TRUCKEE, Calif. – The Sierra Avalanche Center has issued a summary on the Feb. 17 avalanche near Castle Peak, which killed nine and injured two.
As the Tribune has reported, the six survivors were rescued the evening of the avalanche. Teams recovered the decedents’ bodies that Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21.
In its summary, the Sierra Avalanche Center reveals the avalanche occurred on Perry’s Peak, which was not far from where the 15 backcountry skiers had originated.
The peak is located directly adjacent to Frog Lake and the backcountry huts that the tour group was staying in before returning from a 3-day journey.
According to the map and report, it occurred on the north aspect of the peak, which faces away from the lake.
As the bird flies, the peak is about 2,000 feet away from the huts. A trail route places it over a mile away from the huts by foot.
It’s currently unknown what triggered the avalanche. SAC has characterized the avalanche as a storm slab. As the name implies, storm slabs are a type of avalanche problem that are very common during and immediately after storms, SAC says.
Days before the avalanche, OpenSnow had forecasted a storm bringing 3-5 feet of snow the following Monday through Thursday. The avalanche occurred on Tuesday.
SAC had issued a level four (out of five) or high avalanche danger for Tuesday, Feb. 17 through Friday, Feb. 20. The forecast warned that traveling in, near, or below backcountry avalanche terrain was not recommended and that large avalanches were expected across backcountry terrain.
The report categorizes the avalanche’s destructive size as a D2.5. On the destructive scale, D2 avalanches can injure, bury and kill a person. D3s can bury or destroy a car or house.
SAC’s observation revealed the avalanche fell 400 vertical feet.
In the last two weeks, SAC has observed at least 16 avalanches in the Truckee-Tahoe area. Eight have been D2s or bigger.
Thursday, Feb. 26 has been the first day since the avalanche where avalanche dangers have dropped to moderate or Level 2.
