This piece was originally published in 2024 and is being republished after an avalanche once again hit skiers in the mountainous wilderness near Lake Tahoe in February 2026.
An avalanche swept up skiers at Lake Tahoe’s largest ski resort on Jan. 10, 2024, as a 150-foot-wide sheet of snow slid down a mountain slope into a pile 10 feet deep. One person died in the avalanche and three others were rescued, according to the Placer County, California, Sheriff’s Office. The slide happened in steep terrain near the KT-22 chairlift, which had just opened for the season that morning. A second unplanned avalanche hit the same ski resort the next day, but no one was injured.