Update 11:25 a.m. Friday, Feb. 20
Governor Gavin Newsom says some of the victims of the deadly avalanche near Castle Peak were family friends.
Speaking at a public transportation event Thursday in the Bay Area, Newsom called the loss of life “tragic” and said mutual aid and support "inevitably will have to be focused on the victims and their families and friends.”
"Turns out a lot of mutual friends in Marin County, I'm just learning some of my wife's old family friends," he added.
Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, live in Marin County. Families of six of the victims said Thursday that three — Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse and Kate Vitt — were from Marin County as well.
The other three women identified by family are Carrie Atkin from the Truckee-Tahoe area; Liz Clabaugh from Boise, Idaho; and Caroline Sekar from San Francisco.
The six women were part of a 15-person tour organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides. The group was returning from a three-day excursion to the Frog Lake huts Tuesday when the avalanche struck. Six survivors were rescued, eight people are confirmed dead and one more is still missing and presumed dead.
Newsom said he had personally visited the Sugar Bowl area many times. “Stayed in those cabins just a year or so ago, very mindful of the terrain.”
The governor said it was “the most devastating avalanche, in terms of loss of life we’ve ever experienced.”
“These were some experienced guides that were out there, and that’s what’s even more concerning and disturbing about this,” Newsom said.
Blackbird Mountain Guides founder Zeb Blais said in a statement Wednesday all guides on the trip were trained or certified in backcountry skiing, as well as instructors with avalanche rescue and training. The company has suspended field operations through at least Feb. 22.
Update 5:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19
Six victims of Tuesday's avalanche near Donner Summit have been identified by their families.
In a joint statement released Thursday, the families said they are "devastated beyond words" by the tragedy.
"They were all mothers, wives and friends, all of whom connected through the love of the outdoors. They were passionate, skilled skiers who cherished time together in the mountains," the statement read.
Officials previously reported the group of 15 skiers hit by the avalanche included six men and nine women. Six survivors were rescued, eight are confirmed dead and one more is missing and presumed dead as of Thursday afternoon.
The families identified the victims as:
• Carrie Atkin
• Liz Clabaugh
• Danielle Keatley
• Kate Morse
• Caroline Sekar
• Kate Vitt
The victims lived in the Bay Area, Idaho and the Truckee-Tahoe region, according to their families.
"Eight close friends planned a professionally guided, two-night backcountry hut trip to Frog Lake Huts outside Truckee, California. The trip had been organized well in advance," the statement said.
The victims were described as "experienced backcountry skiers who deeply respected the mountains."
"They were trained and prepared for backcountry travel and trusted their professional guides on this trip. They were fully equipped with avalanche safety equipment," the statement continued.
The trip was organized by the Truckee-based adventuring company Blackbird Mountain Guides, which said Wednesday night its guides were trained or certified in backcountry skiing by the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), as well as instructors with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE).
The families thanked first responders and rescue personnel. They said their focus is on supporting the victims' children and expressed gratitude for "the outpouring of support from the Tahoe community and beyond."
"We are heartbroken and are doing our best to care for one another and our families in the way these women would have wanted," they continued.
The Nevada County Sheriff's Office has not released the identities of any victims. Efforts to recover the eight known bodies were called off Thursday due to hazardous weather.
Update 4:40 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19
The U.S. Forest Service has issued multiple closures around the Truckee area in the wake of Tuesday's deadly avalanche.
The Forest Service announced Thursday all National Forest lands and trails between Castle Peak and the South Fork of Prosser Creek will be closed from Feb. 20 through March 15. Officials said the closure is required for the safety of the public and first responders, especially due to instability within the snowpack. The move also aims to support recovery efforts for the bodies of the victims.
"In order to continue recovery operations, emergency personnel will need to use snow machines, aircraft, various other heavy equipment and possibly explosives to mitigate further environmental hazards to the safety of first responders conducting recovery efforts," the Forest Service wrote.
The closure could be lifted earlier if public safety measures are mitigated.
Update 12:20 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19
California workplace safety officials are investigating Blackbird Mountain Guides.
A spokesperson for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) confirmed Thursday afternoon it is looking into the Truckee-based company.
State law requires Cal/OSHA to complete its investigation within six months. The agency will then issue citations if it finds any violations of workplace safety regulations.
Cal/OHSA did not provide additional details as the investigation is active.
