Sibling skiers reveal horrifying moment Lake Tahoe avalanche ‘boosted’ one off cliffs, trapped other up to her neck

Two Australian siblings say they’re lucky to be alive after they survived a massive avalanche at a Californian ski resort that left one man dead.

Experienced skiers, Hannah Sugerman and her brother Oliver Thompson were enjoying fresh snow on the slopes with Sugerman’s partner Callum at Palisades Tahoe, formerly known as Squaw Valley and the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, on Wednesday morning local time when they were hit by the avalanche.

The trio were caught in the landslide after a fierce storm left snow pummelling down the mountain which left a total of three injured and another person dead.

Sugerman said she had no idea the avalanche was coming, but could feel “everything rolling around underneath” her feet.

“And it just felt heavy, like so heavy. The snow weighed far more than I ever could have imagined,” she told Nine News.

The siblings were buried in the snow with Thompson telling the program the avalanche “boosted” him “off cliffs” and that he thought he was going to die.

“My biggest fear was not knowing if there was more snow coming down behind me because I was literally like neck-deep,” Sugerman said.

Sugerman and her partner Callum were able to find one another and after a frantic search were able to locate Thompson who was hundreds of metres down the mountain.

He suffered a dislocated knee and fractured tibia and fibula. He had to be sled down the mountain for medical treatment.

“But I’m alive so I think that’s all that matters,” he said.

Sugerman said the first thing her brother said to her was, “‘I thought you were dead’. And I said, ‘I thought you were dead’.”

Sugerman shared a video from the slopes to her Instagram, telling followers that moments after the footage was taken, the trio had the “scariest experience” of their lives.

“Ollie, Cal and I were swept up in an unprecedented avalanche in Palisades Tahoe,” she said in a follow-up post. “Ollie went over these cliffs, broke his leg and dislocated his knee. I was buried (head out of snow thank goodness) and I’m pretty sure Cal had the most wild first powder day in his life lol,” she said, as she managed to find the humor in what was a terrifying situation.

The siblings appeared on the Today show on Friday morning where they explained how it was a massive group effort to locate skiers.

“Everyone’s just asking, ‘who are you with? Are you with your whole group?’ And that’s how they kind of work out whose accounted for and who’s not there,” Sugerman told the program.

“So they were pretty quick in locating Oliver, which was really lucky. There was about 15 minutes where we had no idea where he was, and that honestly felt like a lifetime in between.”

Sugerman described the slopes as being “unpredictable”.

“You just, I guess, adapt to the situation as it unfolds. So who knows what would have happened if there was more snow coming down afterwards.

“But I believe there was a second avalanche further across the hill at the same time. I’m not sure if it’s considered the same avalanche or not, but there was another part of the hill a few moments after, and I think my brother was a bit shocked because he was quite far down the hill.

“And then when he’d stopped moving and he knew he was injured, when this second avalanche came down, he said he was just laying there going, ‘Holy. Like, surely not’.”

A 66-year-old skier, Kenneth Kidd, was killed in the avalanche.

“Yesterday’s tragedy was incredibly difficult for our community. Our heartfelt condolences are extended to all who suffered loss and trauma resulting from this incident,” Palisade Tahoe said in an Instagram post.

“To the 100+ ski patrollers, avalanche rescue dog teams, lift operators, mountain sports school instructors, local agencies, and members of the public who swiftly jumped into action, and the teams that provided coffee & food to first responders — thank you x 1,000. Your efforts were remarkable.”

Palisades Tahoe ski patrol have since carried out avalanche assessments in the areas where the slide took place and have deemed it safe to open to the public.

“We’ve actually already been out again this morning,” Sugerman told Today. “It’s meant to be the day of the season thus far, so they’ve been bombing the hill with their avalanche bombs and making sure it’s safe for everyone to head up.”