Speaker 1 (00:00):
... at this point, and going to have to wait for hopefully a decent break in the weather and make sure we get every last soul off that mountain.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Do you know when that might be, the break in the weather?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'll leave it to the Nevada County Sheriff's Office operations to decide and weigh in on that.
Sheriff Shannan Moon (00:21):
Yeah. In looking at the data, of the nine folks that are still on the mountain, seven are female and two are men.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
And Sheriff Moon, I want to make sure we get the timeline of when you mentioned all of these discoveries were made. I believe you said that around 5:30 PM your search and rescue teams who had gone in on the snowcat skied in two miles, made contact with the six survivors and the six survivors led them to the eight decedents that knew about or three decedents at the time?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (00:57):
At that time, they had located three decedents themselves while they were waiting for their rescue. Our search and rescue team, once they arrived, were able to locate the rest.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Okay. And then, I know, with much respect to your office last night, you all issued a statement about the efforts at about 10:40 PM. At that time, it was still a search mission for people who were presumed to be alive. At that point, was the decision made to still call it a search mission for potential survivors because they had not been pronounced dead? Or how does that work with your office making the announcement? And then, we were under the impression that there was a search mission going on for survivors as of this morning. So, how does that work out?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (01:49):
Yeah, first and foremost, we wanted to talk to the families before we released anything, so from last night till this morning. And again, it was through statements from the rescuers that were on scene and they were able to locate the total of eight known decedents. We're still looking for one. And again, based on the conversations of truly what their conditions were, looking at the forecast, looking at the totality of the circumstances and recognizing that it was going to be very difficult for us to get back out there. And again, the information comes in, we try to confirm and assure that we have the best information, but this morning we really wanted to be able to have a conversation with families before making any announcements.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
Sheriff Moon-
Speaker 6 (02:49):
[inaudible 00:02:46] and seven are female, two are men. And so, three of that group are guides. Can you tell me the gender of the guides who have been deceased?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (02:57):
Yeah, we are not releasing that right now. So, just the numbers of who we're looking for as far as gender.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Sheriff Moon, can you help clarify, there were four guys on the trip. You say one were survivor. Does that mean the other three die?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (03:13):
Presumed correctly.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
[inaudible 00:03:16] specify of the surviving guide, if the surviving guide was a man or a woman?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (03:24):
The surviving guide was a male.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
The surviving guide was a [inaudible 00:03:37].
Sheriff Shannan Moon (03:36):
Correct. Correct. Thank you. Sir?
Speaker 7 (03:37):
Could you provide more information on the one person that is still unaccounted for? Was it a man? Was it a woman? Is there any chance they could potentially still be alive? Or at this point, are they potentially presumed dead?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (03:47):
Presumed deceased, just based on the totality, the statements of the group was together. And again, the conditions. I wasn't on the scene with them last night, but I've seen some of the documentation, pretty horrific. They were able to locate eight and then the snowcat was ready to go, so everybody got loaded up and brought down the mountain. Again, took several hours to get just from the snowcat back down to the trailhead where we met with some ambulances from Truckee Fire to get injured to the hospital. And the other folks got some quick statements. But again, this is an ongoing investigation and we're going to be getting a lot more of those detailed statements as the days move forward.
Speaker 7 (04:37):
So, just to clarify, did that mean that would be nine people that would've died in this incident?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (04:43):
Correct.
Speaker 8 (04:51):
[inaudible 00:04:50] Facebook?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (04:51):
Yeah. We don't have any more press conferences scheduled, we would've put that out. But our public information officer is Ashley Quadros. She's the one that started our conference today. She can put out her information if you haven't already received that information. I'm sure several of you are here today because you've been in contact with the office. And as soon as we get any updated information, again, we'll be having those conversations with the family, and then we'll be reporting out the information for you all.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
And just to clarify, were the SOS signals, I think Rusty, you mentioned they were like iPhone SOS communication, is that what the six used or did they use an avalanche beacon, per se? And for the laypeople, can you describe the differences in the communication tactics? What's more effective? The iPhone or a beacon device that somebody would buy from an REI or something like that.
Sheriff Shannan Moon (05:50):
Right, right. We received information from both. So, both of those came through. As far as the technology, I don't know if Don or Rusty has more on the actual beacon devices? Yeah, you want to...
