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Deadliest California Avalanche Kills 9 Near Castle Peak Amid High Risk

Deadliest California Avalanche Kills 9 Near Castle Peak Amid High Risk
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Nine backcountry skiers were confirmed dead in California’s Sierra Nevada after crews finished a days‑long recovery operation Saturday, concluding the deadliest avalanche in the state’s recorded history near Castle Peak, north of Lake Tahoe.deseret +1 Six others from the same guided group survived after the slide struck during a powerful winter storm on Tuesday, February 17.

The 15-person party — 11 clients and four professional guides on a three‑day trip based at the remote Frog Lake Backcountry Huts — was skiing out toward Donner Pass when a slide about the length of a football field roared down, burying most of the group under heavy, wind‑loaded snow.bbc +1 Authorities said the avalanche had a destructive potential rated D2.5 on a five‑point scale and hit during “HIGH” (4 of 5) avalanche danger in the region.washingtonpost +1

How the Tragedy Unfolded and Why Recovery Took Days

Survivors managed to send emergency calls and texts mid‑morning as the storm raged, but whiteout conditions and avalanche‑prone slopes meant rescuers did not reach them for roughly six hours.cbsnews Six people were pulled out alive after using their avalanche beacons and shovels, while bodies of several victims were found that night.cbsnews +1

Recovery then halted for two days as winds gusted toward 90 mph and new snow reloaded the already unstable mountainside, making it too dangerous for search teams to operate.abc30 When the weather eased, California Highway Patrol helicopters, aided by utility aircraft, were used to deliberately break up or trigger unstable slabs before ground crews moved in on ropes and snowcats to recover the remaining victims Friday and Saturday.deseret +1 “While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said.kcra

Avalanche Warnings, Guiding Decisions and New Safety Scrutiny

The Sierra Avalanche Center had issued a “HIGH” danger rating the morning of the trip’s final day, warning that heavy new snow and strong winds over a weak base layer could produce large, human‑triggered avalanches.abc7news The outing, run by Blackbird Mountain Guides, nevertheless proceeded; industry colleagues said the guides were highly trained and certified, underscoring how even experienced professionals can be caught in rapidly changing snowpack.latimes

State and local authorities opened parallel investigations, including a Cal/OSHA workplace‑safety probe into the guiding company and a sheriff’s inquiry that will examine whether decisions to travel in that terrain under a high‑risk forecast amounted to criminal negligence.nytimes +1 Avalanche educators noted that the Sierra’s historically dense “Sierra cement” has, in recent winters, developed more fragile, persistent weak layers more typical of Colorado’s snowpack, complicating long‑standing rules of thumb for backcountry travel.cnn

The Bigger Picture

Officials described the Castle Peak disaster as not only the deadliest avalanche in modern California history but one of the worst in the United States in decades, prompting renewed calls for skiers and riders to treat avalanche advisories as hard limits rather than guidelines.kcra +1 With Tahoe‑area resorts already reporting several avalanche and tree‑well fatalities this winter, investigators and avalanche experts are expected to focus on how evolving snow and climate patterns — and human decisions on high‑danger days — are reshaping risk in the backcountry.