8 backcountry skiers dead, one still missing after avalanche near Lake Tahoe, officials say

KCRA3 ^ | 02/18/2026 | Jonathan Ayestas and Daniel Macht

[BenLurkin]

Eight backcountry skiers died and one remains missing after an avalanche in the Lake Tahoe area, officials said on Wednesday. The rescue mission is now a recovery mission because the missing skier is presumed dead.

Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said a group of 15 skiers was in the Castle Peak area when the sheriff's office got a report of an avalanche around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. She said challenging weather conditions made it difficult for crews to reach the site of the avalanche.

Crews arrived at the scene just after 5:30 p.m. and used a snowcat to travel two miles before skiing the rest of the way to avoid another avalanche. There, they found six survivors, a Black Mountain Guides employee and five clients. The group had made a makeshift shelter.

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TOPICS: Outdoors
KEYWORDS: avalanche; laketahoe; skiers

[Sacajaweau]

Sad...

[ridesthemiles]

GROUP APPARENTLY LARGER THAN ORIGINALLY REPORTED

[Sarah Barracuda]

Mostly women, one person backed out last minute(Lucky person) that same exact area had an avalanche in January

[No name given]

Quite.

[hinckley buzzard]

Back country skiing is adventurous but intrinsically a higher risk. Even with a guide.

[Big Red Badger]

RIP

[montag813]

This is CRAZY because there were also two huge, fatal avalanches in the Alps the past 2 days.

[Kleon]

The nutcases are already blaming global warming.

[ClearCase_guy]

Some people like to live on the edge. And sometimes the edge ... slides.

[xp38]

“People go out and use the backcountry at all times," he said. "We advise against it honestly, but I wouldn’t say that it’s uncommon, not that it was a wise choice.”

Avalanche warning issued hours prior

Earlier in the day, the Sierra Avalanche Center issued an avalanche warning for parts of the area, which includes Castle Peak. The warning is in effect through 5 a.m. Thursday.

The avalanche happened as a snowstorm continued to dump piles of snow in the area, leading to the shutdown of highways and multiple spinouts and crashes. Meteorologist Dirk Verdoorn said that Soda Springs, near Castle Peak, had recorded up to 40 inches of snow so far since Monday.

A sad situation....safety first.

[allendale]

Many people seek gratification by challenging the limits of the laws of physics with their personal determination, strength and ingenuity. The laws of physics remain a constant. Gravity, mass, potential energy, and kinetic energy, temperature mediated molecular motion, wind, precipitation etc. Its the human ingenuity that often fails. Yet as long as mankind exists, those limits will be challenged, sometime resultng in wondrous things.

[woodbutcher1963]

It happens every winter. Which is why throughout the Alps they have built structures to keep avalanches from dropping the snow into lower elevation areas.

All the major ski areas in Europe have avalanches deterrent structures. Just like many of the roads are covered on the mountainsides for when the inevitable avalanche happens.

[dware]

Once again, poverty saves me.

[BipolarBob]

We could have had an adventure we’d never forget. We could have backpacked out in nature among beautiful snow laden mountains and got away from it all. The thrill of skiing down fresh laid virgin snow. Blazed our own paths and . . . . . AVALANCHE!!!! Run for your lives. It’s every mutha for themselves.

[Big Red Badger]

Yuppers!
.
Can’t remember who said;
There are but Three Sports
Bull Fighting,Mountain Climbing and
Auto Racing.

[ansel12]

I think a lot of people can guess who said that even though they don’t know for sure, it is sure a distinctive statement.

[Big Red Badger]

“You Bet you’re Life”
is my take away!
.
Some old boy been teasing Bulls took his Final thrill lately doing what he loved.
.
Racecars draw Cute girls so at least That’s a Plus.

[dware]

I can get the same drama at home without all the danger.

[9422WMR]

You know, if only we had some way we could be warned about bad weather. They should like make a news channel and call it “weather” and you know tell about the weather.
If only…..
👀🤣