How Rescuers Used Explosives to Recover the California Avalanche Victims
The rescuers of the avalanche that killed nine friends on a ski adventure had a lot of weather challenges in the recovery effort. Still, they were able to find all nine bodies of the women and men who died near Lake Tahoe in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains when they were overcome by a football-field-sized avalanche.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Because of the deteriorating weather conditions, the rescuers waited a few days to search for and recover the bodies of the friends and sisters who were on a ski trip together, along with several professional guides. All were advanced skiers.
The rescue teams included California Highway Patrol Air Operations; Nevada County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue; Placer County Sheriff’s Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue; Care Flight, a service of REMSA Health; Sierra Avalanche Center; and Pacific Gas & Electric. They also used trained avalanche dogs as part of the rescue effort to sniff out the living and the dead.
The flight team first flew over the area of the disaster to assess the chances of additional avalanches and to estimate the depth of the snowpack. Then came the explosives.
Explosives on the Mountain
They used explosives to trigger small snow slides and to prevent another avalanche, the kind of which hasn’t been seen in the area since 1981, USA Today reported.
“These proactive measures are designed to reduce the risk of naturally occurring avalanches and enhance first responder safety within the affected area, so they may recover victims with lower risk,” the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office’s Post stated.
Tahoe National Forest closed the Castle Peak area until March 15 for safety measures.
Who Were the Skiers Who Died in The Avalanche?
The Nevada County Sheriff, Shannan Moon, announced the names of the deceased at a news conference.
Carrie Atkin, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, California.
Liz Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho.
Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, California.
Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco.
Kate Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, California.
Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nevada.
Michael Henry, 30, of Tampa, Florida.
Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Lake Forest, California.
Nikki Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, California.
Six people survived the disaster.