Crews have recovered and identified all nine victims killed in Tuesday’s avalanche near Castle Peak, which has become the deadliest in modern California history.
“While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a press conference Saturday.
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as:
Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nevada
Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs, California
Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, California
Lizabeth “Liz” Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho
Michael Henry, 30, of Soda Springs, California
Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur, California
Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, California
Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco, California
Katherine “Kate” Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, California
Alissandratos, Choo and Henry were guides with Blackbird Mountain Guides, the Truckee-based outdoor tour company that organized the 15-person trip. One guide and five clients survived the slide.
Company founder Zeb Blais said in a statement Wednesday that all guides on the 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).
Alissandratos and Henry’s biography pages on Blackbird Mountain Guides’ website list multiple AMGA and AIARE qualifications, including as rock and alpine guides. They were also both listed as members of the American Avalanche Association. Choo did not appear to have a biography on the company site at the time of publishing.
Family members previously identified Atkin, Clabaugh, Keatley, Morse, Sekar and Vitt in a joint statement released Thursday. They were part of an eight-person group of friends traveling to the Frog Lake Huts northwest of Truckee.
Families identified six of the victims as Carrie Atkin (top left), Liz Clabaugh (top middle), Danielle Keatley (top right), Kate Morse (bottom left), Caroline Sekar (bottom middle) and Kate Vitt (bottom right).Courtesy of Kiren Sekar and the victims’ families
“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.
“They were 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,” it continued.
The group trip was described as having been organized “well in advance.”
Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday some of the victims were family friends. “Turns out a lot of mutual friends in Marin County, I’m just learning some of my wife’s old family friends,” he said at a public transportation event in the Bay Area.
Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, live in Marin County. The families said Thursday that three — Keatley, Morse and Vitt — were from Marin County as well.
Blackbirds Mountain Guides suspended field operations until at least Feb. 22 in the wake of the avalanche. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) confirmed Thursday it has also opened an investigation into the company.
A spokesperson said the agency has six months to complete its investigation. Cal/OSHA 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.
Recovering the victims
A 911 call reporting the avalanche was made Tuesday around 11:30 a.m. Officials described the slide as being about the size of a football field.
Dozens of search and rescue personnel and specialized equipment responded to the area around Castle Peak to try and locate the group. Emergency responders were able to make contact with six survivors via iPhone SOS messages. They were ordered to shelter in place until rescuers arrived around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Officials said the survivors had found three bodies of their traveling group by the time rescuers arrived Tuesday. Five more bodies were later found, but the ninth remained missing for days.
Emergency responders deploy to rescue six skiers and find others caught in an avalanche in the Castle Peak area near Truckee Feb. 17, 2026.Courtesy of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office
Rescue teams were unable to initially remove the deceased due to severe weather conditions, including high winds and heavy snow, along with avalanche dangers. Recovery efforts were hampered on Wednesday and Thursday due to continued hazardous conditions. Officials conducted avalanche mitigation on Friday to try and support personnel on the ground.
Nevada County Sheriff’s Lt. Dennis Haack said search and rescue personnel from the California Highway Patrol were able to locate the ninth victim and recover five bodies Friday. The other four victims were recovered Saturday, the last at 10:58 a.m. The bodies needed to be removed by helicopter and tracked vehicles.
Haack said the ninth victim was found “relatively close” to the rest of the group. “That night it was whiteout conditions and they were unable to locate that individual, but when the conditions permitted they were able to quickly locate that individual,” he explained.
He said preliminary information indicated that two people toward the rear of the group were not swept away by the avalanche and survived. “Everybody that was located at the bottom of the fall was in close proximity,” Haack said.
The group was on the final day of a three-day backcountry tour which departed Sunday, and were returning to the trailhead when the avalanche struck. “They did decide to leave early, to try to get off the mountain early,” Moon said Saturday.
Officials did not provide additional information about the path the group took, but described it as “a normally-traveled route.”
The Sierra Avalanche Center had declared an avalanche watch Sunday which was later upgraded to an avalanche warning Tuesday morning, hours before the slide.
The U.S. Forest Service on Thursday closed all National Forest lands and trails between Castle Peak and the South Fork of Prosser Creek until March 15. Officials said the closure was for the safety of the public and first responders, especially due to instability within the snowpack. It also aimed to support efforts to recover the deceased.
Chris Feutrier, Forest Supervisor for the Tahoe National Forest, said Saturday the agency will reopen the forest when the operations are complete.
“The Forest Service doesn’t close public land for every hazard or every obstacle. We trust the American people to use their best judgment when recreating,” he said.
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