THE final missing skier in the deadly Lake Tahoe avalanche is presumed dead, authorities say.
Eight skiers have so far been confirmed dead, making the avalanche the deadliest in modern California history, and now – local authorities say they believe the ninth skier who remains missing is “presumed deceased.”
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Rescue ski teams making their way to the area of the avalanche in the Castle Peak area of Truckee, California, on February 17, 2026 to search for missing skiers.Credit: AFP
The avalanche hit in Sierra Nevada, CaliforniaCredit: Getty
A vehicle is buried in snow during a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in CaliforniaCredit: AP
The skiers were returning from the Frog Lake backcountry huts when they encountered the avalanche near Lake Tahoe, which was about a football field in length, on Tuesday.
Desperate search teams have since been trawling the snow covered skiing area, trying to find traces of survivors.
But authorities now say the lone person who remains missing is “presumed dead,” authorities said Wednesday.
A total of 15 people were on the three day ski excursion through the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California – nine women and six men. Four of the party were guides from the company Blackbird Mountain Guides, while the other 11 were clients.
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Six people – four men and two women – have been found and rescued after the avalanche but a further seven women and two men were reported missing.
The surviving skiers made contact with an emergency satellite messaging service immediately after the snow fell, but had to take shelter in a nearby wooded area under a tarp for 12 hours before they were rescued.
Eight have been found dead and now the final missing person is being “presumed dead” by local authorities in the area.
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Officials have yet to identify the deceased, or the unaccounted-for skier.
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“Authorities are basing their thinking on the totality, the statements that the group was together and the conditions,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said during a press conference Wednesday.
“Officials have been able to locate and confirm that eight members of the backcountry ski group were killed in Tuesday’s avalanche,” Moon said.
They added that authorities have not yet been able to recover their bodies, given the harsh terrain and continued challenging weather conditions.
Moon added that they have plenty of resources to continue their search for the remaining skier, but are being hindered by the heaps of snow that are at risk of falling.
Blackbird Mountain Guides, which coordinated the trip, has faced intense scrutiny for moving forward with the excursion despite the forecast.
And now are set to be looked into by authorities for their decision to take the guests on the multi-day excursion to the remote backcountry despite forecasts of heavy snow in the area.
Chilling messages have been found on their social media in the lead up to the trip, which authorities are said to be looking into, according to the Daily Mail.
Posts on Instagram show that the company warned about the unstable snow conditions – and tried to drum up business because of them – just one day before the tragedy struck
“Big storm incoming!” Blackbird Mountain Guides posted on their Instagram page on Monday.
The post also followed with a warning to ski enthusiast followers about a “particularly weak layer” of snow in the Sierra Mountains.
“Avalanches could behave abnormally, and the hazard could last longer than normal,” the post read, before urging skiers in bold type to “use extra caution this week!”
OWNER ‘FEELS RESPONSIBLE’
The father of Blackbird owner Zeb Blais told the Daily Mail his son takes mountain safety seriously.
“He does feel responsible for the guides, so they have a lot of safety training,” said Don Blais, who lives in Vermont. “Blackbird Mountain Guides does a whole lot of avalanche courses.
“He is an experienced mountaineer and mountain guide who boasts of having summited Mt. Everest twice, and led backcountry ski trips in major mountain ranges on several continents.”
But he added that the weather was uncontrollable so you can never be “completely safe”.
“There are some things that are super complex, snow conditions and so forth, that you can’t control. You just can’t be completely safe in those environments,” he added.
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He said he had heard from his 43-year-old son since the avalanche, so knew he wasn’t among the dead.
The search remains ongoing.
Pine trees are covered in snow during a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photos/Brooke Hess-Homeier)
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