Eight skiers were killed in an avalanche while on a backcountry expedition near Lake Tahoe.
One person is still missing, but presumed dead.
Six others in the group survived.
According to Fox News, the Lake Tahoe avalanche is the deadliest in the United States since a 1981 avalanche on Mount Rainier, Washington, killed 11 climbers.
“They were on their way back to camp when the avalanche actually hit,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said, according to the outlet.
“It took these search and rescue crews hours just to find those first few survivors that we’re talking,” Moon added.
Breaking News: Eight of the nine skiers missing since Tuesday near Lake Tahoe have been found dead, making the avalanche the deadliest in modern California history. https://t.co/dv4f0zB6NI
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 18, 2026
NBC News shared further:
The bodies of those killed remain at the scene, where significant avalanche risk persists.
“The risk is still as high with the mission moving to a recovery. We want to really make sure that our first response responders are safe,” Moon said.
Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo, whose deputies are assisting in the search, said it could be some time before all nine bodies can be recovered.
“We’re all so committed to seeing this through until the end,” Woo said. “At this point, I’m going to have to wait for, hopefully, a decent break in the weather and make sure we get every last soul off that mountain.”
The avalanche was about a football field in length, authorities said. It struck at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, sometime after the skiers had left a set of backcountry huts at Frog Lake, according to Blackbird Mountain Guides, which had four guides leading the trip. The skiers had been staying at the lake, which is northwest of Lake Tahoe and north of the Donner Summit, since Sunday.
The survivors, one guide and five clients, were found Tuesday night buried in the snow.
An emergency satellite messaging service, which allowed them to send text messages, assisted in the rescue.
The powerful storm dumped “more than 30 inches of snow in just 24 hours,” Fox News stated.
RACE AGAINST TIME: A desperate search is underway for several missing skiers after a powerful storm unleashed an avalanche near Lake Tahoe, dumping more than 30 inches of snow in just 24 hours. Six people have been rescued after emergency beacons led crews to their location. pic.twitter.com/TG1K0HiDWA
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 18, 2026
Fox News has more:
The skiers were on a three-day trek in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada as a winter storm pummeled the West Coast. The six survivors used equipment to shelter themselves and were trying to stay warm while waiting to be rescued, Moon said.
The survivors located three others who had died, Moon said.
Search and rescue crews were dispatched to the Castle Peak area of the Sierra Nevada after a 911 call reporting the avalanche had buried 15 skiers.
Heavy snow and the threat of additional avalanches slowed the rescue effort, authorities said.
Officials noted that most of the rescue crews are volunteers.
“The vast majority of these individuals are volunteers. They, a lot of time, buy their own equipment. They train on their own time, and they put a big investment into it,” said Dan O’Keefe, the chief of law enforcement at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The area near Donner Summit is one of the snowiest places in the Western Hemisphere and was closed to the public for nearly a century until just a few years ago.
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