The Latest: Ski patroller dies in accident at Tahoe resort

RENO, Nev. – The Latest on the death of a ski patrol member at a Lake Tahoe ski resort (all times local PST):

12:30 p.m.

The Lake Tahoe resort where a ski patrol member died while doing avalanche-control work apparently was not killed by an avalanche.

The Squaw Valley Ski Resort says 42-year-old Joe Zuiches of Olympic Valley, California died in an accident during avalanche control activities at 8:35 a.m. Tuesday.

Few details have been released. But the resort north of Tahoe City, California said in a statement Tuesday afternoon the death “does not appear to be avalanche related.”

The North Tahoe Fire Department and Placer County sheriff’s office are investigating.

Zuiches had been a member of the Squaw Valley professional ski patrol since 2012.

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A member of the ski patrol at a Lake Tahoe resort has died while doing work to control avalanches.

It’s not clear if he died in an avalanche.

Squaw Valley Ski Resort confirmed the death in a statement Tuesday but provided few details.

The resort says the ski patroller died at 8:35 a.m. “during avalanche control activities” at the mountain that hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics north of Tahoe City, California.

The resort has been closed and an investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

The victim, whose name has not been released, worked for Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows.

The latest in a series of storms dumped up to 3 feet of snow on parts of the Sierra Nevada early Monday. More than 23 feet of snow has fallen in some areas since Jan. 1.