California ski resort avalanche: 1 dead, 3 injured as storm moves in

The parking area of the Alpine Base Area at Palisades Tahoe during a winter storm. Photo / AP

An avalanche roared through a section of expert trails at a California ski resort near Lake Tahoe, sweeping up four people and killing one, as a major storm with snow and gusty winds moved into the region, authorities said.

The avalanche prompted Palisades Tahoe to close 30 minutes after it opened, and search crews combed the area to see if anyone was injured or trapped.

Sergeant David Smith, a spokesperson for the Placer County sheriff, said hours later that one person, a male, died. One person suffered a lower leg injury and two others were treated for unspecified injuries and released, officials said. He said nobody else was missing.

DEVELOPING! On scene of the possible major avalanche at Palisades Tahoe, #California. (Donovan Johnson)

Major avalanche just occurred at Palisades Tahoe, reportedly burying multiple people. pic.twitter.com/TPa0BSzU5D

— 🄴🄻ϻ🄴🅁 🄵µ🄳🄳 ✝️ (@Elmr_Fudd_again) January 10, 2024

The avalanche occurred around 9:30 a.m. on steep slopes in the GS Gully area under the KT-22 lift, which serves “black diamond” runs for skilled skiers and snowboarders. Michael Gross, vice president of mountain operations, said ski patrols had been on the slopes checking the avalanche conditions since Sunday.

The resort said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

“Our patrol and mountain operations teams are performing a search at this time,” the resort said.

Winds gusted more than 160km/h over ridgetops around Lake Tahoe ahead of a powerful storm expected to bring as much as 61cm of snow to the highest elevations by early Thursday. The National Weather Service in Reno said 5cm could fall per hour around the lake.

Dan Lavely, 67, of Reno is a season pass holder at Palisades and skied mostly at Alpine Meadows when there was very little snow and the KT-22 lift was closed.

“They didn’t have enough snow to open the lift, it wasn’t even running. ... Today was supposed to be the first day they opened KT-22,” he said.

The steep run along the side of the lift is where the giant slalom was held during the 1960 Olympics, he said.

“Really good skiers love it because it’s really steep,” he said. “I remember when I was really young I was skiing around there. I fell over and slid like two-thirds of the way down the mountain. There was no way to stop because it’s just so steep.”

The death Wednesday was the first US avalanche fatality of the season, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, which monitors nationwide.

A 177km/h gust was recorded at the summit of Alpine Meadows, the neighbouring sister resort of Palisades south of Truckee, California, the service said.

A 2020 avalanche at Alpine Meadows killed one skier and seriously injured another a day after a major storm. Another avalanche at the resort in March 1982 killed seven people, including several employees.