Two Skiers Die at U.S. Heavenly Mountain Resort
El Dorado County authorities confirmed the victims as a 58-year-old man who suffered a medical emergency on the Tamarack Return trail and a 33-year-old man fatally injured in an accident on the intermediate-rated Orion trail. The two incidents occurred independently, with officials stressing no connection between the men or their circumstances.
Heavenly Ski Patrol transported both victims to the resort's base area, where emergency responders attempted life-saving intervention. Both men were pronounced dead on scene. Formal identification will be withheld pending notification of next of kin, and cause of death remains under determination as the investigation continues.
"This investigation remains active," police said.
Friday's fatalities are the latest in a catastrophic seven-day span that has claimed at least 12 lives across the Lake Tahoe region. The toll includes nine deaths — one presumed — in what authorities have called California's deadliest recorded avalanche, which struck the Castle Peak backcountry area Tuesday, killing at least eight skiers with one person still missing. A collision fatality occurred Sunday, and a separate death was recorded Thursday at Northstar California Resort.
Experts point to the region's volatile Sierra Nevada climate as a compounding factor — Lake Tahoe's higher elevations receive an average 300 inches (762 centimeters) of snow annually, creating conditions prone to rapid snow loading on weak snowpack layers. Heavy recent accumulations have significantly elevated avalanche risk across the range this month.
Authorities continue to emphasize that the deaths across the week, though geographically clustered, remain procedurally and circumstantially unrelated.
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