As I understand, these were back country skiers which is far riskier than skiing on groomed trails. I no longer ski but for me the riskiest part was getting off the lift.

What a horrible death for those skiers.

For me, skiing is for the youngsters. I agree about the difficulty of getting off the lift. That has happened to me. Also you go so fast downhill and either falling or running into trees is not worth the effort. I do think I would enjoy cross country skiing though. I probably couldn't do it now at my age.

I did parachute out of a plane when I was in my thirties after agreeing to it after a night of drinking. Thankfully it was a really responsible place and we had to go through some lessons on the ground before being allowed to go up in the plane. It was terrifying and then exhilarating once the chute had opened and I was drifting down to earth.

This is terribly sad. The weather channel reporter said that all the people in that group were locals, so the whole town is affected (even more than usual for such a situation).

As for skiing not being generally highly dangerous, perhaps so. But over 50 years ago one of my brother's friends died when he hit a large tree while skiing. He was a junior in high school...

Not just locals, but mainly women who were mothers of a local kids' winter-sports teams.

A horribly sad situation. The only good news was that a few were located more quickly because they activated their cell phones and rescuers were able to home in on them faster than they might have otherwise.

As for skiing, I found one of the biggest risks was other people. Both times i was injured skiing was due to someone else doing something stupid. The first was a person who got off the lift late, ran over the back of my skis, the ski went one way and I went another, causing me a torn acl. The second was someone cutting too close in front of me on a steep hill. I went down and tore the other acl. Also skiing moguls was something I never mastered very well.

I used to be a ballet dancer. I never engaged in activities like skiing for fear of breaking a limb and not being able to dance.

Very sad to read about these women.

I cant believe they went ahead with their trip with the warnings in place. One of the articles I read about this yesterday said they were required to carry beacons which Is how they were found so quickly. Truely awful.

We get a lot of avalanches that are triggered by snowmobiles in the springtime.

When I hear about avalanches, I always think about Michel Trudeau, son of Canadian PM Pierre Elliott and brother to Canadian PM Justin.

They never recovered his body. ☹️ He was skiing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Trudeau

”On November 13, 1998, Trudeau died as the result of an avalanche. He was aged 23. He had been working for about a year at Red Mountain Resort and living in Rossland, British Columbia. He was taking a backcountry skiing trip with some friends in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park when he was swept into Kokanee Lake(approximately 49°44'53.2"N 117°10'32.2"W) and unable to reach the shore. His companions were unable to effect a rescue, and it was presumed that Trudeau drowned.[6] An extensive search was launched, but his body was not found.[7][8]The lake's high elevation and limited days of open waters each year prevented divers from completing the search.[9][10][11] The Trudeau family called off the recovery and later supported the construction of a chalet nearby as a memorial to their youngest son and victims of avalanches.[11][12]”

There are places in the Sierra that get can get snowfalls from storms that measure in multiples of feet, and this can recur day after day. This particular avalanche accident involved back country skiers in an area of the Donner Pass that is one of these places. A search disclosed that annual snowfall there and also in Mammoth exceeds 30 FEET. These are just two examples, there are others. It's not unknown for a good chunk of the annual amount, especially in above average snowfall years, to fall in just a few days or a week.

It had been a stormy few days of heavy snowfall, as had been forecast. The party had professional guides. Whether the extreme weather forecast and avalanche warnings were known before they set out or not hasn't been reported. I know how such things can be, a trip is planned in advance, people may have arranged to take off from work, and then when on site and faced with a stay or go choice, there's pressure to go. For the guides, no go, no pay. What actually happened may never be known.

Edit to add:

Here's a snippet from an article in this morning's LA Times:

" the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reported 66.9 inches of snow through a three-day period. The lab added that it’s anticipating 2 to 3 more feet of snow falling by Friday morning. "

PS

Forgive me for not explicitly adding my own reaction and thoughts about what a terrible tragedy this accident was. No matter what the circumstances, it's an unspeakable horror when people who are out enjoying life and doing nothing wrong wind up suffering for their initiative and enthusiasm. Those thoughts have been very much front of mind for me since hearing about it but I forgot to mention it.

News reports claim the group set out as warnings were issued so they probably did not know avalance were predicted.

This is a very sad story. These women were mothers, wives, and contributors to their community.

lily, how does that matter? What if instead the unfortunate victims were different - fathers, husbands, and contributors to their communities? Seems the same either way to me, people are people, no?

It doesn't matter. It would be the same sadness if they were men with families. Are you trying to pick a fight?

No, not at all. I found the aspect of it that YOU chose to emphasize to be curious. I wondered if perhaps you were suggesting you thought there was something different and distinctive to consider because the victims were women. It was an inquiry, not an attack.

I emphasized it because they were the facts. WOMEN died in an avalanche. Why would I have to add, it would be sad if it happened to men?

OllieJane, many women are many other things. Again, Lily was stating facts. Why is that so hard to understand? Are you just not familiar with facts enough to see and accept them when they are presented? Why are you and Elmer questioning this?