Speaker 9 (06:06):
Yeah, the communication that we were with, I believe was one of the guides, it was through texts. He was texting us as we were going back and forth.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
So, it is safe to say for people who do this outdoors recreating that sometimes the technology can be as good as just using your iPhone and texting back and forth? Or would you recommend that anybody who does chance going out in the back country-
Speaker 9 (06:33):
Well, I'm really am not in a position to recommend anything on it, but I think these devices are very readily available, and I think if you're going to be in the back country, it'd probably be wise to have one of those.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Is there anybody up there who was part of the rescue mission yesterday, and would they be able to tell us a little bit more about what they see out there and what they hear out there?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (06:59):
Yeah, based on the conditions at the scene up there, there is no rescuers or first responders in the area. They all came off the mountain late last night with the six that we rescued.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Oh, I mean, up there, right here in the press conference.
Sheriff Shannan Moon (07:16):
Ah, gotcha. No, these were all incident commanders from our location here. A lot of the incident commanders that were there last night went back up today, so that they could be there, again, looking at the conditions, looking at the forecast, looking at how much snow did come down, talking with the Sierra Avalanche Center to see truly... It still, they list it as a very high danger and making those decisions going forward is going to be based off of safety to the responders.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Is there a command post that will be set up going forward until the remaining nine people are recovered?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (07:57):
Yeah. We started last night at the Boreal Ski Resort parking lot. I believe we've moved to the Truckee substation? Yeah, our Truckee substation is right on Donner Pass Road where we have the sheriff's office station. So, it's in Downtown Truckee.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Gotcha. Thank you.
Speaker 10 (08:17):
I have one question about the avalanche generally, not about the actual investigation. I know you directed us to the Sierra Avalanche Center. This was listed on the destructive four scale is a D2.5. I know a D2 is it could bury and kill a person, D3 could bury, destroy a house. What does a 2.5 mean exactly? Would you be able to answer that?
Speaker 11 (08:37):
So, it's in between the two effectively. It can cause loss of life, but it's not as big as the three. Sorry, I don't have any more information.
Speaker 10 (08:49):
Is it significantly powerful? Is it unusual? Or could you give us some broader context of how frequently we see an avalanche of this power?
Speaker 11 (08:56):
Unfortunately, while the Avalanche Center is hosted, I'm not an avalanche expert myself, so I'd be guessing, but thanks.
Speaker 12 (09:05):
We'll just take one or two more questions. And also, just to clarify, as we've talked about all the individuals involved in that, since there's been a lot of back-and-forth on guests versus guides, I just want to clarify the genders again just one more time to mitigate any confusion. So, we had 15 people total, nine women and six men. Our survivors are four men and two women. And our at-large, presumed deceased, are seven women and two men. And again, with that, we'll take one to two more questions. Yes.
Speaker 13 (09:45):
Sheriff Moon, what went through your mind when you realized the totality of this tragedy?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (09:59):
Definitely thinking of the folks that were out there, the six that we had contact with, wanting to do everything we could in our power to get to them. Also, weighing in, making sure that our staff and our volunteers, that... Again, I've been a search-and-rescue coordinator through my career here at the sheriff's office. Incredible group of men and women that respond day and night to calls that we request them because of their expertise and their training and their commitment. They're folks that like to recreate and to know that we have that resource.
(10:47)
Also, in talking with our staff, making sure that we were safe last night, horrific conditions, just white-out conditions. It's a known area where we have a lot of search-and-rescue missions that Castle Peak, Peter Grubb Hut, Frog Lake Hut area. So, we train in that area, so they knew the terrain. That doesn't make it easier for them when the snow conditions and the wind conditions...
(11:19)
So, what was going through my mind is, "Hopefully they can get there," to the six that were sheltering in place. So, getting the call that they had made it safely off the mountain, but immediately thinking of the folks that didn't make it. And knowing our mission now is to get them home and making sure that we're doing it safely and in constant conversation with those families. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Do you know how low the temperature dropped last night?
Sheriff Shannan Moon (11:56):
It had to be well below freezing. Clearly, it was snowing most of the night up there, so in the high 20s, low 30s. Cold conditions. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 12 (12:13):
All right. That will conclude our news conference for today. We will continue to keep everyone updated as our search and rescue crew continues to help get all those folks off the mountain safely and back to their loved ones. The best way to follow us is to stay with our Facebook page. I know several of you are also on our media list, but Facebook, we will post all updates as they're available. Thank you all for coming.