The households of six girls killed within the deadliest avalanche within the U.S. in over 40 years say all of them had been married moms who “related by way of the love of the outside.”
In an announcement ship to USA TODAY on Thursday, Feb. 19, the households recognized their family members as Carrie Atkin, Liz Clabaugh, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Caroline Sekar and Kate Vitt. They had been amongst eight killed when an avalanche struck their social gathering of 15 within the backcountry of California’s Sierra Nevada simply exterior Lake Tahoe on Feb. 17. A ninth particular person has not been recovered and is presumed useless, whereas there have been six survivors.
“We’re devastated past phrases,” the relations mentioned. “Our focus proper now could be supporting our kids by way of this unbelievable tragedy and honoring the lives of those extraordinary girls … They had been passionate, expert skiers who cherished time collectively within the mountains.”
The ladies lived within the San Francisco Bay Space, the Lake Tahoe-Truckee area, and Idaho.
The corporate that was guiding the journey that the ladies had been on, Truckee-based Blackbird Mountain Guides, is dealing with robust questions on why the backcountry journey moved ahead regardless of dire warnings a few storm that was anticipated to carry as much as 8 toes of contemporary snow and create “very harmful” avalanche situations.
“We’ve got many unanswered questions,” the households mentioned. “However here’s what we all know presently: Eight shut pals deliberate a professionally guided, two-night backcountry hut journey to Frog Lake huts exterior Truckee, California. The journey had been organized effectively prematurely. They had been skilled backcountry skiers who deeply revered the mountains. They had been educated and ready for backcountry journey and trusted their skilled guides on this journey.”
Here is extra from the households and what Blackbird Mountain Guides is saying concerning the tragedy.
Contained in the seek for lacking skiers after California avalanche
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A rescue staff departs to the positioning of an avalanche in a backcountry slope of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the place a bunch of skiers had been stranded, in Nevada County, California, Feb. 17, 2026, on this nonetheless picture from a video.
Blackbird Mountain Guides founder: Guides had been ‘extremely skilled’
The 4 guides who led the 11 visitors into and all through the backcountry had been “extremely skilled,” Blackbird Mountain Guides founder Zeb Blais mentioned in an announcement on Feb. 18.
“There’s nonetheless loads that we’re studying about what occurred,” he mentioned. “It’s too quickly to attract conclusions, however investigations are underway … We ask that folks following this tragedy chorus from speculating. We don’t have all of the solutions but, and it might be a while earlier than we do.”
Blais known as the avalanche an “huge tragedy” and “the saddest occasion our staff has ever skilled.”
“We’re doing what we will to help the households who misplaced a lot, and the members of our staff who misplaced treasured pals and colleagues,” he mentioned.
Blais mentioned all the guides had been educated by the American Mountain Guides Affiliation or licensed in backcountry snowboarding, and that all of them had intensive data about avalanches.
“As well as, guides within the area are in communication with senior guides at our base, to debate situations and routing primarily based upon situations,” he mentioned.
Authorities wanting into choices made
Authorities are investigating “the totality” of the tragedy, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon mentioned at a information convention on Feb. 18. That features discovering out why the journey wasn’t canceled.
“Numerous forecasts on this storm,” Moon mentioned. “These are the choices that the information firm clearly had made. We’re nonetheless in dialog with them on the choice components that they made.”
Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon replies to a query throughout a press convention after a bunch of skiers went lacking in an avalanche within the Sierra Nevada mountains, on the Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace in Nevada Metropolis, Calif., Feb. 18, 2026.
She mentioned attending to the underside of the main questions surrounding the tragedy is her prime precedence.
“I feel that is the core piece of my thoughts, is wanting to have the ability to present solutions to the households that had been affected, the information members that had been current and the purchasers that paid for this journey,” she mentioned.
Households of victims: Family members ‘totally outfitted’ for avalanches
The households mentioned of their assertion Thursday that their family members had been “totally outfitted with avalanche security tools.”
“We’re heartbroken and are doing our greatest to look after each other and our households in the best way we all know these girls would have needed,” the households mentioned. “We’re asking for privateness and area as our households grieve this sudden and profound loss.”
Authorities haven’t launched the identities of the opposite victims of the avalanche.
This screengrab from a video offered by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace exhibits a rescue ski staff making their technique to the realm of an avalanche within the Citadel Peak space of Truckee, California, on Feb. 17, 2026. Rescuers had been looking Tuesday for ten skiers who had been hit by an avalanche within the mountains of California, the place an enormous storm has dumped a number of toes of snow. (Photograph by HANDOUT / Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace / AFP through Getty Pictures) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace / HANDOUT” – HANDOUT – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ORIG FILE ID: 2261696114
Some victims had been members of elite snowboarding academy
A few of these killed had been members of the elite Sugar Bowl snowboarding academy, the college mentioned in an announcement. “Sugar Bowl Academy is concentrated on supporting its athletes, college students, workers, and households by way of this tragedy.”
Sugar Bowl Academy is an unbiased, coed boarding and day faculty for aggressive skiers in grades 8-12 positioned in Norden, California, close to Lake Tahoe.
The academy focuses on creating high-caliber athletes, with graduates steadily transferring on to U.S. ski groups and NCAA Division I packages. It has produced quite a few elite skiers, notably for the U.S. and worldwide ski groups, with eight alumni named to the 2022 Winter Olympics. Notable alumni embrace World Cup winner Alice Robinson, U.S. Olympian Luke Winters and Freeride World Tour Champion Isaac Freeland.
“The Sugar Bowl Academy neighborhood will proceed to be there within the months and years forward for the households which have misplaced family members,” the college mentioned.
“We’re an extremely shut and related neighborhood. This tragedy has affected each one among us,” Govt Director Stephen McMahon mentioned. “The perfect factor we will do is encompass our athletes and households with care and help whereas offering the mandatory area and time for grief and therapeutic.”
Contributing: Mike James, USA TODAY
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Households mourn 6 mothers killed in California avalanche: ‘Devastated’