(Top) Caroline Sekar, Liz Clabaugh, Kate Vitt (Bottom) Carrie Atkin, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse – Kiren Sekar, The Clabaugh household, Families of Danielle Keatley, Carrie Atkin, Kate Vitt and Kate Morse
The eight mates discovered pleasure within the mountains, snowboarding collectively throughout the untracked powder of the hushed, pristine wilderness of California’s Sierra Nevada – their shut friendship standing out towards a rugged, unforgiving terrain.
The journey had been deliberate effectively prematurely: A 3-day expedition that started at Frog Lake Backcountry Huts – a hard-to-reach however cozy oasis 7,600 toes excessive within the Tahoe National Forest space, accessible solely by ski, snowboard or snowshoe.
The group – moms, wives and expert skiers – got here from completely different elements of the nation for a professionally guided backcountry tour over President’s Day weekend. With 4 guides and three different folks accompanying them, they glided on skis close to the frozen lake and snow-capped cliffs, beneath the shadow of a ridge dotted with crimson firs and Jeffrey pines.
The largest winter storm of the brand new yr loomed over the picturesque mountains, in the meantime, as dire warnings from forecasters echoed on social media.
Pine timber are coated in snow throughout a storm in Truckee, California, on February 17, 2026. – Brooke Hess-Homeier/AP
It was the final day of a perilous backcountry odyssey. And, as predicted, the blizzard arrived, delivering blankets of unstable powder. They have been headed residence when the contemporary snow, mild and gentle, out of the blue descended from the slopes as one of probably the most ferocious forces of nature.
“Avalanche!” one of them yelled.
Within seconds, a tsunami of ice, snow and particles the dimensions of a soccer discipline careened downhill round them, thick sufficient to just about bury a home, authorities mentioned, citing the accounts of survivors.
“It overtook them rather quickly,” Nevada County Sheriff’s Capt. Rusty Greene later instructed reporters.
The first name for assist was a silent textual content message from an emergency beacon, mobilizing a small military of rescuers dispatched from completely different instructions.
“Medical for avalanche in the area of Castle Peak,” a voice on a fireplace division dispatch channel mentioned at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
“Nine to 10 people buried, three others attempting to dig them out,” somebody mentioned within the audio as emergency responders have been heard coordinating search and rescue efforts, noting no air assist was obtainable as a result of of the storm.
An hourslong fight for survival was starting. Some members of the group dug desperately into the snow for mates and companions because the powder started to show into a freezing, concrete-like crust.
Six of the shut mates and three guides are among the many 9 folks killed within the avalanche near California’s Lake Tahoe – the nation’s deadliest in 45 years. Six skiers survived and have been rescued.
A grueling trek to achieve survivors
Three guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides — Andrew Alissandratos, Nicole Choo and Michael Henry — have been amongst these killed, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office mentioned Saturday.
Henry devoted his seasons to guiding and educating splitboarding, in accordance with his information profile, mixing a laid-back demeanor with a deep respect for avalanche training solid in demanding backcountry circumstances.
For Alissandratos, the Sierra was residence and the place he felt most absolutely himself, his profile says, and he guided with a ardour for steep routes and passing alongside the hard-earned classes of climbing and snowboarding.
Sisters Liz Clabaugh and Caroline Sekar have been additionally among the many lifeless. The others have been recognized by their households as Carrie Atkin, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse and Kate Vitt. A partner of a Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue staff member – who responded to the catastrophe – was additionally amongst these killed.
The households of six of the ladies who perished mentioned in a assertion that they nonetheless have “many unanswered questions.” The sheriff’s workplace mentioned it’s investigating whether or not felony negligence contributed to the incident.
“We are devastated beyond words,” the households mentioned. “Our focus right now is supporting our children through this incredible tragedy and honoring the lives of these extraordinary women.”
Caroline Sekar (left) and Liz Clabaugh (proper) are amongst those that died within the avalanche, their households mentioned. – The Clabaugh household
The households requested for privateness as they grieve a “sudden and profound loss.” The mates – from Idaho, the Bay Area and the close by Truckee-Tahoe area – have been “passionate, skilled skiers who cherished time together in the mountains.” They had skilled for the backcountry, trusted their guides and carried and have been aware of avalanche security tools, in accordance with the assertion.
“We are heartbroken and are doing our best to care for one another and our families in the way we know these women would have wanted,” the households mentioned.
Only two members of the buddies’ group and one of the guides are among the many six who survived.
The our bodies of the 9 avalanche victims have been recovered Saturday, authorities introduced. “While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon mentioned.
In the tip, one man and 5 girls made it out, taking cowl for hours beneath a tarp – “doing everything they can” till rescuers on snowcats and skies might attain them, in accordance with Greene.
Rescuers trudged by the heavy snow, combatting gale power winds beneath white-out circumstances and aware that one other avalanche might probably barrel down from above, Moon mentioned.
Rescuers have been 2 miles from the skiers when their equipment obtained caught, forcing them to ski the remainder of the best way till they reached the avalanche web site round 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the sheriff mentioned. The survivors used avalanche beacons and iPhone Emergency SOS by way of satellite tv for pc to textual content emergency companies.
An emergency official communicated with a information for greater than 4 hours, relaying crucial data to sheriff’s deputies, in accordance with Don O’Keefe, chief of regulation enforcement at California’s Office of Emergency Services.
