Fatal Castle Peak avalanche deadliest recorded in California
An avalanche near Castle Peak that killed eight people and left one missing is the deadliest on record in California.
Search and rescue crews had successfully rescued six survivors Tuesday night in the backcountry near Truckee. The search continued for the nine others still missing around 11:30 a.m., according to search and rescuers led by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.
In a news conference, the Sheriff’s Office announced eight of the missing were found dead. One remains unaccounted for.
The avalanche came during a fierce winter storm that dumped heavy snowfall on the Sierra Nevada.
Data kept by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center dating back to 1951 shows it’s now the deadliest avalanche on record in California.
The previous record was held by an avalanche that killed seven people at Alpine Meadows ski resort in 1982.
A massive avalanche crashed into the base of the Lake Tahoe-area resort while it was closed, but some employees were still in the ski patrol headquarters, Outside magazine reported.
Four of those killed were employees, the magazine said. Two men and a child walking in the parking lot also died.
The Castle Peak avalanche is the deadliest in the United States since June 1981, when a slide on Mount Rainier killed 11 people, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said.
Ten novice mountain climbers and one guide died in the avalanche as they crossed Ingraham Glacier on the way to the 14,411-foot summit of the mountain in Washington state, History Link said.
The bodies remain entombed in a crevasse beneath tons of ice and snow, the magazine said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Fatal Castle Peak avalanche deadliest recorded in California."