A GoFundMe account has been established for Joe Zuiches, a Squaw Valley ski patrol member who was killed Tuesday morning during avalanche control activities at the Lake Tahoe ski resort.
The 42-year-old Zuiches, who lived in Olympic Valley, where Squaw Valley is located, leaves behind a wife and son. To contribute to the Zuiches GoFundMe account, click here.
The online memorial fund drive, which was started to aid the Zuiches family, had raised more than $34,000 of a $100,000 goal by 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a mere nine hours after the morning accident.
Spokespeople from the Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows resort said the explosion during avalanche control occurred at 8:35 a.m. The explosion killed Zuiches while he was running an avalanche control route on Squaw’s upper mountain on Gold Coast Ridge.
The incident took place prior to lifts being open for skiers and snowboarders. Following the incident, Squaw Valley shut down operations for the day. Alpine Meadows was open Tuesday.
An avalanche control route leader, Zuiches was on one of the two, two-member teams on the mountain that were deploying explosives to release avalanches from loaded slopes to make them safe Tuesday for skiers and riders.
Zuiches was carrying an undisclosed amount of ammonium nitrate-based charges when the explosion took place. No one else was injured.
Zuiches had been a member of the Squaw Valley ski patrol since 2012 and was a training supervisor.
“Our patrollers are among the most professional, quite literally, in North America, if not the world,” said Andy Wirth, president and CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings which owns Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows resorts. “And Joe was considered one of the best of the best that are on patrol.”
The Sierra Avalanche Center rated Tuesday as moderate for avalanches near the tree line and above the tree line. The Lake Tahoe region has been bombarded with snow for most of the past 10 days and incredible amounts of snow had fallen. Squaw reported 212 inches of snow dropping by Jan. 20 (Friday). With 11 days still left in January, the monthly snow total was the most in 45 years (1972).
The Placer County Sheriff’s Department, California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health and North Lake Tahoe Fire Department were among the agencies that responded to the explosion
Lt. Alfredo Guitron of the Placer County Sheriff’s Department said the response required a team of explosives specialists to safely recover undetonated charges. The undetonated explosions and Zuiches’ body were still on the mountain six hours after the incident.
The California Department of Industrial Relations says hand charges are required to have a fuse of at least one inch and can be thrown by hand – while deployed from a ski lift, helicopter or tram – by an avalanche launcher or remote control devices.
Both Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows have lost employees while doing avalanche work in recent years. Andrew Entin died at Squaw Valley in 2009 when he and another ski patrol member skied across snow-laden terrain to break it up because an explosive device didn’t detonate.
In 2012, Bill Foster was one of three Alpine Meadows ski patrol members setting off charges at high elevations due to heavy snow accumulation. Foster was buried in an avalanche for a few minutes, but was rescued and still alive. However, he suffered numerous injuries and died at a hospital hours later.
