Avalanche risk lowered slightly as body recovery efforts of 8 skiers begins

"Operations to retrieve the bodies of skiers killed in Tuesday's avalanche started Saturday morning. A Blackhawk med-evac helicopter took off from a Truckee airport just before 10 a.m. and flew into the area where the deadly slide struck a ski-tour group and guides northeast of Donner Summit. The risk of more avalanches in the area had been slightly lowered Saturday, but with a new aspect of peril."

"While the Sierra Avalanche Center had rated the danger of slides high on Tuesday the second most dangerous below extreme center forecasters reported the overall danger as considerable Saturday, one level lower. And while large to very large slides of thick slabs of snow were likely Tuesday, the center said avalanches of that size were possible Saturday. But forecasters added a new danger, of wind-blown snow packed into slabs, making small to large avalanches likely,"

"Teams were to bring back the bodies of eight skiers killed by an avalanche near Castle Peak on Tuesday, the deadliest slide in California history. One more skier was missing and presumed dead. Six survivors were rescued Tuesday, with the locations of eight who didn't survive marked with poles in the snow. The six who survived included one of the four guides leading the trip. Two were treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries."

Search-and-recovery operations commenced Saturday morning to retrieve skiers killed by an avalanche near Castle Peak northeast of Donner Summit. A Blackhawk med-evac helicopter transported teams into the slide area where a ski-tour group and guides were struck. The Sierra Avalanche Center downgraded the overall danger from high to considerable, but forecasters warned of a new hazard: wind-blown snow packed into slabs that can produce small to large avalanches. Eight bodies were to be recovered and one skier remained missing and presumed dead. Six survivors were rescued, including one guide; two received hospital treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

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