{"id":251686,"date":"2026-04-04T14:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251686\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T14:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:09:33","slug":"report-finds-group-hit-by-deadly-sierra-avalanche-skirted-basic-safety-practice-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251686\/","title":{"rendered":"Report finds group hit by deadly Sierra avalanche skirted basic safety practice \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report on the deadliest avalanche in California history<\/a> \u2014 which killed nine backcountry skiers and guides in February near Lake Tahoe \u2014 found that a guided group deviated from basic safety practices in crossing slide-prone terrain close together despite a warning that avalanches were expected.<\/p>\n

The report, compiled by the U.S. Forest Service National Avalanche Center and Colorado Avalanche Information Center, stops short of assigning blame but raises questions about the group\u2019s decisions and the guiding company\u2019s choice to travel as avalanche risk remained high. The tragedy remains under investigation by the local sheriff and state occupational safety authorities.<\/p>\n

The report also found that a guide and client who fell behind due to a ski binding malfunction avoided being caught in the avalanche \u2014 and later helped rescue others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer the following comments based on what is known at the time of this report in hopes that they will help in avoiding future avalanche accidents,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it is the first official assessment of the tragedy, which remains under investigation by the local sheriff and state occupational safety authorities, to point to decision-making among the group as a factor. Among its comments:<\/p>\n

This group traveled below avalanche terrain and through the runout zone of an avalanche path.
\nExposing only one person at a time to avalanche terrain is an accepted best practice for backcountry travel.
\nThis group consisted of 15 people. Analysis of past avalanche accidents has indicated that larger group sizes (4 or more people) have higher chances of being caught in avalanches.<\/p>\n

The report further noted that a client and a guide were were \u201ca ways behind the rest of the group due to the client experiencing an equipment problem with one of their ski binding toe pieces,\u201d and that \u201cthis separation may have kept them from being caught in the avalanche along with the rest of their party.\u201d It added that \u201cthe Guide and Client not caught in the avalanche were able to save the lives of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackbird Mountain Guides said in a statement Friday that the report \u201cdoes not reflect the full scope of what transpired and does not include all of the facts and information currently under review.\u201d Company spokeswoman Mary Ann Pruitt said Blackbird is \u201ccooperating fully with authorities and will share more when it is appropriate and based on verified and confirmed findings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen skiers \u2014 four guides from a local Truckee company and 11 of their clients \u2014 set out Feb. 17 at the end of a three-day stay at Frog Lake Huts northeast of Donner Summit. A blizzard raged, and the day\u2019s avalanche report warned big slides were to be expected.<\/p>\n

Thirteen of the group were hit by an avalanche that swept down a slope on Perry\u2019s Peak, northwest of Frog Lake. One client unburied himself, and joined a guide and another client in digging out the other three survivors, according to the report. Three guides and six clients were killed.<\/p>\n

The guides were leading their clients out on a day when the Sierra Avalanche Center classified the slide risk as \u201chigh<\/a>\u201d \u2014 one step below \u201cextreme\u201d \u2014 with large to very large avalanches<\/a> caused by sliding slabs of snow \u201cvery likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report also noted that two separate client groups from Blackbird Mountain Guides \u2014 one a group of female friends<\/a>\u00a0with two guides, the other a trio of men with two guides \u2014 had been combined into a party of 15 for the trip out to the Castle Peak Snowpark trailhead beside I-80.<\/p>\n

The day after the avalanche, company owner Zeb Blais said in a statement<\/a> that all guides on the trip were \u201ctrained or certified in backcountry skiing\u201d by the\u00a0American Mountain Guides Association and were instructors with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education.<\/p>\n

Guides in the field, Blais said, \u201care in communication with senior guides at our base, to discuss conditions and routing based upon conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the day the 11 clients and their Blackbird guides skied in to Frog Lake Huts, Blackbird had posted a video on social media<\/a> advising backcountry users of a looming storm and warned people to \u201cuse extra caution\u201d and monitor alerts from the Sierra Avalanche Center.<\/p>\n

The group left Frog Lake Huts amid what the report called an \u201cintense storm\u201d with high winds and \u201cvery poor visibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

The client who was buried and freed himself said he had seen a \u201cwall of white\u201d rushing at him, swirling with \u201cstrange blurs of colors\u201d from people and skis tumbling within it, the report said, citing a New York Times article<\/a> based on interviews with the man, Anton Auzans, and another client, Jim Hamilton of Capitola.<\/p>\n

Auzans, still partially trapped, shouted, \u201cWe have people buried,\u201d and pointed to the last spot he\u2019d seen anyone.<\/p>\n

While the guide used his beacon device to search for beacon signals from buried skiers, Hamilton saw a moving ski pole poking up out of the snow. It led him to a survivor, who had been able to breathe via a gap in the snow along his arm and ski pole. The guide found two others.<\/p>\n

Hamilton, Auzans and the guide, who has not been publicly named, dug the three out.<\/p>\n

\"Perry'sPerry\u2019s Peak (8,320 feet) near Castle Peak in the Sierra Nevada, where a deadly avalanche struck a guided backcountry ski group on Feb. 17, 2026. (Sierra Avalanche Center)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The slide appears to have involved a thick slab of soft snow breaking loose at a weak layer in the snowpack, the report said. The avalanche descended approximately 400 vertical feet down a face of Perry\u2019s Peak, creating a debris field about 100 feet wide, the report said.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether the slide was triggered by the group or occurred naturally<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of the victims had been wearing backpacks equipped with airbags that can help keep people on the surface of an avalanche, but had not pulled the cords to deploy the bags, the report said.<\/p>\n

Killed in the tragedy were Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs; Lizbeth 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

Blackbird guides who lost their lives were Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nevada; Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe; and Michael Henry, 30, of Tampa, Florida.<\/p>\n

Many questions around the \u201chuman factors\u201d that led up to the catastrophe, including decision making and travel plans, remain unanswered, the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs more details emerge over time,\u201d the report said, \u201cmore learning opportunities will present themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report on the deadliest avalanche in California history \u2014 which killed nine backcountry skiers and guides…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,8,1531,138,11330,643,871,181,23,100,182,88,90,89,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-251686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-news","10":"tag-crashes-and-disasters","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-disaster","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-lake-tahoe","15":"tag-latest-headlines","16":"tag-local-news","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-pm-report","19":"tag-san-jose","20":"tag-san-jose-headlines","21":"tag-san-jose-news","22":"tag-weather"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}