Authorities identify man killed in avalanche

A California man was identified as the deceased in a Wednesday morning avalanche at Palisades Tahoe.

Kenneth Kidd, 66, was killed in the slide. As many as three other skiers sustained nonlife-threatening injuries.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office reports the avalanche was about 10 feet deep, 150 feet wide and 450 feet long.

The incident occurred around 9:30 a.m. in the GS gulley near the KT-22 lift about a half hour after Palisades opened the chair for the first time this season. The resort received 21 inches of snow the week leading up to it and it was actively snowing on Wednesday.

Vice President of Mountain Operations there, Michael Gross, says it’s not uncommon to open the chair in those conditions. His team had done avalanche mitigations and preparations since Sunday to ensure the area was safe with plans to open it Wednesday.

The resort reopened on Thursday, but warned patrons to expect delays. It will take them longer to assess the terrain and get the mountain open due to yesterday’s early closure.

“It will be a rigorous snow safety morning for both Palisades and Alpine today,” the Jan. 11 operations report states.

A second avalanche was reported on Thursday morning, but there were no injuries reported.

KT-22 will remain closed. The access road for the lift was lost in the avalanche and the resort says with the overnight snow, they have not been able to reestablish the road.

Palisades Tahoe has current trail and lift statuses available on their website at www.palisadestahoe.com