Whiteout conditions delay recovery of dead in Tahoe avalanche, CA authorities say
Authorities halted recovery efforts Thursday for the skiers killed in Tuesday’s deadly Sierra avalanche as weather conditions remained too dangerous to retrieve the bodies, Nevada County sheriff’s officials said. Crews expected recovery efforts to continue for several more days.
The bodies of at least eight people remained in the slide area, where the avalanche struck two days earlier in rugged, ungroomed terrain near Castle Peak in Nevada County. A ninth person remained missing and was presumed dead.
“Due to hazardous weather conditions, avalanche victims cannot be safely extracted off the mountain today,” the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in a Thursday update. “Recovery efforts are expected to carry into the weekend.”
The Sheriff’s Office said it could not confirm the victims’ identities until recovery was completed.
Among those killed in the deadliest avalanche in California history was three ski guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides, the Truckee-based firm that led the excursion; and mothers of children in the Sugar Bowl Academy, a competitive ski racing program hosted at a ski resort not far from the avalanche site.
The academy in a statement said “multiple members of the Sugar Bowl Academy community” were among those lost.
The group of 11 clients and their four guides had set out from the Frog Lake huts in the Lake Tahoe backcountry near Truckee, where they had been staying since Sunday, when they were caught in the avalanche, Blackbird officials said in a Tuesday Instagram post.
An avalanche warning remained in effect for the Lake Tahoe area through 5 a.m. Friday, and dangerous conditions were expected to persist for days afterward, said forecasters.
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 2:04 PM with the headline "Whiteout conditions delay recovery of dead in Tahoe avalanche, CA authorities say."
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