A recent avalanche that killed nine people in California has raised questions about how safe the rapidly growing adventure tourism sector is and what causes bad decisions in dangerous conditions.
Here’s what you need to know about the Sierra Nevada Avalanche
This is what we know about the tragic Castle Peak avalanche near Lake Tahoe that killed eight skiers during a powerful winter storm
Adventure seekers can pay a guide to help them do anything they dream of. Go ice climbing on crevasses-filled glaciers, take excursions to active volcanoes, and ski in the backcountry in avalanche-prone areas.
They pay hundreds, thousands, and even millions of dollars to explore some of the most unexplored places on Earth, all in the safety of well-trained guides with extensive experience. But again and again, disasters happen.
Most recently, an avalanche struck a group of 15 backcountry skiers (11 paying guests and four guides) near Lake Tahoe in California’s Sierra Nevada on February 17th. The avalanche was the deadliest avalanche in the United States since 1981, killing nine people, including three “experienced” guides from the company that organized the trip.
Despite dire warnings about a storm expected to bring up to 8 feet of fresh snow and create “extremely dangerous” avalanche conditions, the group went on a three-day adventure that cost more than $1,100 per person. The disaster raises questions about how safe the rapidly growing adventure tourism sector is and whether there should be any repercussions for professionals and guides who press forward despite the dangers.
“In this industry, when you see a guide that says, ‘Here we go,’ it makes you feel like you’re not in danger because you trust the experts,” said Philippe Duverger, a marketing professor at Towson University in Maryland who has studied adventure tourism for about 20 years.
Karl Cater, a professor of tourism at Swansea University in Wales, said when tourists hire guides, “there is a sense of transferring risk management”.
“You gave it up,” he told USA TODAY. “I guess they’re hoping that they’ll pay the money and come back safely from the other side.”
As investigators work to figure out why a deadly ski trip in California was canceled despite the dangers, USA TODAY examines some of the most notable adventure tourism disasters in recent history, what they have in common, and how death is almost always on the table, no matter your level of experience.
Titan submarine: CEO claims ‘indestructible’
In 2023, three tourists paid between $150,000 and $250,000 for a seat on the Titan submersible. The Titan submersible is a carbon fiber ship whose owner, Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, has promised to take him to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean to see the wreck of the Titanic.
When the submarine imploded two miles below the ocean’s surface on June 18, 2023, all five crew members were killed, including Rush, maritime expert Paul-Henri Narjolet, and three tourists: British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and her 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.
A Coast Guard report released last year concluded that the disaster, caused by inadequate submersible design and failures in maintenance and safety protocols, could have been prevented. The report also said Rush’s boast that Titan’s hull was “indestructible,” giving passengers a false sense of security, also contributed to the disaster, the report said.
Had Rush survived, he could have faced criminal charges for negligence, the report said.
volcanic eruption in new zealand
On December 9, 2019, a diverse group of guides and tourists were visiting New Zealand’s active volcano Whakaari Island when the island erupted, spewing boiling steam, gas, rocks and ash over the visitors. The eruption killed 22 people, including two guides and five Americans, and injured another 25, many seriously.
Tourist brochures lured visitors with promises of getting “closer to the drama” and seeing “amazing lakes with acidic vapors.” Visitors paid between $80 and $140 to reach the island by boat and more than $800 if they arrived by helicopter.
“They made it look exciting, but they didn’t make it sound dangerous,” American tourist Matt Uley, who along with his wife Lauren survived injuries from the eruption, told the makers of the Netflix documentary “Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari” about the disaster.
“I understand that no one can control nature, but you have to at least give me the opportunity to make an informed decision,” Yury said in the documentary. “Knowing what we know now, there’s a zero percent chance we’d set foot on that island. Zero.”
Since then, the island has been closed to all visitors.
After the eruption, the companies that own the islands, travel companies and even government agencies came under intense scrutiny for failing to ensure the safety of visitors and reduce risks. The company, Whakaari Management Limited, was found guilty of health and safety offences, and a judge ordered the company to pay millions of dollars in compensation and fines. A judge overturned the conviction last year.
Everest Blizzard of 1996
The dangers of attempting to climb Mount Everest are well known, but that doesn’t deter adventurers from spending tens of thousands of dollars on mountain guides to conquer the world’s highest peaks.
In Into Thin Air, author Jon Krakauer exposes the unnecessary risks rival travel companies are taking to get their customers to the top. The 1996 Everest season described in this book was the deadliest year on the mountain at the time, with eight climbers, including two guides, dying in one day during a snowstorm on May 10, 1996.
In his book, Krakauer criticizes guide companies that lead inexperienced climbers on climbs despite the extreme danger. Expedition leaders ignored or underestimated warnings that dangerous weather was coming, he wrote.
