This image provided by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office shows members of a rescue team in Soda Springs, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.

Newly released details paint a clearer picture of the deadly avalanche that killed nine backcountry travelers near Donner Summit in Lake Tahoe last month. 

A group of 15 skiers were in the area when an avalanche struck below Perry Peak near Frog Lake and Castle Peak around 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 17, according to a recently updated incident summary from the Sierra Avalanche Center. The slide occurred at an elevation of roughly 8,300 feet and was classified as a D2.5 soft slab, a destructive size capable of burying or killing a person. 

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Thirteen members of the group were caught and carried in the slide, and completely buried in the debris. Members of the group who were not caught immediately began a companion search. They were able to rescue three buried individuals, and a fourth was reportedly able to dig himself out, before search and rescue crews arrived later in the afternoon. Rescuers located the bodies of eight of the nine skiers who died on Tuesday but were unable to move them due to dangerous conditions. All nine skiers who died were eventually located and removed from the location on Feb. 20 and 21.

The area where the avalanche struck in the Sierra Nevada by Frog Lake, Feb. 17, 2026.

At the time, a nearby monitoring site reported about 40 inches of settled new snow; a snowstorm in the region had begun on Feb. 15, with snowfall rates reaching about 4 inches per hour between 9 and 11 a.m. Because the storm continued after the avalanche, much of the evidence that might have clarified how the slide started was buried under additional snowfall. 

“The trigger, slab thickness, depth, width, and other details of the avalanche remain unknown and may never be known,” forecaster Steve Reynaud wrote. 

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Don't let Google decide who you trust.

The victims were found clustered in a small area near the toe of the avalanche debris field measuring about 20 feet by 20 feet. They were buried about 5 to 8 feet beneath the surface. 

Snow piles up along a road on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, near Soda Springs, Calif. 

The group was trapped in a small depression in the terrain bounded by trees and boulders, a feature that likely allowed avalanche debris to pile up deeply in that confined area, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center. 

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Measurements taken at the site indicate the slope where the avalanche likely began ranged from about 36 to 40 degrees. Avalanches are most common at angles of 35 to 50 degrees, according to the National Avalanche Center. 

The avalanche is now the deadliest on record in California’s history. Nine of the 15, including six friends and three guides, died in the slide. 

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