Following Northern California’s last winter storm, the safety at Sierra-at-Tahoe has been faced with dangerous features never before seen at the ski resort. CBS13 spoke with Sierra-at-Tahoe GM, John Rice, who said he and his staff were stunned when they were discovered.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like that here.” -John Rice
Massive wind lips and a large crevasse prompted a partial closure of a run on the backside of the mountain due to obvious safety concerns. The wind lips measured up to 20-feet high and a large crevasse measuring approximately 40 feet deep.
Rice attributes the absence of trees on the mountain a resulting from 2021 the Caldor Fire as a contributing factor to the vulnerability of the backside. Crews have addressed the hazard by avalanche blasting to fill in the crevasse and create a barrier to limit access to the area.
The influx of winter wasn’t all bad for the resort as the increased snowpack has allowed them to extend the season through the last week of April.