Palisades Tahoe reopens with delays and lift closure after avalanche that killed 1, injured 3
Palisades Tahoe, one of the Sierra Nevada region’s most popular ski resorts, reopened Thursday following a deadly avalanche that buried multiple people and killed a 66-year-old man as heavy snow blanketed the mountains.
Debris from the icy slide — that Placer sheriff’s deputies said spread 150 feet feet wide, 450 feet long and 10 feet deep — was reported at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at an expert-level slope called KT-22, only about 30 minutes after it opened for the first time this ski season. Videos posted on social media show guests frantically digging through mounds of snow to reach buried people as cloudy conditions covered the area.
Palisades Tahoe closed KT-22 on Thursday as repair efforts begin to clear snow from the area, according to its website.
As of 9:45 a.m., two lifts on the Palisades side and two on the Alpine Meadows side of the mountain were open, according to the Palisades Tahoe website, as well as the base-to-base gondola. By 11 a.m., 15 lifts were open, with the Exhibition lift taken off the day’s schedule.
“It will be a rigorous snow safety morning for both Palisades and Alpine today,” Palisades Tahoe said in a statement posted on its website. “Since both mountains closed just shy of 11am yesterday, it will take longer to assess all terrain and get everything open.”
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office identified Kenneth Kidd, 66, as the victim of the deadly slide. He’s a resident of both Point Reyes and the Truckee area, deputies said. There were three others who were hurt with non-life threatening injuries, said Michael Gross, the vice president of mountain operations for Palisades Tahoe, at a Wednesday news conference
“This is a very sad day,” Dee Byrne, the ski resort’s president and chief operating officer, said at the news conference. “This is a dynamic situation.”
The federally run Sierra Avalanche Center rated the Olympic Valley as having a “considerable” avalanche danger on Wednesday, third-highest ranking on the center’s five-level scale. On Thursday, the center also ranked the area as having a “considerable” chance for an avalanche; for Friday, that risk had been downgraded to “moderate.”
Patrick Lacey, a spokesman for Palisades Tahoe, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday about its decision to reopen or the safety precautions the ski resort is implementing.
“Delays will be more significant than usual,” Palisades Tahoe wrote in a statement. “We appreciate your patience and understanding.”
Palisades Tahoe as of Thursday morning reported 14 inches in the preceding 24 hours and 34 inches in the past week at upper mountain levels, according to its website. Seven inches of snow fell between Wednesday and Thursday mornings at base level.
More heavy snow is on the way.
The National Weather Service implemented a winter storm warning from Friday afternoon early Sunday morning, with 1 to 2 feet of snow possible above elevations of 4,500 feet. Visibility will decline as winds are predicted to reach 40 to 50 mph, and 60 to 75 mph along the ridgelines, the weather service said.
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 9:56 AM.