Buried in an avalanche, few individuals are in a position to dig themselves out, in accordance with specialists. Within minutes, respiratory creates an ice masks across the face. The snow ultimately hardens like a concrete entombment.
If pulled out inside quarter-hour, the Utah Avalanche Center says, 93% of avalanche victims reside. After 45 minutes, solely 20% to 30% survive. Few make it after two hours beneath the snow.
Survivors assemble tent-pole-like probes and stick them into the snow in hopes of hanging buried skiers, in accordance with specialists.
That Tuesday morning, they frantically poked by the hardening snow for their ski companions and mates. Eventually they dug out three individuals who have been now not alive, the sheriff mentioned.
“Uncovering people who are deceased, that they know and probably cared about, is just horrible,” Nevada County Undersheriff Sam Brown told CBS News.
“I don’t know anybody in the avalanche community or in the backcountry skiing and snowmobile community that hasn’t lost somebody they knew or loved,” Sara Boilen, a scientific psychologist and backcountry skier in Montana who makes a speciality of human elements in avalanche terrain, instructed NCS.
“We don’t do this because we love grief. We do this because we love the mountains and we love spending time there with people we love, and we love who we are in the mountains.”
A ‘magical place’ beset by tragedy
She added, “You can call that crazy. You can judge that and be like, ‘But it’s so dangerous.’ And maybe that’s true. We know it’s true, but we’re still going to live our lives.”
Kurt Gensheimer was on a three-night journey at Frog Lake Backcountry Huts and left Sunday, simply hours earlier than the mothers and the opposite skiers arrived. They by no means crossed paths.
He had been there 4 occasions within the final 4 years and understood the pull of the harmful but stunning environment.
“It’s a magical place,” Gensheimer instructed NCS affiliate KCRA. “It’s one of the best places to backcountry ski in the country and Frog Lake Huts are the nicest amenities, possibly in North America, for backcountry skiing.”
He thought-about the huts a protected place to journey out a storm however his group determined to depart earlier than the blizzard.
“The discussion in the huts was, this is a big storm coming… It’s going to be falling blizzard conditions. You either should get out by Monday or plan to be there till Thursday, Friday,” Gensheimer mentioned.
The tour firm that organized the ill-fated journey, Blackbird Mountain Guides, mentioned the tour leaders were highly trained and licensed in avalanche training.
A California Highway Patrol helicopter lifts off from a discipline after a mission with a search and rescue crew in Truckee, California, on February 20, 2026. – Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images
It was additionally conscious of the avalanche hazard.
On Sunday morning, the identical day the group launched into their journey, the corporate warned on Facebook of a large snow storm approaching and urged skiers to watch to the Sierra Avalanche Center and “use extra caution this week!”
That morning, the Sierra Avalanche Center issued an avalanche watch that was elevated to a warning at 5 a.m. on Tuesday: “HIGH avalanche danger exists in the backcountry.
The most dangerous time for avalanches is after a rapid snowfall, according to experts. Tuesday’s avalanche was classified as a D2.5 on a five-level scale that measures the destructive potential of moving debris, according to Moon.
On Saturday, Moon and other officials confirmed at a news conference that nine victims were recovered by California Highway Patrol and National Guard helicopters following avalanche mitigation efforts involving water drops.
Five victims were hoisted by helicopter from the site on Friday and four on Saturday, according to Nevada County Sheriff Lt. Dennis Haack. The body of a ninth victim, who was missing and presumed dead, was found near the other victims.
“I’m not going to say our recovery mission is complete until all of our responders … (are) home back at the office,” Moon mentioned Saturday.
The attract of backcountry snowboarding endures regardless of the dangers.
Nate Greenberg, who lives within the Eastern Sierra Mountains and mentioned he survived an avalanche in 2021, suggested towards dashing to judgment. Backcountry snowboarding, he mentioned, includes a number of “micro decisions.”
Ian McCammon, an engineer and avalanche researcher, additionally burdened the tough resolution making course of on the slopes.
“There’s usually a lot more than meets the eye to those accidents,” McCammon instructed NCS. “Once you start getting into the specifics, you start understanding. It’s easy to say that the people are foolish, or it’s easy to say that people have taken a lot of risks, but sometimes they’re in situations where it’s not obvious to see how they came to the decision that they did.”
Boilen, the scientific psychologist, mentioned: “We’re all desperate to understand what happened.”
“As a researcher, I want to understand so that we can deepen our sense of what is hard about decision making in the backcountry,” she instructed NCS. “As an educator, I want to understand so I can help others learn. As a backcountry user, I want to strengthen my own decision making by learning from others. And as a human I want answers – how could something like this happen? And we may never get all of the answers. That’s the thing about a wicked learning environment.”
She added, “Imagine losing somebody you love and simultaneously losing the relationship you have to the place you go to feel better. So, when you lose somebody in an avalanche and the mountains are the place that you feel most whole, most alive, it’s where you go for healing, what do you do?”
NCS’s Nouran Salahieh, Elizabeth Wolfe, Chris Boyette, Cindy Von Quednow, Alisha Ebrahimji, Chris Dolce, Mary Gilbert, Martin Goillandeau, Chimaine Pouteau, Stephanie Elam, Diego Mendoza, Karina Tsui, Danya Gainor, Briana Waxman, Andi Babineau and Brad Parks contributed to this report.
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