Ten skiers missing, six stranded in California avalanche

Ten skiers are missing and six others are trapped after an avalanche hit a backcountry slope near Lake Tahoe amid heavy snow in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains on Tuesday (Feb. 17, 2026), officials said.

According to a Facebook statement posted by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, the avalanche swept through the Castle Peak area of ​​Truckee, California at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time.

The group consists of four ski guides and 12 clients. At least six people survived and are awaiting rescue at the avalanche site, while the rest are unaccounted for, the statement said.

If all 10 of the missing skiers die, the event would be one of the deadliest single avalanches on record in the United States. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has counted six US avalanche deaths so far this season.

Avalanches killed an average of 27 people each winter in the United States over the past decade, the center reported.

A winter storm warning remains in effect for much of Northern California on Tuesday (February 17, 2026), with heavy snow forecast for the upper elevations of the Sierra Nevada.

The Sierra Avalanche Center backcountry ski area posted a warning of “high avalanche danger” early Tuesday morning (Feb. 17, 2026), a sheriff’s statement said.

Rescue ski teams from Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donners Alder Creek Adventure Center were dispatched to the avalanche zone and dozens of emergency personnel rushed to the scene.

Weather conditions are at their most dangerous on the slopes of the Sierra backcountry, with additional snowfall activity expected through Tuesday night and into Wednesday, according to the release.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the avalanche and state officials are “coordinating an all-hands search and rescue effort” with local emergency teams, his office said in a posting on X.