Lake Tahoe ski deaths mount as two killed at Heavenly Mountain Resort — days after avalanche

Another two skiers have been killed in the Lake Tahoe area as a deadly week for snow sports in the region continues to spiral.

A 58-year-old man and a 33-year-old man died in separate incidents at Heavenly Mountain Resort on the California-Nevada border on Friday morning.

The older man had suffered a medical emergency on the Tamarack Trial while the younger was in a skiing accident on the Orion Trail.

It comes as deaths continued to mount up in the Tahoe area this week. At least eight backcountry skiers were killed in a massive avalanche at Castle Peak on Tuesday.

A 21-year-old man was also found dead at Northstar on Thursday morning, while a 53-year-old man crashed into another person and died on Sunday.

Cops said they were called to Heavenly Mountain Resort at 11.55am on Friday and said both skiers were pronounced dead at the scene. The deaths were not linked and the victims did not know each other.

Douglas County Sheriff’s office said: “Both decedents were transported to the base area by Heavenly Ski Patrol.

“Life-saving measures were attempted by Ski Patrol and Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District paramedics; however, both individuals were pronounced deceased at the scene.”

The statement continued: “The incidents are not connected, and there is no known relationship between the decedents.

“The cause and manner of death are pending. Identification of the decedents will be released following notification of next of kin.”

California was rocked by the worst avalanche tragedy in the state’s history on Tuesday when 15 backcountry skiers were hit while leaving the mountain.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Eight people were killed in the slide when the group tried to escape a massive winter storm. Another is still missing and presumed dead.

Six women have so far been identified in the tragedy, named as Carrie Atkin, Kate Morse, Danielle Keatley, Caroline Sekar, Kate Vitt and Liz Claubaugh.

Six others, including five women and a man aged 30 to 55, were rescued from the mountain on Wednesday.

On Friday night the local sheriff’s department released new footage of their avalanche mitigation operation as they struggled to dig bodies out of the snow.

Footage showed a search and rescue helicopter using a huge bucket to sweep up snow and trigger any loose layers to flood down the cliff.

Another video, obtained by KCRA, depicted the lodges where the group had been staying before they were struck by the snow slide.

The apocalyptical video, taken from a news helicopter, sees layers of snow completely engulfing Frog Lake huts on Friday afternoon.

The clip also shows what is understood to be rescuers’ snowmobiles and snowcats parked outside the buildings as they worked to recover the bodies.

They appeared to have made tracks through the drift since arriving on Wednesday night, with some rescuers staying in the lodges during the operation.

The lodges were a short distance away from where the avalanche struck as the skiers tried to make their way back to their vehicles during the storm.

Rescuers have been weighing the idea of setting off explosives to trigger additional avalanches on the mountain amid the search mission.

In order to make conditions safer for rescuers, officials will now take to the air to decide whether or not they can manually trigger avalanches with explosives.