TRUCKEE
As the last daylight faded Sunday, the sound of “Amazing Grace” rose toward the peaks that cup this mountain town.
Holding candles, hundreds of residents of this and other Tahoe-area communities sang the hymn in soft unison as they gathered to honor the nine people killed by an avalanche while skiing in the backcountry near Donner Pass, around ten miles to the northwest.
Some in the crowd knew one of the three guides who died. Or they knew one of the six skiing moms and longtime friends those guides had been leading on a tour into the backcountry. Others came to support neighbors and friends who had lost a loved one, or showed up just because community ties grow strong in small mountain towns where people share both the hardships of extreme weather and the joys of recreating outdoors.
Truckee Vice Mayor Courtney Henderson, right, and Mayor Anna Klovstad listen to the Threshold Singers perform a song before a vigil in Truckee on Sunday for the victims of an avalanche almost a week prior. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com
“However that grief is held tonight, it will not be held alone,” Courtney Henderson, the vice mayor of Truckee, said.
Cathy Simi drove up from Reno because she is friends with the parents of Carrie Atkin, a 42-year-old resident of South Lake who was one of the mothers.
“We just felt we had to be here, to support the community, to support our friends, and to support Carrie,” Simi told The Sacramento Bee. She described a family steeped in a shared passion of winter sports. Her friends, Atkin’s parents, had joined their daughter on Saturday, the day before the group embarked into the backcountry, to watch their granddaughter compete in a ski race, Simi said.
Cathy Simi, of Reno, cries during a vigil in downtown Truckee on Sunday in honor of the victims of a deadly avalanche that struck the Lake Tahoe area the previous week. Simi was friends with one of the victims, Carrie Atkin, and Atkin’s family. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com
The mothers who died in the avalanche had a shared connection to Sugar Bowl Academy, a high-level ski racing program based in Donner Pass.
The group began a two-night trip into the backcountry on Feb. 15, one week before Sunday’s vigil. The trip coincided with the start of a well-forecasted, and, for skiers and snowboarders, highly-anticipated series of snowstorms that began Monday.
Avalanche forecasters predicted the snowfall would lead to an elevated risk of snow slides as it accumulated rapidly on a snow pack that had not seen a significant refresh since the start of the year.
On Monday morning those forecasters issued a high avalanche danger warning. On Tuesday the tour group sought to exit the backcountry. The avalanche struck them not long into that journey. Six people survived and were rescued Tuesday night by volunteer members of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team, who traveled into the site by skis and by snowcat.
Truckee community members gather for a vigil in downtown Truckee on Sunday to remember the victims of a deadly avalanche that struck the Lake Tahoe area the previous week. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com
Continued winter storms made recovery of the bodies unsafe until the weekend. Four of the victims were brought out Friday, and five on Saturday.
Each of the nine victims was represented at Sunday’s vigil by a white post with a blue heart on top of it.
“She was such a beautiful person and it’s a loss for everyone, for the world,” Simi said of Atkin. “She’ll be missed.”
Learning about the victims, where they lived and why they spent time in the mountains made the deaths poignant even to those who didn’t know them, Meritt Sawyer, a resident of the Serene Lakes community in Donner Pass, said. “It just felt very personal,” she said. Her and her husband often hike in the Castle Peaks area, she said. “We love this community.”
Karin Shepamek writes a message on a heart during a vigil in downtown Truckee on Sunday, in honor of the victims of a deadly avalanche that struck the Lake Tahoe area the previous week. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com
Among the crowd were people still wearing snowpants and other ski gear. Some had spent the day skiing or snowboarding in the snow deposited by the historic series of weeklong storms that, while it brought joy to many, also aligned with a series of area tragedies.
Beyond the avalanche victims, two skiers died at Heavenly Resort on Friday morning and authorities found a 21-year-old off-duty ski instructor dead after he was reported missing Wednesday while skiing at the resort amid the blizzard.
Death is no stranger to people who have dedicated their lives, and built their communities, around dangerous mountain sports. The numbers this week, and in particular the scale of the tragedy of the avalanche, hit home particularly hard, Truckee city councilman and ski shop owner Dave Polivy said.
“Tonight is just about getting people together and giving them an opportunity to be with each other,” he said. “I hope everybody can heal and does what they need to do.”
Sharpie markers hung by string from the blue hearts, and people used them to write messages to the dead and their loved ones. “Ride on, brother,” someone wrote on the sign for Andrew Alissandratos, 34, a guide and backcountry snowboarder from Verdi, Nevada.
The Bee’s Hannah Ruhoff contributed reporting.
This story was originally published February 22, 2026 at 9:54 PM.
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Andrew Graham reports for The Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Bureau, where he covers the Legislature and state politics. He previously reported in Wyoming, for the nonprofit WyoFile, and in Santa Rosa at The Press Democrat. He studied journalism at the University of Montana.