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

[Thank You Rush]

How much snow are you getting there? The pictures of the highway through Donner brings back memories but NEVER did we go there in that kind of wx...makes me nervous to look at it..

[DennisR]

“Given enough time and money, man will always find a way to harm, maim, or kill himself.”

[Political Junkie Too]

I wasn't sure where Castle Peak was, but when I looked at a map and saw that it was on the north side of I-80 from Boreal, I thought "Wow!"

-PJ

[Verginius Rufus]

This morning they were reporting 10 people missing and 5 in a shelter. So it appears that one of the 10 may have survived and one is still missing but the other 8 were found dead.

[Verginius Rufus]

The only time I tried to ski (cross-country) was south of Lake Tahoe, near U.S. 50. We didn’t go far from the highway. Conditions were poor so we did not stay very long. That was more than 40 years ago.

[Political Junkie Too]

Every time that I drove up to Tahoe I would pass Boreal on the south side and it was always busy. It's appeal was its gently slopes; families would take their small children there to go sledding.

It's astonishing that the avalanche wasn't too far from there, but on the other side of the interstate in the peaks.

-PJ

[ridesthemiles]

PRETTY SURE CASTLE PEAK IS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF I-80

AND LAKE TAHOE IS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF I-80

DOES ANYONE KNOW ANY GEOGRAPHY ANY MORE

[ridesthemiles]

GOOGLE AFFIRMS MY THOUGHT-—37 MILES DIFFERENCE

[xp38]

I think it was Hemingway. He was certainly into Bull Fighting.

[Hot Tabasco]

Back country skiing is adventurous but intrinsically a higher risk.

What exactly is back country skiing, anyway? Is it cross country skiing or hiking for miles just to ski deep powder?

[sit-rep]

there is that 1-2% that are truly talented enough to ski big mountains. and then you have the 3-7% Yahoos, who are in it for the photo Op and temporary fame. I truly hope that wasnt the case with these guys. Even in my prime I stuck to resorts. never ever did I dream of getting dropped by helicopter and trailblazing powder. I wonder if the skiers caused the avalanche...

[sit-rep]

lol

[Thank You Rush]

We lived in Sacramento years ago and made lots of trips up over Donner Summit into Tahoe and Reno. I had written down the areas mentioned in the story and looked them up also. We went skiing a couple of times but it was so long ago, I don’t remember if it was up Hwy 40 into State Line or 80 over Donner. Went to Squaw Valley just to see it after the Olympics there. Most of the time, it was just trips to gamble and for fun. The good old days when you could take off on a whim...let’s go to State Line.

[Big Red Badger]

I believe Your correct!
😊
Thanks

[Thank You Rush]

“”Hwy 40””

Correction - I meant Hwy 50....

[Verginius Rufus]

You never hear about front country skiing. Is that less adventurous?

[Hot Tabasco]

You never hear about front country skiing. Is that less adventurous?

First explain to me what back country skiing is, then we can get into your front country skiing and how it compares.

[Verginius Rufus]

All this discussion of skiing reminded me of my high school Spanish class. Instead of learning basic grammar we had a program that started with made-up dialogues. I think it was called ALM. Anyway, in one dialogue a couple of people are talking about Enrique and it went something like this.

"What happened to Enrique?
"He broke his leg skiing."
"But Enrique doesn't know how to ski."
"That's why he broke his leg."

[Verginius Rufus]

I’m no expert on the subject, but I guess back country skiing means skiing in remote areas away from towns or roads.

[Hot Tabasco]

I guess back country skiing means skiing in remote areas away from towns or roads.

Cross country or downhill skiing?