A large avalanche slammed into an apartment building in the Olympic Valley area near Palisades Tahoe, one of California’s most storied ski resorts. The avalanche, according to reports coming out of the Tahoe area, hit around 7 p.m. Thursday night and it was significant – as in not just a sluff slide.
“The avalanche was approximately 200 yards wide and 25 feet deep and engulfed the bottom two stories of the building,” authorities wrote online.
Placer County officials and search and rescue teams using dogs reported that, thankfully, no one was injured in the slide. Still, imagery coming out of the incident is impressive (see scary) to say the least. Like the photo of snow barreling through this apartment that SnowBrains ran on its instagram page, below:
View this post on Instagram
A 46-year old skier was killed at Heavenly near South Lake Tahoe after falling into a tree well yesterday as well. Large amounts of snow at any one time can create unforeseen hazards – simply a part of big winters in the West. Late last year, the movie Buried premiered detailing the 1982 avalanche at Alpine Meadows that killed seven people.
Palisades Tahoe, and all of California really, have been pounded by an atmospheric river this week. Palisades Tahoe reported more than 126 inches in a seven day period – that’s 10.5 feet. Nearby, Sugar Bowl has reported 41 feet of total snowfall on the season and down south, usually dry Mountain High collected eight feet of snow. It’s been a record breaking year for California.
