Known as a major tourist attraction in Olympic Valley, California, the Palisades Tahoe ski resort became a key conversation on social media when tragedy struck not once, but twice. Palisades Tahoe is one of the largest ski resorts in the California Lake Tahoe region. The resort was in the middle of its primary ski season (November 22nd, 2023- late spring 2024) and a large-scale snowstorm when the first of two avalanches occurred.
Conversations on the event occurred across a variety of media platforms with X, Reddit, and Facebook being the primary social media platforms where conversation took place. TV and news platforms (ABC7- San Francisco, Fox11- Los Angeles, TIME Magazine, etc.) also had a high number of conversations regarding the ski resort’s avalanches. Overall, since January 10th, the topic has over 18.94k mentions and has had a reach of 534.02 million. The conversations peaked on January 10th, 2024 around 9:30 AM.
The first avalanche occurred on Jan. 10th, around 9:30 AM in the GS Gully area of the mountain, right near the well known KT-22 chairlift. The slide occurred below the lift and took in four people, injuring three and killing one. Twenty-seven hours later, another avalanche occurred on the Alpine Meadows area of the mountain by the Wolverine Bowl. No one was injured in the second avalanche.
Fortunately, several good hearted individuals found themselves in the right place at the right time during the first avalanche to assist in helping those swept and buried. Individuals at the scene took to social media, sharing their experience in rescuing those on the mountain.
Palisades Tahoe is known to be a good mountain for moderate to advanced skiers due to the advanced ski/snowboarding routes offered. There are several steep groomers and runs with steep ungroomed terrain. Avalanches in resort areas, though dangerous anywhere, hold more concern because mountain goers often aren’t equipped with avalanche safety/protective gear. With the varying grades and snowpack levels at Palisades, these concerns held true as ski patrol took to the mountain following the avalanche.
Jason Parker, one of the individuals buried in the event spoke to his experience, stating “It just buried me so quick”.
After Jason Parker was dug out from an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe resort last week, narrowly escaping death, he snowboarded down the rest of the way down. https://t.co/fmRxPwOKUB
— Lila Seidman (@lila_seidman) January 16, 2024
Wild tale by @SummerrLin & @jvgarrison.
Experts have since pointed to “complicated snowpack” as the suspected reason for the avalanche. Snowpacks are areas where snow has fallen and hasn’t melted due to below freezing temperatures. Complicated snowpacks occur where the snowpack goes from thick to thin rapidly. In areas where the snowpack is thinner, it can be easy to trigger events where snow shifts (for example: avalanches).
Allegations against the Palisades Tahoe resort have been suspended as the resort has released that they did not use explosives on the day the avalanche occurred (aka, “bombing the run”).
Palisades Tahoe did not fire off explosives as part of its mitigation efforts in the hours before its deadly avalanche and the resort acknowledged that there were actually two slides that morning on their slopes trapping skiers, the Chronicle has learned. https://t.co/gtW6cyWpBr
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) January 21, 2024
The CEO of the resort, Dee Byrne, commented that it was a “very sad day for my team and everyone here”.
Author: Lexi Merriman
