Rescuers on skis, snowmobiles and snowcats battled blizzard conditions Tuesday after an avalanche swept through the Castle Peak backcountry near Lake Tahoe, leaving multiple skiers missing and six others found alive, officials said.
The slide hit during a powerful winter storm that dumped heavy snow across the Sierra Nevada, ramped up avalanche danger and made travel in steep terrain highly risky. Authorities said the skiers were part of a guided backcountry tour, and rescue leaders had to weigh speed against the threat of another avalanche while pushing to reach survivors and confirm how many people were still unaccounted for.
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said it received a report around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday that an avalanche had struck near Frog Lake in the Castle Peak area northwest of Lake Tahoe, close to the Donner Pass corridor. Early reports suggested people had been buried. As the afternoon wore on, sheriff’s office spokesperson Ashley Quadros said six skiers were located alive and told to shelter in place “as best they can” while rescue teams worked toward them through low visibility and deep snow. At that point, officials said 10 others from the same party were still missing, and authorities did not release names or ages.
Hours later, officials said rescuers reached the six survivors and brought them off the mountain, with two taken to a hospital for treatment. The sheriff’s office also said Tuesday night that the total size of the group was revised to 15 skiers, not 16 as initially believed, and that nine people were still missing. Authorities did not immediately explain why the count changed, and they did not say whether the missing were believed to be buried, separated in the storm, or unable to communicate. Officials also did not release details about possible injuries among the missing or whether any victims had been located under the avalanche debris.
Officials said the tour was run by Blackbird Mountain Guides and was in its final day when the avalanche struck. The trip involved travel through rugged terrain on backcountry skis while carrying supplies, said Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center who spoke publicly about the demands of the route. Reynaud said such tours can include two nights in huts and may cover several miles of travel, even in areas that appear close to a major highway on a map. Castle Peak is accessible from Interstate 80, but the surrounding bowls, ridgelines and tree-choked slopes can become remote quickly, especially in a storm that erases tracks and landmarks.
By late Tuesday, officials had not said what triggered the avalanche or provided measurements such as crown depth, debris length or path width. Those details are often gathered after teams can safely reach the slide area and make observations. Officials also did not publicly list what equipment the party carried, such as avalanche transceivers, probes and shovels, though such gear is common on guided backcountry trips. Authorities did not say whether anyone in the group performed self-rescue before professional teams arrived or how the six survivors were first located, leaving key questions about the first minutes after the slide unanswered.
Rescue resources were dispatched from several staging points around the Tahoe-Donner region, officials said, including ski teams based at Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donner’s Alder Creek Adventure Center. Dozens of emergency personnel responded, and specialized rescue skiers moved toward the survivors while other teams prepared to search a broader area. In conditions like Tuesday’s storm, commanders often have to adjust tactics because high winds and near-zero visibility can prevent aircraft use and make avalanche dogs, probing lines and wide-area searches difficult. Deep new snow also increases the risk of additional slides and slows rescuers traveling uphill, even with mechanized help.
The avalanche came as forecasters warned of dangerous, storm-driven instability across parts of the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Avalanche Center issued an avalanche warning for the greater Lake Tahoe region as heavy snowfall and strong winds rapidly loaded slopes. Forecasters said new snow can form slabs that fracture and run, especially on wind-loaded terrain near ridgelines and open bowls. Officials said the risk of another avalanche was a major factor as teams moved through the backcountry, and that the weather that helped destabilize the snowpack was also limiting the tools available to reach people quickly.
The Castle Peak area is a popular destination for backcountry skiers and snowmobilers because access points sit close to highways and ski resorts, but it is also exposed to strong winds and fast-changing storms. Search leaders often choose longer routes that avoid the steepest slopes because secondary avalanches can threaten rescuers climbing toward a debris field. Fresh snow can also hide hazards such as cornices and tree wells. Officials described conditions Tuesday as highly dangerous, and they emphasized that crews were moving carefully while pushing toward the area where the group was last seen.
The winter storm created wide disruption across Northern California, complicating logistics for search and rescue and medical transport. Transportation officials reported temporary traffic halts on Interstate 80 near the Nevada state line because of spinouts and crashes. Nearby mountain communities reported snowfall totals measured in feet over short periods, and forecasters said more heavy snow and wind were possible before conditions eased. Those closures and slowdowns can affect how quickly additional teams, gear and medical support reach staging areas close to avalanche terrain, even when the incident is relatively near a major corridor.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said a coordinated search-and-rescue operation was underway as the storm produced multiple hazards, including heavy mountain snow and concerns about flooding at lower elevations. Local sheriffs and specialized rescue teams typically lead operations in steep avalanche terrain, where decisions about route choice and timing can carry life-and-death consequences for both victims and rescuers. Officials said the next crucial steps were confirming the last known locations of the missing skiers, determining whether any were buried, and expanding the search as weather and avalanche conditions allowed.
As darkness fell Tuesday, the rescue had shifted from reaching the survivors to accounting for the missing, with leaders still facing the same constraints: unstable snow, poor visibility and the chance that the storm could prevent safe access to key areas. Quadros said officials would provide updates as teams gathered more information and conditions allowed. For now, authorities said the operation remained active and that the next milestone would be a clearer accounting of who was still missing and whether the search could safely intensify overnight or into Wednesday.
Author note: Last updated February 17, 2026.