Authorities are investigating whether there were any factors that would be considered criminal negligence in the avalanche that killed at least eight skiers near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
A group of 11 skiers and four guides was near Castle Peak, about 10 miles north of Lake Tahoe in California’s Sierra Nevada, when a football field-sized slab of snow slid off a mountain and swallowed them around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, authorities have said. They were returning from a three-day backcountry ski trip during a storm that dumped up to 7 feet of snow and lashed the mountains with 60 mph winds.
Sheriff Shannan Moon said Thursday that officials were working to learn why the group continued with their trip after an avalanche watch was issued on Sunday, two days before the deadly avalanche. An avalanche warning was also issued on the morning of the incident, warning of “HIGH avalanche danger” and the possibility of “large” avalanches in the backcountry.
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health told CBS News Sacramento it is investigating Blackbird Mountain Guides, which led the ski trip.
Moon said there were “lots of forecasts on this storm.” Captain Russel Greene, of the sheriff’s office, said the avalanche “overtook them rather quickly.”
One skier from the group remains missing and is presumed dead. Six skiers were rescued from the site with “varying injuries,” according to the sheriff’s office, and two needed to be hospitalized. Blackbird Mountain Guides said one survivor was a guide and the other five were clients. All four guides were avalanche safety instructors, according to Blackbird.
Nevada County Undersheriff Sam Brown told CBS News on Thursday that the skiers went into “frantic mode of trying to find their friends and partners” and were “ultimately able to unbury three individuals who did not survive.”
“Uncovering people who are deceased, that they know and probably cared about, is just horrible,” Brown said.
Treacherous conditions in the area – which is known for deep snow, rugged terrain and having no trails or ski patrol – have hindered search efforts. But a break in the weather allowed rescue teams to find the bodies of eight skiers.
Some victims were identified by family on Thursday. Crews are still searching for the ninth skier.
Brown said the initial operation was complex because authorities needed to position standby search and rescue crews for the rescue teams themselves in case another avalanche was triggered.
Authorities said this was the deadliest avalanche in the United States since 1981.
Blackbird founder Zeb Blais called the incident an “enormous tragedy, and the saddest event our team has ever experienced.”
