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The three guides who died in the Castle Peak avalanche Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, were identified. From left: Michael Henry, Andrew Alissandratos and Nicole Choo.<\/p>\n
The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
Mitch Hall hadn\u2019t spoken to his former coworker in years, but he said Sunday that he was devastated to learn Michael \u201cMike\u201d Henry was one of nine people who died in Tuesday\u2019s Tahoe-area avalanche.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks to hear that somebody that\u2019s skilled with so much knowledge in the mountains can still somehow get into a deadly avalanche like that,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
Henry, whom Hall kept up with through Instagram posts<\/a>, had been part of a group of 15 on the final day of a three-day backcountry ski trip when the avalanche struck. Henry was one of three people killed who worked for Blackbird Mountain Guides.<\/p>\n Hall said he and Henry were hired at the same time in 2017 to work at Mountain Wave, a snowboard and bike rental shop in Breckenridge, Colorado. Henry, originally from Vermont, worked at the shop until 2019. In subsequent years, Hall frequently looked at Henry\u2019s Instagram Stories of his mountain adventures and found them inspiring.<\/p>\n \u201cHe really was living his passion and did what he loved and wanted to do,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n The skiers also killed were six women with ties to the Bay Area and the Sugar Bowl community<\/a> identified as Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs; Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur; Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon; Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco; and Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae.<\/p>\n As for the three Blackbird Mountain Guides staff members killed in the avalanche, they came from different backgrounds.<\/p>\n Guides Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nevada; Nicole \u201cNiki\u201d Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe; and Henry, 30, of Soda Springs also died. Their names were released Saturday after their bodies were recovered.<\/p>\n But it was clear Henry wasn\u2019t the only one who followed a passion for the mountains and was doing what he loved.<\/p>\n Andrew Alissandratos<\/p>\n The last time Niko Alissandratos saw his nephew, Andrew Alissandratos, in June 2023, he had accidentally shown up at a memorial reception for his brother and Andrew\u2019s father.<\/p>\n Niko Alissandratos said in a phone interview Sunday that he had been estranged from his brother and other family members for some years and hadn\u2019t intended to come to the reception. It was being held at a Tampa, Florida-area restaurant where he had gone for a different social gathering.<\/p>\n When people learned Niko Alissandratos was there, some were upset. Andrew Alissandratos kept his cool, though. \u201cHe was polite and courteous and seemed sincere,\u201d Niko Alissandratos said.<\/p>\n Niko Alissandratos said his nephew had been a smart child, with a curious mind. He enjoyed their conversations. He had long known his nephew, who was the oldest of three brothers, to be a nice person.<\/p>\n Andrew Alissandratos was from Tarpon Springs, Florida. In 2008, at age 16, he took part in a time-honored tradition for people of Greek descent: the Epiphany dive, in which participants attempt to retrieve a cross tossed into a body of water. His father had gotten the cross in 1977<\/a>, the Tampa Bay Times noted.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to catch it,\u201d Andrew Alissandratos told the paper. \u201cI love watching (the divers) all jump in at once.\u201d<\/p>\n He was still building a life for himself in recent months, marrying in September 2025, according to a note in his Facebook bio, which has since been removed. His wife could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n The Blackbird Mountain Guides website also listed Andrew Alissandratos\u2019 younger brother as a guide. The person who answered a phone number connected to the brother on Wednesday morning, before the avalanche victims were identified, declined to be interviewed.<\/p>\n On Andrew Alissandratos\u2019 Facebook page, Jeff Stoike wrote that he found the news of the death heartbreaking<\/a>. \u201cNo words,\u201d Stoike wrote. \u201cI\u2019ll miss our boat days. Save me a spot up there.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicole \u2018Niki\u2019 Choo<\/p>\n At different points in her life, Choo pursued various careers and interests.<\/p>\n A native of Ottawa, Ontario, the Canadian participated in alpine skiing as an undergraduate at University of British Columbia before she graduated in 2005. Not long after that, she earned an MBA from Western University in London, Ontario. She also played hockey, seeing it as a way to excel in business, as she explained to a Canadian paper that year<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou definitely feel a camaraderie among your teammates and you definitely meet more people than you would if you were golfing,\u201d Choo told the paper.