OPENING DAY

Avalanche Kills 1 and Shutters Luxe California Ski Resort

“There was screaming, there were skis and poles and a hand sticking up out of the snow.”

An avalanche at the popular ski resort Palisades Tahoe on Wednesday morning killed one out-of-town guest and injured another on a slope that had just opened for the season, authorities said.

Two other people were caught up in the 10 a.m. slide; one of them was extricated by their partner and the other was rescued by other guests at the resort about 100 miles northeast of Sacramento.

In the last week, 21 inches of snow has been dumped on Palisades Tahoe. Resort officials said they performed avalanche surveying and mitigation before opening the lift known as KT-22.

Mark Sponsler told the Associated Press that he arrived at KT-22 in white-out conditions to learn the avalanche had just hit. He spoke to a skier who saw it unfold from the lift.

“There was screaming, there were skis and poles and a hand sticking up out of the snow,” Sponsler said the witness told him.

Asked whether it was normal to clear an area for skiing during such heavy snowstorm conditions, Michael Gross, vice president of mountain operations for Palisades Tahoe, said it was not unusual and that forecasters with decades of experience had deemed it safe.

“They’ve been up there doing control work, evaluating weather conditions, setting up all safety markings, hazard markings, etcetera, to get them prepared for today’s opening,” he said at a press conference.

The resort was shut down for the rest of the day.

“This is a very sad say for my team,” said Dee Byrne, president of Palisades Tahoe. “This a dynamic situation. We’re still undergoing an investigation. We have to a lot to learn.”