CapRadio reached out to Blackbird Mountain Guides for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Update 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 19
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office says hazardous weather is preventing rescue workers from removing the bodies of the victims from Tuesday’s avalanche.
The sheriff’s office said Thursday in a Facebook post that bodies “cannot be safely extracted off the mountain today.” Officials said recovery work is expected to continue into the weekend.
The Sierra Avalanche Summit issued an avalanche warning Thursday morning for the Central Sierra Nevada, including the Castle Peak area where the avalanche occurred.
The sheriff’s office also reiterated that it cannot confirm the identifications, ages, affiliations or home cities of the victims until recovery is completed.
Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said Wednesday that Placer County will process the bodies of the deceased to determine injuries and causes of death.
Update 9:20 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 19
The outdoor tour company that led what became a deadly backcountry skiing trip is suspending field operations until at least the end of the week following Tuesday’s avalanche near Donner Summit.
Blackbird Mountain Guides released a statement Wednesday night from company founder Zeb Blais calling the incident “an enormous tragedy, and the saddest event our team has ever experienced.”
Blais’ statement confirmed four guides from his company and 11 participants were involved. The company said it is mourning the loss of six clients and "three highly experienced members of our guide team."
Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said yesterday eight people are confirmed dead in the avalanche. A ninth remains missing as of Thursday morning, but Moon added the operation has shifted from rescue to recovery.
The company said it is supporting the families, as well as employees who have lost friends and colleagues.
Blais said all of the guides on the ill-fated trip were trained or certified in backcountry skiing by the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), as well as instructors with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE).
The statement adds that guides in the field “are in communication with senior guides at our base, to discuss conditions and routing based upon conditions.”
“There is still a lot that we’re learning about what happened. It’s too soon to draw conclusions, but investigations are underway,” it reads.
Blackbird Mountain Guides said it has “suspended field operations at minimum through February 22, and may extend that into the next week or two.”
The company’s website offers courses in avalanche education, wilderness skills and first aid, skiing and rock climbing, among others.
Blais’ bio page on Blackbird’s website lists his qualifications as an IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides Association)/American Mountain Guide along with avalanche and wilderness first responder certifications. He is also listed as a member of the American Avalanche Association.
Update 8:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18
A Nevada County ski academy says some of its community members are among the victims in Tuesday’s avalanche near Castle Peak, which has become the deadliest in California history.
Sugar Bowl Academy in Norden announced Wednesday that, “multiple members of the Sugar Bowl Academy community and others with strong connections to Sugar Bowl, Donner Summit, and the backcountry community died” in the slide.
“We are an incredibly close and connected community. This tragedy has affected each and every one of us. The depth of support for the families whose lives have been changed forever reminds us of how special this community is,” Executive Director Stephen McMahon said in a prepared statement.
The school is not sharing the names of the victims and survivors out of respect for the families, and said it is focused on supporting “its athletes, students, staff and families through this tragedy.”
Sugar Bowl Academy is an independent school and a certified ski and snowboarding club located near Donner Summit and Sugar Bowl Resort. It offers both athletics programs and college preparatory academics, according to the school’s website.
The San Francisco Chronicle previously reported most of the guests were women and mothers of children on a nearby ski team who were participating in an annual backcountry excursion, according to a person with knowledge of the avalanche.
Originally published 2:07 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18
Eight of the nine missing backcountry skiers swept away by an avalanche Tuesday morning in Nevada County are dead, with the last one still missing.
Emergency responders held a news conference Wednesday morning to provide an update on the incident.
The avalanche struck a group of 15 people, including four guides and 11 clients, on a backcountry tour operated by Blackbird Mountain Guides, a Truckee-based adventuring company. Initial reports said 16 people were involved, but one client backed out ahead of the trip.
The group was on a three-day trip to the Frog Lake backcountry huts, which started on Sunday. Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said the group was returning to the trailhead when the avalanche occurred.
Emergency officials received a 911 call reporting the avalanche around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Castle Peak area near Donner Summit. Moon characterized the area as rugged and ungroomed.
Ruth Finch/CapRadio
Dozens of search and rescue personnel were deployed from California and Nevada to the area to try and locate any survivors, fighting heavy snow, gale-force winds and continued avalanche dangers, among other extreme conditions.
