The chairlift at the bottom of the Subway ski run, near the site of the deadly avalanche occurred at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort in January 2020.
Scott Sonner/Associated PressA pair of lawsuits stemming from a deadly avalanche at Alpine Meadows ski area two years ago have been settled.
On the morning of Jan. 17, 2020, after a night of heavy snowfall in North Lake Tahoe, two friends — both experienced skiers — were caught in an avalanche while skiing in-bounds at Alpine Meadows. One of them, 34-year-old Cole Comstock, of Blairsden (Plumas County), died. The other, Kaley Bloom, of Placer County, suffered severe injuries to his legs and lower body but survived.
Bloom and Comstock’s widow, Caitlin Raymond, filed complaints against the ski area in Placer County Superior Court in the winter of 2021. Both alleged negligence, gross negligence and breach of contract by the resort; Raymond’s lawsuit included a wrongful death claim on behalf of Comstock.
During winter snows, Alpine Meadows routinely deploys patrollers who conduct avalanche mitigation work on its steep terrain. The resort also uses a remote-operated system of ridgetop exploders called Gazex in some places to reduce the threat of harmful slides occurring in bounds.
However, the plaintiffs asserted that Alpine shouldn’t have opened the run where the avalanche occurred — near the Scott chairlift — on the day of the avalanche due to the possibility of a slide.
After Alpine Meadows failed to get the complaints dismissed, the ski resort negotiated settlement agreements with both plaintiffs, according to Mark Ellis, a Sacramento attorney who represented Bloom and Raymond. The two complaints were resolved in January, he said. Palisades Tahoe, which operates Alpine Meadows, confirmed as much in an email to The Chronicle.
The terms of the agreements are confidential. Both Bloom and Raymond sought monetary damages. While Ellis can’t discuss details of the agreements, he said Bloom and Raymond were glad to resolve their complaints.
“Tons of people came out of the woodwork to ask me to represent them for injuries at ski resorts — not just in California, but all over the place,” Ellis said. He said he hasn’t accepted any of those cases.
Avalanche deaths at ski areas are rare, but Alpine Meadows has an unfortunate history with them. A slide in 1982 killed seven people after barreling all the way down to the ski area’s parking lot. In 2012, a ski patroller died after being caught in an avalanche there as well.
Gregory Thomas is The San Francisco Chronicle’s editor of lifestyle & outdoors. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @GregRThomas
