An avalanche swept through the Castle Peak area of Truckee, California, roughly 10 miles north of Lake Tahoe, at about 11:30 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, engulfing a group of 16 skiers who were on the slopes, officials said in a Facebook statement posted by the Nevada County Sheriffs Office.
The party involved four ski guides and 12 clients. At least six members of the group survived the slide and remained at the avalanche site while awaiting rescue. The remainder of the group were unaccounted for, according to the statement.
Authorities noted that the Sierra Avalanche Center had issued a warning earlier in the day, stating that a "high avalanche danger exists in the backcountry" of the ski area. That advisory was singled out in the sheriffs office note as context for the conditions at the time of the incident.
Rescue response
Rescue ski teams were sent into the avalanche zone from nearby operators, including teams from the Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donners Alder Creek Adventure Center. Dozens of emergency personnel have also arrived at the scene to assist with search and recovery operations.
Officials described the weather conditions in the Sierra backcountry slopes as highly hazardous, and rescue activity was being carried out against that backdrop.
Situation and outlook
At the time of the statement, six people remained at the site in need of extraction and support, while ten members of the party had not been located. The Nevada County Sheriffs Office provided the details in its public communication and emphasized the hazardous state of the backcountry where the slide occurred.
Given the information released by authorities, rescue teams and emergency responders were actively engaged in on-the-ground operations. The sheriffs office description of the event and the prior avalanche advisory together frame the incident as a search-and-rescue effort conducted under dangerous conditions.
Information limits
The public statement summarized the known facts about the event, including the timing, location, composition of the group, the number of survivors at the scene, and the count of those unaccounted for. Beyond these items, the statement contained no additional details about the condition of those missing, the progress of the rescue beyond deployments, or subsequent developments.