On January 10th, at around 9:30 a.m, an Avalanche occurred on the Palisades Tahoe (formerly Squaw-Valley) side of the ski resort, specifically above the GS bowl area of KT-22. 

The Olympic Valley Fire Department responded to the resort’s avalanche alert, contacted ski patrol, who confirmed the mishap. Placer County Sheriff’s Office assisted Olympic Valley Fire and Palisades Tahoe with the search and rescue operation. More than 100 Palisades personnel participated in the search, and two probe lines were completed. 

The mountain was closed for the remainder of the day. The avalanche debris field is approximately 150 feet wide, 450 feet long and 10 feet deep. The slide caused one fatality and one injury. Our thoughts and prayers are with their family members at this difficult time. 

It’s a bit shocking that an avalanche kills on an open ski run. Usually ski patrol makes sure to detonate explosive charges to move any unstable layer prior to opening a run. It would appear that the responsible individuals mistook what they thought was the usually dense “Sierra cement” snow for fluffy powder with low water content. 

Of the 243 avalanche fatalities in the US in the past decade, only 7 were reported in-bounds at ski areas, according to the National Ski Areas Association. 

One could wonder if Palisades Tahoe, that is part of the Alterra huge conglomerate of ski areas, is as well managed as traditional tightly-owned and operated resorts of yesteryear, and if its new managers have the wisdom, experience and know-how, to run these resorts as well as they used to be handled?