Placer County Holds Press Conference After Deadly Avalanche
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Palisades Tahoe reports that a second avalanche happened at the resort, but no one was impacted in this newest snow slide. 

Palisades says this avalanche happened around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday near Wolverine Bowl on the Alpine side. 

The area was cleared by ski patrol. 

No employees or guests were impacted. The lift has since reopened.

Palisades Tahoe sent 2 News this statement: 

"Ski Patrol conducted avalanche hazard mitigation prior to opening the ski area, including shots from a 105mm howitzer and ski cutting through the area. Upon receiving the report, the Summit lift and the terrain was immediately closed. There were no reports of guests or employees impacted, however Ski Patrol conducted RECCO, beacon, probe and dog team searches, according to protocol. After searches were completed and it was confirmed that no guests or employees were involved, the area was cleared by Ski Patrol and the lift was reopened."

The resort reopened hours earlier, one day after a separate avalanche killed a 66-year-old skier in the first U.S. avalanche death of the winter.

Palisades Tahoe's iconic KT-22 lift, which serves the area where the snowslide hit, was to remain closed while crews worked to clear a road to enable snowcats and snowmobiles to enter the section of mostly expert runs.

Other lifts were to open later on what would be a “rigorous snow safety day," the resort said in a statement. Lift openings at adjoining Alpine Meadows also were expected to be delayed to allow staff to assess all terrain.

A storm had blanketed the area Wednesday when the avalanche hit around 9:30 a.m., sweeping up four people and killing one. The debris field spanned about 150 feet (46 meters) wide, 450 feet (137 meters) long and 10 feet (3 meters) deep, the sheriff’s office said."

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office identified the person killed as Kenneth Kidd, 66, a resident of nearby Truckee and Point Reyes. One person suffered a lower leg injury and two others were treated for unspecified injuries and released, officials said.

The death was the first U.S. avalanche fatality of the season, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

The Sierra Avalanche Center's forecast for the central Sierra backcountry predicted continuing dangerous avalanche conditions Thursday.

“New snow and high winds have loaded existing weak layers in our snowpack,” the forecast said.

"The avalanche debris field is approximately 150 feet wide, 450 feet long and 10 feet deep."

According to the resort's blog, Palisades Tahoe opened KT-22 earlier in the day after prepping the lift for service. 

Michael Gross, vice president of mountain operations, said before deeming an area safe to open, the team evaluates the conditions relying on their expertise and historical data.

“You know, we’ve got decades worth of weather data that we’re always resourcing or referencing, so looking at current forecasts, looking at all different models, looking at wind speed, snow density, wind direction," Gross told reporters Wednesday. "There’s a variety of things that go into play and the people that are doing the work are truly experts in their field. Most of them have been working at it 10 to 20 years, some of them upwards of 50 years, just doing forecasting.”

Dan Lavely, 67, of Reno is a season pass holder at Palisades and skied mostly at Alpine Meadows on Monday when there was very little snow and the KT-22 lift was closed.

The KT-22 run along the side of the lift is where the giant slalom was held during the 1960 Olympics, he said.

“Really good skiers love it because it’s really steep,” he said. “I remember when I was really young I was skiing around there. I fell over and slid like two-thirds of the way down the mountain. There was no way to stop because it’s just so steep.”

Winds gusted in excess of 100 mph (160 kph) over ridgetops around Lake Tahoe late Tuesday ahead of a powerful storm expected to bring as much as 2 feet (61 cm) of snow to the highest elevations by early Thursday. The National Weather Service in Reno said 2 inches (5 centimeters) could fall per hour Wednesday around the lake.

A 110 mph (177 kph) gust was recorded Tuesday afternoon at the summit of Alpine Meadows, the neighboring sister resort of Palisades south of Truckee, California, the service said.

Formerly known as Squaw Valley, Palisades is on the western side of Lake Tahoe. The resort was host site for the 1960 winter Olympics.

The cause of the avalanche is under investigation. 

An average of about 24 people have died annually in avalanches in the U.S. over the past decade, ranging from a low of 11 in 2014-15 to a high of 37 in 2021-22, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

A 2020 avalanche at Alpine Meadows killed one skier and seriously injured another a day after a major storm. Another avalanche at the resort in March 1982 killed seven people, including several employees.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)