Eight backcountry skiers were confirmed killed and a ninth was presumed to have perished when their tour group was overtaken by a football-field-sized avalanche in California's Sierra Nevada mountains on Tuesday,

Authorities say six backcountry skiers are alive and 10 others are missing after an avalanche in Northern California that occurred during a powerful winter storm moving through the state

It surpasses the toll of seven killed in a March 1982 avalanche at the Alpine Meadows — now Palisades Tahoe — ski resort, in the same general region.

Crews found the bodies of eight backcountry skiers near California's Lake Tahoe and were searching for one more after they were caught in an avalanche, the nation's deadliest in nearly half a century,

Search-and-rescue personnel were working Tuesday to reach a group of six stranded skiers and locate 10 others unaccounted for in Northern California's backcountry following an avalanche.

A group of 15 backcountry skiers was reportedly involved in the incident, the sheriff's office says. Nine remain unaccounted for.

Rescue crews on skis and snowcats battled blizzard conditions in an effort to reach six backcountry skiers trapped after an avalanche high in the rugged Northern California mountains that left 10 other skiers missing as the danger of more slides remained high.

Avalanche danger was high on Tuesday. “Travel in, near, or below avalanche terrain is not recommended today,” the The Sierra Avalanche Center wrote in a bulletin issued before