In the US, rescue teams on skis and snowmobiles battled a blizzard, trying to reach six skiers trapped after an avalanche high in the rugged mountains of Northern California, which left 10 more skiers missing, UNN reports with reference to AP.
Details
Search teams were dispatched to Frog Lake in the Castle Peak area, northwest of Lake Tahoe, after someone called 911 around 11:30 AM local time to report an avalanche that left people buried under a layer of snow.
Hours later, Ashley Quadros, a spokesperson for the Nevada County Sheriff's Office, said six skiers had been located and advised to stay put "as much as possible" until they could be contacted.
The group was on the last day of a three-day cross-country ski trip, said Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Tahoe National Forest at the Sierra Avalanche Center. Reynaud said his group was in contact with people at the scene. He said the skiers had spent two nights in huts during the trip, which involved traversing "rugged mountainous terrain" on skis for up to 6.4 kilometers, and carried all their food and supplies.
Nevada County Sheriff's Captain Russell Greene said authorities were notified of the avalanche by a company that organized the ski tour to Castle Peak, as well as by emergency beacons carried by the skiers.
The skiers are in contact with officials via their emergency beacons, which can send text messages, Greene told KCRA-TV.
"They're doing everything they can. They've found shelter in the area, set up a makeshift tarp shelter, and are doing everything they can to survive and wait for rescue," Greene told the TV channel.
He added that rescue teams are cautiously advancing towards the group, as the danger of new avalanches remains high. "We've got snowmobiles involved. We've got snowmobiles on standby. We've got people on skis. There are a few different ways to get there," he said. "It's going to be a slow and arduous process."
Blackbird Mountain Guides, the company organizing the trip, said on its website that it was coordinating the rescue operation with authorities. The group consisted of 12 clients and four guides.
California is being hit by a powerful winter storm this week, bringing dangerous thunderstorms, strong winds, and heavy snowfall to mountainous areas.
"It's particularly dangerous in remote areas right now because we're in the middle of a storm," said Brandon Schwartz, a lead avalanche forecaster with the Tahoe National Forest, who works at the Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee.
The center issued an avalanche warning for the Central Sierra Nevada area, including the Greater Lake Tahoe region, starting Tuesday morning, with large avalanches forecast through Wednesday.
Dangerous conditions were caused by rapid snow accumulation on fragile snowpacks combined with storm winds.
Several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe were fully or partially closed due to extreme weather conditions. Resorts along highways have avalanche prevention programs and were not expected to be at as high a risk as remote areas, where travel in, near, or below avalanche terrain was strongly discouraged, the center said.
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