrived on the scene, they knew at least six people had survived. The surviving group had been communicating with them via emergency beacons and iPhone SOS signals, Moon said. One of the guides was able to communicate with rescuers by text during the hours crews were trying to reach them.
• Guides were highly trained: Blackbird Mountain Guides said all four guides on the trip were American Mountain Guides Association trained or certified in backcountry skiing. They were also certified instructors with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education. The company noted that guides in the field had been in communication with senior guides at their base about conditions and route decisions. Blackbird said it is still working to understand exactly what happened and that investigations are underway.
• Crews wait for opportunity to safely recover bodies: Recovery crews are at “the will of Mother nature” as they wait for extreme weather to let up long enough for them to return and retrieve the bodies, Woo said Wednesday. “We’re going to have to wait for, hopefully, a decent break in the weather and make sure we get every last soul off,” he said.
• Snow keeps piling up: A new round of heavy snow will blow into the Sierra Nevada Mountains Wednesday night and may dump between 1 to 4 feet of snow through the day Thursday, according to CNN Weather. “It’s going to continue to increase the danger of future avalanches and it’s going to continue to make the recovery just harder the longer it goes,” Nevada County sheriff’s operations Capt. Rusty Greene said. However, Friday and Saturday may usher in a reprieve.

Seconds of disaster, hours of harrowing wait

A disaster that unfolded in seconds left a group of survivors waiting on a mountainside for hours in frigid temperatures, knowing that many of their peers would not be making it out alive.

The Blackbird Mountain Guides group had spent three days traversing Castle Peak’s wild terrain and staying in huts near Donner Summit – an area that before 2020 was closed to the public for nearly a century.

As the group made their way back to civilization Tuesday morning, one of the skiers spotted an oncoming avalanche, said Greene, citing a survivor’s account.

The person yelled “avalanche!” in warning, but the massive snow slide quickly overtook them, he said.

The snowpack the skiers had been travelling on had a weak layer that had been loaded up with snow, making conditions ripe for an avalanche, according to Chris Feutrier, USDA forest supervisor for the Tahoe National Forest. The area was under the second highest level, a 4 of 5, of an avalanche threat Tuesday.

At 11:30 a.m. the Nevada County dispatch center received a 911 call reporting the avalanche, Moon said. Though dozens of search and rescue personnel swarmed to the area, it would take crews several hours to reach the group in “horrific” conditions, she said.

“Lots of snow, gale force winds, winds making it impossible to see,” Moon said of the conditions. For their own safety, rescue crews had to proceed at a “slow and steady pace.”

As the surviving skiers – some of whom were injured – waited, they scrambled to form a makeshift shelter and stay warm, Moon said. They also attempted to find the rest of their group, and were able to locate three bodies before rescuers arrived.

By around 5:30 p.m., rescuers were able to reach the avalanche site, Moon said. They drove as far as they could on a snowcat, a specialized snow vehicle equipped with large treads, before they had to ski the rest of the way.

Two of the survivors were unable to walk due to their injuries, the sheriff said. Rescuers were able to get them over two miles of snow to the awaiting snowcats.

The bodies of the skiers killed in the avalanche had to be left behind, authorities explained, as the near-vertical terrain and extreme weather made it dangerous for first responders to coordinate their removal.

“We are still looking for one of the members at this time,” Moon said Wednesday. “Due to the ongoing challenges of the weather, the avalanche conditions, the effort remains ongoing.”

For now, authorities are not naming the deceased, though they have been in regular contact with their families, according to Moon.

“It’s a difficult conversation to have with loved ones,” she said. “I can’t even imagine the amount of questions and stress that those families are going through right now.”

Blackbird said it has suspended all field operations through at least February 22, as it supports families and staff.

“We ask that people following this tragedy refrain from speculating. We don’t have all the answers yet, and it may be some time before we do. In the meantime, please keep those impacted in your hearts,” the company said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, authorities were monitoring weather conditions for a window of opportunity to safely return to the site. Even on a good day, the area is not for the inexperienced.

“It’s a very remote, rugged area on the north side of the highway there. It is not a groomed area or a ski resort area. This is a backcountry area,” Moon said.

The avalanche struck about a mile away from the site where a different avalanche was triggered in early January in the Castle Peak area, Moon said.

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CNN’s Cindy Von Quednow, Martin Goillandeau and Chris Boyette contributed to this report.