The whereabouts of a dozen people are uncertain after an avalanche during a winter storm in California. Of 16 skiers who were not located, six were found alive this Tuesday, February 17, authorities reported.
First modification: 02/18/2026 - 03:32
Six skiers were found alive while another 10 were still missing on Tuesday, February 17, after an avalanche in Northern California that occurred during a powerful winter storm that was sweeping through the state.
Authorities were combing the Castle Peak area, northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Ashley Quadros, spokeswoman for the Nevada County Police Department, said the six skiers located were still awaiting rescue.
He stated that the group was made up of four ski guides and 12 clients. On Tuesday, around 11:30 a.m., Nevada County Police received a 911 call from a person who reported an avalanche with people buried, Quadros said.
The Police Department, its Search and Rescue team and a crew from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection were combing the Castle Peak area, northwest of Lake Tahoe, Quadros said.
This week, a powerful winter storm hits California, causing dangerous thunderstorms, strong winds and heavy snowfall in mountainous areas.
According to the Tahoe National Forest's Sierra Avalanche Center, based in Truckee, the central Sierra Nevada area, including the expanded Lake Tahoe region, faced a high risk of avalanches in the backcountry terrain, with large slides expected for Tuesday and Wednesday.
The dangerous conditions were due to rapid accumulation of snow, which piled on top of already fragile layers of snowpack, along with gale-force winds.
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Several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe were fully or partially closed due to the extreme weather. Centers along highways have avalanche mitigation programs and were not expected to be exposed to as high a risk as backcountry terrain, where traveling in, near, or under avalanche-prone areas was strongly discouraged, the center said.
“Right now, it's particularly dangerous in the backcountry terrain simply because we're at the height of the storm,” said Brandon Schwartz, lead avalanche forecaster for the Tahoe National Forest.
Schwartz explained that experts depend on people who witness an avalanche or its aftermath to know when and where one has occurred.
Castle Peak, a 9,110-foot (2,777-meter) peak in the Donner Summit area of the Sierra Nevada, is a popular destination for backcountry skiing. In nearby Soda Springs, at least 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snow had fallen in the past 24 hours, according to Soda Springs Mountain Resort.
Forecasters said the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in northern Shasta County — including several parts of Interstate 5 — and parts of the state's Pacific Coast Range could see up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow before the storm passes through late Wednesday.
The storm wreaked havoc on roads from Sonoma County to the Sierra Nevada. Traffic was temporarily stopped in both directions on I-80 near the state line with Nevada due to skids and crashes, the California Department of Transportation reported.
In January, an avalanche in the region buried a snowmobile driver and caused his death, authorities reported. Every winter, between 25 and 30 people die in avalanches in the United States, according to the National Avalanche Center.
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