<\/p>\n At multiple points, she worked for her father\u2019s Ottawa-based company, Ashcroft Homes. She said in a 2013 interview with The Ottawa Citizen about her family\u2019s business that she hadn\u2019t been sure about joining the company<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of interesting things to do and learn about in the world,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it comes down to working with people who believe in you and your abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Afterward, Choo earned a master\u2019s degree from Harvard University and made her way to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she did product or business development-related work. Her LinkedIn profile noted that she had worked with Accenture Song since 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n Choo\u2019s Instagram identified her<\/a> as a \u201cbiker, skier, paddler\u201d and dog owner. Her dog, Benson the Barnacle<\/a>, has his own Instagram page, filled with photos and videos of his outdoor adventures with Choo. Choo\u2019s own Instagram also features many photos and videos of her outdoor adventures, including scaling numerous California peaks, rock climbing, skiing, hiking and camping.<\/p>\n In a video posted to YouTube in 2021, Choo described nature as a \u201cplace to feel your most authentic self.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Her Facebook page also included photos of her 2023 wedding<\/a> in South Lake Tahoe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a magical, special day,\u201d Choo wrote. \u201cThank you to everyone who is in our lives cheering for us, supporting us and encouraging us to be our best selves!\u201d<\/p>\n Several people who had known Choo didn\u2019t respond to messages Sunday. One man said he wasn\u2019t ready to talk.<\/p>\n Michael \u2018Mike\u2019 Henry<\/p>\n Like at least three other Blackbird Mountain Guides staff, Henry had ties to Vermont. He had worked in Killington, Vermont, about 1\u00bd hours south of Burlington.<\/p>\n Andrea Charest, the co-owner of a Burlington-based climbing business Petra Cliffs, spoke to The Bee before the people killed in the avalanche had been publicly identified. Charest compared Burlington to Bozeman in Montana, Jackson Hole in Wyoming, or Boulder in Colorado, calling it a hub for outdoor enthusiasts.<\/p>\n Still, there were limits to what was available in Vermont.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to be a full-time guide in the east,\u201d Charest said. \u201cYou\u2019re usually chasing work.\u201d<\/p>\n For Henry, this meant relocating to Colorado in the mid-late 2010s, where he and Hall were hired together at Mountain Wave. Hall recalled Henry as being \u201cvery passionate\u201d about the snow. Of special interest to Henry was splitboarding, which Hall described as climbing on gripped skis when going uphill and then putting the skis together to snowboard downhill.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was out splitboarding almost every day,\u201d Hall said, noting that Henry did it more than almost anyone he knew. \u201cSo he was really into the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n Hall remembered Henry as laid-back, quiet and a good worker. Henry worked as an assistant manager at Mountain Wave through October 2019, around the time he was also earning professional certifications, according to his LinkedIn profile. Later, Hall followed Henry\u2019s Instagram posts and noted the messages he emphasized.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when the snow is bad, like, not great out there, he was still having a good time and still getting out there, getting after it,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n Henry\u2019s Instagram listed his interests as \u201csplitboarding, guiding, education\u201d and listed him as a \u201cfacilitator of solid life experiences.\u201d His Instagram showed photos and videos of Henry skiing and splitboarding.<\/p>\n \u201cEmbracing the dry spell before the storms roll in,\u201d reads his most recent post from December 2024. \u201cTurn on your brains and connect some dots. There\u2019s always good snow somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published February 22, 2026 at 5:24 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n Authorities identified the nine people who died in the Castle Peak avalanche Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in Nevada County. Top row, from left: Carrie Atkin, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Katherine Vitt and Caroline Sekar. Bottom row, from left: Michael Henry, Lizabeth Clabaugh, Andrew Alissandratos and Nicole Choo. The Sacramento Bee <\/p>\n
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