The identities of the six – all women – were shared by a family spokesperson with the BBC’s US media partner, CBS News. They are: Caroline Sekar, Liz Clabaugh, Carrie Atkin, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, and Kate Vitt, all from either the Bay Area, Idaho, or the Truckee-Tahoe region.
“We are devastated beyond words,” a statement from the families said.
“Our focus right now is supporting our children through this incredible tragedy and honoring the lives of these extraordinary women.”
The families have asked for privacy during this period of sudden grief.
Sekar, 45, of San Francisco, and Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho, were sisters, their brother told the New York Times, external.
McAlister Clabaugh, 50, said that many in the group of 11 skiers had been friends since university and would regularly meet for ski trips.
“These are two of the best people I’ve ever known,” Clabaugh said. “They were incredible sisters, mothers, wives and friends. And the idea that they are both gone is, I don’t even know how to put it into words.”
Max Perrey, the mayor of nearby Mill Valley, told local media that some of the 11 clients on the ski trip, including at least one who died, were mothers from his city, which is in nearby Marin County.
One of the deceased was the spouse of someone on one of the search-and-rescue teams, making continued rescue efforts “challenging emotionally”, according to Sheriff Wayne Woo, from neighbouring Placer County.
Three guides from the Blackbird Mountain Guides, who were leading the group back from a three-day backcountry skiing expedition, were killed in the avalanche, according to the company.