Ice Skater Presumed Dead at Donner Lake

A man is presumed dead after falling through the ice on Donner Lake this morning.

At 9:24 a.m., a man between the ages of 25 and 40 years old was ice skating about 100 yards from the northern shore of Donner Lake when eyewitnesses saw him fall through the ice and disappear underwater, said Truckee Police Lt. Harwood Mitchell. The depth of the water in that vicinity is about 240 feet, he said.

"He was screaming 'Help, help!'," said one eyewitness, Lisa Cortopassi, who was driving along Donner Pass Road when she saw the man fall into the lake.

Cortopassi said she immediately called 911 on her cell phone and ran to the nearest house to contact emergency personnel.

The man "flailed quickly," and "stayed above water about a minute," Cortopassi said.

A joint dive team consisting of personnel from Truckee Fire Protection District and Truckee Police Department attempted multiple ice rescues, but due to freezing water temperatures, divers reclassified their response to a recovery effort at about 10:45 a.m. The body had not been recovered or identified as of 1:41 p.m. The recovery effort continues.

The Placer County Sheriff's dive team also responded to the scene to aid in the recovery of the man's body.

Mitchell said responders think two people were on the lake when the man fell through the ice. Investigators are working to locate the other individual, who might have known the victim, Mitchell said.

Donner Pass Road was closed Friday morning in the vicinity of Moraine because of the incident. One lane was re-opened shortly after 1 p.m.

Truckee Police and Truckee Fire personnel are strongly urging all others to remain off the ice because of thin-ice conditions, he said. The ice is dangerously unsafe, according to Mitchell.

Anyone who may have known an individual planning to skate on Donner Lake this morning, and who has not been able to contact that person, is asked to contact Truckee Police at (530) 550-2320.

Donner Lake Victim Identified

Near TRUCKEE, California (KOLOTV.com) -- Saturday, January 27, 2007:

The Nevada County Sheriff's Department has identified the man who drown in Donner Lake on Friday.

Officials say the victim is George Sommerdorf, 50, of Sacramento.

Witnesses say Sommerdorf was skating on the frozen laketop, when the ice cracked, sending the man into the water. Sommerdorf eventually went under, where he drown. On Saturday, recovery crews found his body 180 feet below the water surface.

Today: January 31, 2007 at 10:5:6 PST
Stilt-skates may have contributed to Donner Lake drowning

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) - Stilt-skates may have contributed to the death of a Sacramento man who drowned after falling through ice at Donna Lake near Truckee, authorities said.

Truckee Police Sgt. Tim Hargrove said George Sommerdorf Jr., 50, was wearing two-foot-tall stilts with ice skates fastened by screws and was 100 yards from shore when he fell on the ice last Friday.

"His family confirmed he had been stilt-skating before," Hargrove told the Sierra Sun newspaper. "He was an avid skater."

Divers recovered Sommerdorf's body Saturday at a depth of about 190 feet, authorities said.

Hargrove said Sommerdorf had on long pants that covered the stilts, so from a distance he looked tall.

Investigators discovered the screw fasteners on one of Sommerdorf's ice skates had come loose and suspect that might have caused his fall through the ice, Hargrove said.