‘A very sad day’: 1 dead, 3 hurt in avalanche at Palisades Tahoe ski resort, California officials say

A man was killed and three other people were hurt in a morning avalanche at Palisades Tahoe, a popular ski resort in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, law enforcement and ski resort officials confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

Snow and rocks began to fall about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday above the GS gully area of KT-22 near a chair lift, the Palisades Tahoe said. KT-22 is an expert-level lift in steep terrain and that opened about 9 a.m., according to a statement from Palisades Tahoe.

There were four total people involved in the incident, said Michael Gross, the vice president of mountain operations for Palisades Tahoe.

“There were two people that were caught (in the snowslide) and two people that were buried,” Gross said during an afternoon news conference. He said one of the persons who was buried was believed to have been extracted by her skiing partner, and the other was “assisted by some other guests.”

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday evening identified the victim as Kenneth Kidd, 66, who was a resident of both Point Reyes and the Truckee area.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with their family members at this difficult time,” the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post just before 2 p.m. “No further missing persons have been reported. More than 100 Palisades personnel participated in a beacon search, and two probe lines have been completed. The mountain is closed for the remainder of the day.”

The avalanche’s debris spread 150 feet wide, 450 feet long and 10 feet deep, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Gross said the man who died was a guest from outside the South Lake Tahoe area and that he was pronounced deceased at the Tahoe Forest Hospital. The three others who were injured had non-life-threatening injuries and were released after treatment, Palisades Tahoe said in a statement at 2:30 p.m.

“This is a very sad day,” said Dee Byrne, the ski resort’s president and chief operating officer. “This is a dynamic situation.”

KT-22 opened Wednesday for the first time this ski season, but the entire mountain resort — both the Palisades side and the Alpine Meadows side — closed for the rest of the day following the avalanche, Palisades Tahoe said. In updates posted to its website Thursday morning, the resort said KT-22 would remain closed Thursday and that there would be delays opening other lifts.

“It will be a rigorous snow safety morning for both Palisades and Alpine today,” resort officials wrote.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office received reports of an avalanche Wednesday morning at Palisades Tahoe, according to Sgt. David Smith. He and other sheriff’s deputies were responding to the scene when reached for comment just after 11 a.m.

The Placer County Office of Emergency Services referred inquiries to the Olympic Valley Fire Department. Olympic Valley Fire Department declined to comment, and referred all inquiries to Palisades Tahoe, before abruptly hanging up the phone.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said state emergency officials are monitoring the avalanche and are ready to help. They will closely coordinate with Olympic Valley and Placer County emergency officials, Newsom’s office said in a social media post.

‘We deemed this condition safe’

The National Weather Service said Wednesday morning a winter storm would drop about 1 to 2 feet of snow at elevations above 3,500 feet, creating whiteout conditions, with 3 feet of snow possible at higher peaks. Palisades Tahoe has a base elevation of about 6,200 feet. The weather service also has a winter storm warning in place through Wednesday evening, warning of gusty winds accompanying heavy snowfall.

Over the 24 hours leading up to Wednesday morning, 3 inches of fresh power draped Palisades Tahoe, the weather service said. Meteorologists also discouraged mountain travel.

Gross, the vice president of mountain operations for Palisades Tahoe, said ski resort staff conducted “avalanche control assessments” since Sunday and battled weather conditions to set up safety and hazard markings.

Experts with the mountain resort looked at forecasts, snowpack, wind direction and other conditions to determine whether areas were safe, he said.

“Based on our expertise and our experience and history, we deemed this condition safe.”

The Sierra Avalanche Center, operated by the U.S. Forest Service, showed the Olympic Valley region had “considerable” avalanche danger in Wednesday morning’s forecast, the third-highest ranking on a five-step scale maintained by the center.

“Avalanches occur in every steep, snowy and mountain environment,” said Steve Reynaud, a forecaster at the Sierra Avalanche Center, said. “We get a lot of avalanches in the Tahoe area.”

Reynaud added that avalanches “can also be caused from existing snow, the snow that comes in, or avalanches that occur down deeper in the snow.”

Incident isn’t first deadly avalanche at ski resort

A man died and another person was seriously injured in an avalanche in January 2020 at the Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, now part of Palisades Tahoe, according to The Sacramento Bee’s previous reporting. The Placer County Sheriff’s Office said 34-year-old Cole Comstock died. Comstock was a resident of Blairsden, a small mountain community in Plumas County.

The last deadly avalanche on the Palisades side of the resort that happened in January 2017, according to The Bee’s previous reporting. Joe Zuiches, 42, died after what resort officials said was accidentally detonating a hand charger — a handheld device commonly used to trigger controlled avalanches.

The Bee’s Rosalio Ahumada and Angela Rodriguez contributed to this story.