Luther Pass Incident 

February 20, 2025 – El Dorado County Sheriff's Office officials report that on Monday, February 17, 2025, around 4:08 P.M. El Dorado County Central Dispatch received a call of an overdue backcountry skier around Powderhouse Peak near Luther Pass. The overdue subject’s vehicle was located at a parking area. A Search and Rescue response was requested by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. The missing subject was located deceased a short time later by friends in an avalanche area. Due to the dangerous snow conditions the recovery of the deceased began was postponed until early Tuesday, February 18, 2025.

Starting at 6:00 A.M., a joint recovery and extraction operation was initiated. The unstable snow created extremely hazardous recovery conditions. Through the use of controlled explosives any further avalanche danger was mitigated. At around 5:00 P.M. the decedent, by assistance of EDSO SAR volunteers and ECHO-1 was hoisted from the backcountry. This recovery effort could not have been safely conducted without the combined resources from the community. The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office wishes to thank the Sierra Avalanche Center, U.S. Forest Service - Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Caltrans District 3 and CHP - South Lake Tahoe for their support.    

The identity of the deceased will not be released at this point in time.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office wishes to remind everyone to be safe and exercise caution when recreating in the outdoors.

Source: El Dorado County Sheriff's Office