Professor Cater said many experts in the adventure tourism field believe this snowstorm was a watershed moment when mountains became commercial destinations.
Since then, around 200 people have died attempting to climb or descend from Everest, including 16 in an ice avalanche known as the Khumbu Icefall in 2014 and up to 24 in an earthquake in 2015.
Missouri duck boat accident
A duck boat tour is much safer than a trek to Everest, but when Mother Nature gets involved and humans make bad choices, even something seemingly harmless can turn into a life-or-death battle.
On July 19, 2018, a duck boat sank on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri during a severe storm, killing 17 people ranging in age from 1 to 70, including nine members of a family vacationing from Indiana.
The first notification that severe weather and high winds were heading toward Table Rock Lake that day came more than seven hours before the boat capsized, the Springfield News Leader, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. Later that day, authorities issued a severe thunderstorm warning that predicted 60 mph winds for the area before the boat departed.
After the accident killed her husband and three young children, Tia Coleman told FOX59 from her hospital bed that the duck boat captain told tourists they didn’t need to wear life vests.
“The captain told us, ‘Don’t worry about bringing a life jacket. You don’t need one,'” she said. “So no one grabbed them because we heard the captain telling us to sit down…but by doing that, by the time it was time to grab them, it was too late. And I believe a lot of people might have been saved.”
Ride the Ducks, which operated the boat, went out of business the following year. The captain was charged last year with 17 counts of manslaughter and 12 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He maintains his innocence and is asking for the case to be dismissed.
Common themes in adventure disasters: disregard for danger, ego.
When adventure tourism disasters strike, there are some common themes: ignored danger, ego and the forces of Mother Nature, adventure tourism experts told USA TODAY.
Often the leaders of such trips, like Rush on the Titan sub, let their egos rule the day. But they say egos can also come into play with paying customers.
“Most of the time, there’s an underlying red flag or something, a desire to complete the adventure and not want to turn back,” Cater said.
Florian Zack, a professor of hospitality and tourism management at Virginia Tech, says many people are drawn to guided adventures like backcountry skiing or climbing Mount Everest because “there’s something meaningful about doing something that not many people can do.”
While there is a physical component to conquering such adventures, there can also be an economic component, as wealthy people spend money on experiences that are out of reach for most people, such as climbing Mount Everest or traveling to space, he said.
“Some people start overlooking the risks,” Zack said, adding that they can end up feeling invincible. “They think, ‘Yes, I understand it’s dangerous, but I know what I’m doing, I’ve been trained, and it won’t happen to me. It’s arrogant and maybe naive in a way to not judge the situation properly and ignore the warnings.’
When it comes to backcountry skiing in particular, some people can do it for years without any problems, but that confidence doesn’t always help, said Scott Savage, president of the American Avalanche Association and director of the U.S. Forest Service’s Sawtooth Avalanche Center in Ketchum, Idaho.
“Skiing or riding deep powder on steep slopes is exhilarating, and the ‘reward’ causes people to take more risks and find ways to justify that risk,” Savage said in an email. “Next time you find yourself in a similar situation, you might not be so lucky.”
The big question remains: Why wasn’t the Tahoe ski trip canceled?
It’s too early to say why the fateful trip near Lake Tahoe was forced. In such cases, experts say, in some cases guides are able to convince guests that they are safe when they are not, and in other cases, paying customers are encouraged to go ahead with a trip despite making the guide or the company uncomfortable.
In a statement to USA TODAY, the families of the six victims, all married mothers, said there were “many unanswered questions” and that their loved ones were “seasoned backcountry skiers with a deep respect for the mountains.”
“They were trained and prepared for the outback trip and trusted their professional guides for this trip,” the family said.
Zev Blais, founder of Blackbird Mountain Guides, which led the trip and lost three guides, has not explained why he moved the trip forward.
“There’s still much we don’t know about what happened. It’s too early to draw conclusions, but the investigation is ongoing,” he said in a statement on the night of the avalanche. “We ask those who have experienced this tragedy to refrain from speculation. We do not yet have all the answers, and it may be some time before we have them.”
No matter what motivated the decision that led to the disaster on the mountain, by all accounts everyone who took part in this trip had experience, skill and knowledge. But sometimes that doesn’t matter, Savage said.
“Humans are fallible. We usually make logical, good decisions, but not when we don’t,” Savage says. “If you play in the backcountry for years, the law of averages will make you make bad decisions. Chance or luck will determine whether or how much you pay for your bad decisions.”
Contributed by Jeanine Santucci and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter covering cold case investigations, breaking news and the death penalty for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusin.
