This Is... Difficult News -- Even Decades Later.

True enough -- six have survived. And all were very experienced back country skiers, we are reliably informed.

But the central object lesson here is that some times. . . the snow is so unstable, and the slide opens nearly instantaneously -- without warning or sound -- and comes down in overwhelmingly massive waves. . . such that nothing would prevent tragedy. Nothing other than not being on the mountain at all, that day.

Here is the NYT's reporting, so far:

. . .The bodies of eight skiers killed during an avalanche were found during a rescue effort late Tuesday in California near Lake Tahoe. Six skiers from their party survived and were evacuated, while one member of the group remains missing and presumed dead in what is already the deadliest avalanche in modern California history. . . .

The skiers, including four guides, had been finishing up a three-day backcountry expedition in a rugged but popular recreational area near Castle Peak. The six survivors were able to use a combination of emergency beacons and iPhone S.O.S. functions to contact rescuers, who braved treacherous conditions to reach them. . . .

There are old back country skiers. . . and there are bold back country skiers. . . but there are very few. . . old, bold such skiers. May they rest in pow[d]er. Onward -- but there is still (likely) one body, to retrieve off the mountain, when conditions improve. Yikes.

नमस्ते