Moon said emergency responders managed to get in contact with the six survivors through iPhone SOS messages, who were told to shelter in place and await rescue. Rescue teams reached them around 5:30 p.m. using a tracked vehicle and skis. Two were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Officials confirmed one of the survivors is a Blackbird Mountain guide, and the other five are clients. Moon initially said the survivor group includes one man and five women, but later in the press conference a sheriff's spokesperson said the survivor group includes four men and two women. The survivors' ages range from 30-55, while the dead include people from multiple states.
Moon said the survivors had tried to look for their fellow skiers caught in the slide, and found three bodies by the time rescuers arrived.
Rusty Greene is the incident commander for the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. He said both the survivors and bodies were found fairly close together. Greene added that the eight bodies were found wearing avalanche beacons.
“It was reported by the individuals that survived that they were attempting to go out as a group,” Greene said. “Someone saw the avalanche, yelled ‘avalanche,’ and then it overtook them rather quickly.”
The survivors and deceased were not identified, but Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said one of the nine decedents is a spouse of a member of the Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team.
“This has not only been challenging for our community… but it has also been challenging emotionally for our team, and for our organization,” Woo said.
Officials said the search for the remaining missing skier is ongoing but being impacted by weather challenges and avalanche conditions.
Greene said due to the difficult terrain, rescuers were only able to initially remove survivors from the scene. He said responders have moved the bodies of the deceased to a marked area for easier recovery later.
Moon said Blackbird Mountain Guides has been cooperative during the incident, providing information on the individuals in the tour group and helping with the response.
“We did have a conversation with the families of the folks that are still outstanding, and let them know that our mission has [gone] from a rescue to a recovery,” Moon said.
Treacherous conditions
Tuesday’s avalanche came hours after the Sierra Avalanche Center, which provides forecasts and monitors conditions in the backcountry, issued an avalanche warning for the greater Lake Tahoe area.
Lead forecaster Brandon Schwartz told CapRadio Tuesday an avalanche watch was originally issued for the area on Sunday, which was later upgraded. He said the region had received two to three feet of snow in the 48 hours prior to the incident, at a rate of two to four inches per hour.
Chris Feutrier is the Forest Supervisor of the Tahoe National Forest, which hosts the Sierra Avalanche Center.
He said at Wednesday’s news conference the avalanche was about a football field long and resulted when, “a persistent weak layer had a large load of snow over the top of it.”
“That persistent weak layer is still there, and has reloaded with another three feet of snow. The hazard remains high,” Feutrier said.
Moon said many forecasts were made ahead of the winter storm. “Those are the decisions the guide company clearly had made… we’re still in conversation with them on the decision factors that they made,” she said.
A road is cleared during a snow storm on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026 near Soda Springs, Calif.Brooke Hess-Homeier/AP Photo
Words of warning
Moon urged visitors to check avalanche forecasts and weather reports before traveling in the backcountry. “Always communicate your plans, travel with a partner. Share your route, and consider all of the avalanche dangers that are in our beautiful community,” she said.
She also urged visitors to heed warnings, particularly in the backcountry.
“The backcountry is beautiful, there’s not a lot of people out there, and that’s where a lot of people like to recreate,” Moon said. “But Mother Nature doesn’t seem to matter, no matter how prepared you are, no matter how experienced you are.”
Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo urged people to “avoid the Sierras during this current storm and in the upcoming days.”
“Avoid mountain travel, it’s treacherous, avoid the backcountry. Please allow us to focus all of our resources on continuing to recover these bodies for the family and bring them home.”
Avalanche deaths
Tuesday’s slide is the second fatal avalanche in the Nevada County area since the start of the year.
In early January 42-year-old Chris Scott Thomason of Bend, Oregon was traveling with a group of five experienced snowmobilers from Johnson Canyon to Castle Peak. An avalanche struck the group as they were returning, burying Thomason. Moon said Wednesday that slide was about a mile away from Tuesday’s avalanche.
Officials said the group was equipped with protective equipment and avalanche beacons. Thomason’s fellow snowmobilers tracked his beacon and dug him out, but he died of his injuries.
The at least eight deaths in Tuesday’s avalanche would represent the deadliest slide in the history of the Sierra.
Seven people were killed in a 1982 avalanche at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, now known as Palisades Tahoe.
According to the National Avalanche Center, between 25-30 people die in avalanches in the U.S. each year.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from a Nevada County Sheriff's Office spokesperson later in the press conference that the surviving group of skiers includes four men and two women.
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