{"id":189673,"date":"2026-02-23T06:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/189673\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T06:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:34:08","slug":"truckee-mourns-backcountry-skiers-killed-in-avalanche-near-castle-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/189673\/","title":{"rendered":"Truckee mourns backcountry skiers killed in avalanche near Castle Peak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hundreds gathered in downtown Truckee for strength, unity and remembrance of the nine people who lost their lives in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/sacramento\/news\/california-avalanche-victims-identified-update\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">avalanche near Castle Peak<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Before we had even begun to process that pain, the mountains brought us more,&#8221; said Courtney Henderson, vice mayor of Truckee.  <\/p>\n<p>Henderson opened Sunday night&#8217;s memorial with the tragic start to the year for the town. More than a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/sacramento\/news\/deadly-february-for-skiers-near-lake-tahoe-continues\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dozen people have died<\/a> in the area since the start of the year, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/california-avalanche-victims-recovery-update\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">nine lives claimed<\/a> in the Castle Peak avalanche.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Tonight, we focus our hearts on those who are hurting most. Grief has a way of making us feel very small and very isolated. My hope for tonight is that you feel the opposite,&#8221; she said. <\/p>\n<p>Hundreds  of community members and neighbors showed up to honor the victims. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think Truckee is an incredible community. We all just have a ridiculous passion for the outdoors in different ways,&#8221; said Truckee resident Blair Romer.  <\/p>\n<p>All nine bodies have now  been recovered from the mountain. People from Truckee and beyond lit candles in a moment of silence and reflection. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It touches all our hearts deeply. We just feel for the people who lost their lives and their families,&#8221; said Truckee resident Jessica Knotts. &#8220;A lot of the community is coming out to support one another to lend compassion and hope.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really amazed at how many people showed up,&#8221; said Sally Lyon. <\/p>\n<p>Lyon is a long-time Truckee resident. She said she&#8217;s touched by the turnout at the memorial, but not surprised.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It really is a small community in a lot of ways and I&#8217;ve lived here 25 years. I love that aspect of community. You can walk down the street and run into people you know,&#8221; she said.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And we know some of the passions are dangerous, so there&#8217;s a real sense of helping one another out,&#8221; said Romer. <\/p>\n<p>Nine hearts were on display for the nine victims, six of whom were clients on the three-day skiing trip, and the other three were their guides. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The families carrying those losses bear a weight that is unbearable. What we know is that however that grief is held tonight, it will not be held alone,&#8221; said Henderson. <\/p>\n<p>The Nevada County Sheriff&#8217;s Office said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/lake-tahoe-avalanche-california-skiers-possible-criminal-negligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">they&#8217;re investigating<\/a> why the company Blackbird Mountain Guides continued with the trip in stormy conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds gathered in downtown Truckee for strength, unity and remembrance of the nine people who lost their lives&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122,54861],"class_list":["post-189673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-truckee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}