A recent graduate of San José State University who went skiing at a California resort in Lake Tahoe was found dead along a trail days after eight skiers were killed in a large avalanche in the region.
Colin Kang, 21, the student, was found on a black diamond run, a challenging type of trail for expert skiers, by the Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team on Thursday morning, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on social media.
Elise Soviar, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s office, confirmed Mr. Kang’s identity on Friday.
It appeared that Mr. Kang “fell into a tree well,” Ms. Soviar said, but his cause of death remained under investigation.
A tree well is a hidden hollow that forms when snow piles up around the outside of trees, leaving an area under the tree that remains untouched and poses a risk to skiers, Ms. Soviar said. When skiers fall into deep tree wells, they can get stuck, she said, and there’s a chance that snow could collapse around them.
Tree wells are “very common,” Ms. Soviar said, adding that “even like in ski resorts, trees would have tree wells just because snow builds up, but it can’t snow directly underneath a tree.”
Storms, like the ones that have been battering the region lately, can make those tree wells larger, she said, “but they naturally exist any time there’s a significant amount of snow.”
Mr. Kang, who went skiing on Tuesday and did not return, was last seen near the Martis Camp Express, a ski lift that connects to the trail where his body was found at the Northstar California Resort in Truckee, Calif., according to the sheriff’s office and the SJSU Ski and Snowboard team, a student group that posted on social media about his disappearance. His car was found in the Northstar parking lot, the authorities said.
The Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team mounted an intense effort to find Mr. Kang, deploying more than a dozen skiers, a snowcat and two snowmobilers to search the area, the sheriff’s office said. Northstar Ski Patrol members also assisted with search efforts.
San José State University said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of one of our recent graduates,” and encouraged those who knew Mr. Kang and were “struggling with this news to seek support through available campus resources.” He had graduated in the fall, the university said.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Mr. Kang was “the third skier killed in two weeks at the Tahoe ski slope.” His death, while unrelated, came amid renewed attention to the risks that skiers and their guides face, after an avalanche killed at least eight people this week in the snowy backcountry near Lake Tahoe.
Aimee Ortiz covers breaking news and other topics.
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