9 people were killed in a deadly California avalanche. Here’s what we know

A California Highway Patrol helicopter prepares to take off in the aftermath of a snowstorm on Friday in Truckee.
(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

Your morning catch-up: The bodies of avalanche victims were recovered, Altadena is fighting for attention, and more big stories

It’s been nearly one week since the deadliest avalanche in modern California history struck near Lake Tahoe. Search-and-rescue teams have finally recovered the bodies of all nine missing skiers.Nevada County identified the victims as six skiers and three professional mountain guides:

Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nev., a guide with Blackbird Mountain Guides
Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs, Calif.
Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., a guide with Blackbird Mountain Guides
Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho
Michael Henry, 30, of Soda Springs, Calif., a guide with Blackbird Mountain Guides
Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur, Calif.
Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, Calif.
Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco, Calif.
Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, Calif.

Despite forecasters’ warnings on Feb. 15 that the biggest winter storm of the season was headed for California’s High Sierra, Blackbird Mountain Guides — which bills itself as a provider of backcountry ski excursions — sent 15 people out for a risky skiing adventure on the slopes above Donner Pass.

When a catastrophic avalanche washed over parts of the High Sierra, first responders rescued six survivors and discovered eight deceased skiers near the Frog Lake Backcountry Huts. Authorities announced Saturday they had found the body of the ninth victim.

What we know about the victims

Clockwise from top left: Carrie Atkin, Danielle Keatley, Caroline Sekar and Kate Morse were four of the six women killed Tuesday in an avalanche near Truckee.
(Courtesy of the families)

Six of the nine people who died in the avalanche were part of a group of eight friends who had signed up for the three-day backcountry skiing trip together, my colleagues reported.

The tight-knit circle of moms lived across Northern California and in Idaho and loved to be together in the mountains.

A story from the New York Times identified Sekar and Clabaugh as sisters.

“These are two of the best people I’ve ever known,” their brother told the outlet. “They were incredible sisters, mothers, wives and friends.”

The other three victims were hired guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides who led the expedition.

Among the six people found alive — four men and two women — one was a guide on the expedition and two were part of the friend group who booked the trip. At least two of the survivors were hospitalized with injuries but were expected to recover.

What we know about the trip

After two days in the backcountry, the group was struggling through a blizzard Tuesday morning.

Just as they were a couple of miles from safety, someone in the group saw a wall of snow — estimated to be the size of a football field — barreling toward them. Someone yelled, “Avalanche!” according to Rusty Greene, operations captain for the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.

The backcountry ski trip to the Frog Lake huts is described by Blackbird Mountain Guides as a way to access “some of the best backcountry skiing terrain in North Lake Tahoe.” The huts are owned by the Truckee Donner Land Trust, which warns that the journey from the trailhead to the cabins takes several hours and passes through dangerous avalanche terrain.

The families of the six women who died said they still had many unanswered questions but that the women had planned the trip “well in advance” and “were trained and prepared for backcountry travel and trusted their professional guides on this trip.”

Why people continue backcountry skiing despite the risks

Endless lift lines and maddening crowds have lured skiers to the extremely niche sport of backcountry skiing.

A review on the Black Mountain Guides’ website indicated their guides had previously taken out skiers during a storm, my colleague Jack Dolan reported.

For some participants, skiing in a storm is better than fighting crowds at a resort.

It’s something “backcountry skiers do all the time, just like resort skiers do. There are safe ways to do it, even in high [avalanche] danger,” said Dave Miller, owner of International Alpine Guides in June Lake.

People who are unfamiliar with the sport might think that anywhere in the mountains is too risky to travel when it snows. But Miller said most of the backcountry isn’t dangerous avalanche terrain.

Still, the fate of the victims in last week’s avalanche is all too familiar to practitioners of backcountry skiing.

Despite the joy of making effortless, bouncy turns through untracked powder, and floating hundreds of feet through the trees in perfect silence, that’s where the dream of backcountry skiing meets grim reality, Dolan wrote.

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