Second avalanche reported at Palisades Tahoe, no one impacted
LAKE TAHOE — Palisades Tahoe ski resort reported a second avalanche on Thursday, one day after a first avalanche claimed the life of one person and injured another.
The resort said Thursday's avalanche happened at around 12:30 p.m. near Wolverine Bowl on the Alpine Meadows side.
The summit lift and terrain in that area were temporarily closed but reopened when search crews determined no guests or employees of the resort were impacted. Crews searched the area using beacons, dogs and RECCO rescue technology.
Craig Hamilton had been skiing with friends and had just done Wolverine Bowl half an hour before riding over the avalanche area.
"I look over and there's a whole new, deeper debris pile running the whole length of the lift and I just said, 'Look, that wasn't there last run,' " Hamilton said. "It was almost too much to believe, the thought that one had already happened. We think that's the one that's going to happen this season."
A spokesperson for Palisades said patrol members did some avalanche mitigation work in the area prior to opening, "including shots from a 105mm howitzer and ski cutting through the area."
Hamilton helped with dozens of other ski patrol and volunteers to meticulously comb through the debris field searching for anyone who may have been trapped below.
"They had us lined up in a big row field of the avalanche and had us methodically walk up the entire run," he said. "It was well orchestrated. Probe right, probe left and you're pushing that thing down hoping you don't hit a person because it would stop."
Thankfully, no one was found buried beneath the snow of Thursday's slide. Hamilton knows how lucky he was to not be in the area at the wrong time.
"We had just skied that run a half hour before, you know? We had just been there and it could have been us. We could have been buried in that pile. It's a wakeup call," Hamilton said. "I think there's this shock right now that this could happen two days in a row."
Four people were caught in Wednesday's avalanche, including two people who were buried, the man who died and the injured person.
Avalanches are a known danger in the Tahoe region, with the Sierra Avalanche Center publishing daily danger forecasts. Wednesday's avalanche danger rating was "considerable" for all levels the center tracks.
Up until Wednesday, there have been no U.S. avalanche-related fatalities in 2024, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Last year, there were 30 fatalities nationwide, with two occurring in California: One was a hiker on Split Mountain, southwest of Big Pine, and one was a backcountry skier at Hurd Peak, southwest of Bishop.
