A deadly avalanche buried a group of backcountry skiers and their guides near Lake Tahoe in California’s Sierra Nevada as an intense storm brought heavy snow to the region on Feb. 17, 2026. Six of the skiers were rescued, but eight others didn’t survive and another was missing. The region was under an avalanche warning rated high danger, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.
Avalanche deaths are rare inside the boundaries of ski resorts, but the risk rises in the backcountry. Thirty backcountry avalanche deaths were reported in the U.S. during the 2022-23 season, 16 the following year, and 22 in 2024-25.
Nathalie Vriend, a skier and physicist at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies avalanches, explains what happens in an avalanche and techniques for surviving one.
