Search and rescue teams fought through heavy snowstorms and avalanche risks to reach the survivors, some of whom were taken to Frog Lake Huts to rest, and at least two to hospitals for treatment of injuries suffered during the avalanche. Nine died in the avalanche. <\/p>\n
Three were identified as Blackbird Mountain Guides: Michael Henry, 30, of Tampa, Fla., Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nev., and Nicole Choo of South Lake Tahoe. The guides on the trip had years of experience in backcountry skiing and certifications from the American Mountain Guides Association, which offers the highest level of training in the industry, Blackbird Mountain Guides said.<\/p>\n
The six other skiers killed in the avalanche have been identified as Caroline Sekar, Carrie Atkin, Kate Vitt, Liz Clabaugh, Kate Morse, and Danielle Keatley.<\/p>\n
(Left to right) Top: Caroline Sekar, Carrie Atkin, Kate Vitt Bottom: Liz Clabaugh, Kate Morse, Danielle Keatley died together in an avalanche Tuesday on Castle Peak. ( Courtesy of families via JVP communications) <\/p>\n
State officials are investigating whether the expedition company Blackbird Mountain Guides was criminally negligent in allowing its guides to lead a three-day trek into the Sierra Nevada backcountry despite avalanche warnings and blizzard conditions.<\/p>\n
The Nevada County Sheriff\u2019s Department has forwarded results of its own criminal investigation to the district attorney\u2019s office for review of possible criminal charges, said Ashley Quadros, a spokesperson with the sheriff\u2019s office. The DA\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Search and rescue teams fought through heavy snowstorms and avalanche risks to reach the survivors, some of whom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-440043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440043","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=440043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}