SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office received a call on Feb. 19 at 12:30 p.m. about an injured skier below the gondola at Heavenly Mountain Resort. The skier was located about 650 vertical feet and one mile from the gondola base.
The search and rescue (SAR) team responded by first conducting a careful evaluation of the hazards involved with responding to a mission in unmanaged avalanche terrain during high avalanche danger and during a winter storm.
Two team members on skis rode the gondola for a single round trip to visually locate the subjects while the rest of the team transported rescue equipment to the staging area in Van Sickle State Park. During this reconnaissance, a plan was made to access the subjects from below, hiking up the gondola line and using a rescue toboggan to evacuate the injured subject.
Meanwhile, the injured subject determined he could walk carefully down the slope. The SAR skiers met the subjects part of the way down at 3:20 p.m. and assisted them to Van Sickle State Park, where deputies had opened the winter gate to provide vehicle access to the road.
The mission concluded at 3:45 p.m.
While this terrain is visible from the lift, it is out of bounds of the ski resort, Tahoe SAR said. Heavenly’s ski patrol does not monitor those areas, respond to emergencies, or control for avalanche danger.
El Dorado County and Douglas County SAR teams are called to help those in need outside the boundaries of Heavenly.