TRUCKEE, CA — The bodies of nine backcountry skiers were recovered from Castle Peak near Lake Tahoe Saturday morning as rescue crews raced to recover them from the mounatin of snow as another powerful storm bears down on the region. Among the dead was 30-year-old Michael Henry, an expert skier and backcountry guide from Tampa.

It was a sorrowful end to a dramatic week in which rescue crews faced whiteout conditions and ongoing threats of new avalanches in an effort to bring home the bodies of the dead to their families. In the end, crews deliberately triggered avalanches to make it safer to conduct a harrowing operation at times hindered by intense snowfall.

A search team reached the bodies of eight victims and found one other who had been missing and presumed dead since Tuesday’s avalanche on Castle Peak near Lake Tahoe. The ninth person who was missing was found “relatively close” to the other victims, but it was impossible to see them because there were white-out conditions on Tuesday when the others were located.

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According to Dallas Glass, an avalanche forecaster with the Northwest Avalanche Center, heavy snowfall and strong winds created dangerous avalanche conditions.

At a news conference on Saturday, Nevada County Sheriff Shannon Moon praised the collective efforts of the numerous agencies who helped recover the victims, including the 42 volunteers who helped on the last day of the operation.

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“We are fortunate in this mountain community that we are very tight knit, and our community shows up in times of tragedy,” Moon said.

Six of the victims were part of a close-knit group of college friends – advanced skiers on a backcountry adventure together, and three were guides with the expedition company.

The three Blackbird Mountain Guides who died Tuesday were identified by sheriff’s officials Saturday as Tampa’s Henry, Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nev., and Nicole Choo of South Lake Tahoe.

The six skiers killed in the avalanche have been identified as Caroline Sekar, Carrie Atkin, Kate Vitt, Liz Clabaugh, Kate Morse, and Danielle Keatley.

With their bodies recovered, the week ahead will bring funerals, community mourning and investgations into the conditions and decisions that led to one of the deadliest avalanches in modern history.

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.

The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into criminal negligence, and Cal/OSHA is conducting a separate investigation into Blackbird Mountain Guides, The San Francisco Chronicle first reported..

Stuck on the mountain for hours

The tragedy began around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday when six survivors called for help, describing a sudden and terrifying avalanche that was approximately the length of a football field. In the aftermath of the snowfall, those survivors had discovered the bodies of three deceased skiers nearby, according to Nevada County Sheriff’s Lt. Dennis Hack.

It was the last day of the three-day tour in the stunning and remote Sierra Nevada, and the group of 15 skiers decided to end the trip early to avoid the impending snowstorm. Officials described the path that the group was taking as a “normally traveled route” but declined to specify what that meant.

Initial reports indicated that at least two people in the group did not get swept away, Hack said. The others were standing separately and relatively close together and were hit with the avalanche.

Hack declined to offer more information about what might have set off the avalanche.

First responders weren’t able to reach them until roughly six hours after the initial call for help, Hack said, and were forced to take two separate paths. The rescue teams also found the bodies of five others, leaving only one unaccounted for.

But it was immediately clear to rescuers that it was too dangerous to extract the bodies of the victims at that time due to the heavy snowfall and threat of more avalanches. Those conditions persisted on Wednesday and Thursday, as the families of victims waited for the bad weather to abate.

Breakthrough on Friday

Officials used two helicopters belonging to the California Highway Patrol, with the help of Pacific Gas and Electric company, to break up the snow in the area to intentionally release unstable snowpack to reduce the risk of another avalanche for rescue crews.

The state highway agency was able to recover five victims that evening before it got too dark to access the last three.

A U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter takes off from the Truckee Tahoe Airport as recovery efforts for a group of missing skiers continue, continue in Truckee, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Helicopters with the California National Guard and California Highway Patrol recovered the final four bodies on Saturday morning with helicopters by hoisting them from the mountain with ropes, fighting through severe winds that forced the agencies to make multiple trips. The bodies were then taken to nearby snowcats — trucks that are outfitted to be able to drive on snow.

“We cannot say enough how tremendously sorry we are for the families that has been affected by this avalanche,” Moon said trip.

In total, 15 people, mostly a close-knit group of friends and four guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides, took part in the trip.

At least one of the victims was married to a rescue team member, and all were known for their love of backcountry wilderness. Some members of the group had ties to the elite Sugar Bowl Academy, a private boarding and day school for competitive skiers and snowboarders whose former students include multiple Olympians.

“They were all mothers, wives and friends, all of whom connected through the love of the outdoors,” according to a spokesperson for the families, who said the women were all from the Bay Area, Idaho and the Truckee-Tahoe region. “They were passionate, skilled skiers who cherished time together in the mountains.”

“We are heartbroken and are doing our best to care for one another and our families in the way we know these women would have wanted,” their families said. “We are asking for privacy and space as our families grieve this sudden and profound loss.”

Sisters Caroline Sekar and Liz Clabaugh died together on the mountain. The New York Times spoke with Clabaugh’s brother, who called the incident a “nightmare.”

Sekar (left) and Clabaugh (photo courtesy of families via JVP communications). Caroline Sekar (right) and her husband. (Courtesy of the victim’s families, per JVP Communications)

Sekar is a San Francisco resident and, according to her LinkedIn, a Stanford alum, while Clabaugh, 52, worked for St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho.

Kate Vitt, a Marin County mother who worked at Sirius XM and Pandora. The Kentfield School District sent an email to families on Wednesday saying that her two sons “are safe and are with their father, Geoff, as they navigate this profound loss,” according to The New York Times.

The community of Mill Valley is in mourning as news spread Thursday of the avalanche death of a mother of two young children. That mother turned out to be Vitt.

“Our heart in Mill Valley goes out to the families that have been impacted,” Mill Valley Mayor Max Perrey told The New York Times. “It’s a huge tragedy and a huge loss.”

The Kentfield School District in Marin County confirmed in an email that one of its community members, a mother of two young students, died in the avalanche, according to SFGate. The email, which identified the mother and her children, described the family as “a cherished part of our community” and stated that the two boys are with their father as they “navigate this profound loss.”

Sheryl Longman, neighbor of Tahoe avalanche victim Kate Vitt, holds a holiday card she received from Vitt at her home, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Greenbrae, Calif. (Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Some members of the group had ties to the elite Sugar Bowl Academy, a private boarding and day school for competitive skiers and snowboarders whose former students include multiple Olympians.

Kate Morse, a Tiburon resident and Vice President of a biotechnology company; Danielle Keatley, a Marin County resident who worked for a biopharmaceutical company and Carrie Atkin, a Truckee-Tahoe area resident, former corporate executive turned career coach and ex-Division I Track & Field athlete, were also identified by their families.

A photo of Kate Morse (Courtesy of the victim’s families, per JVP Communications)

The families asked for privacy while they grieve.

Land will reopen in March

The area will be closed to visitors until mid-March, said Chris Feutrier, the forest supervisor for the Tahoe National Forest. But he said that officials fully intended on restoring public access as soon as the investigation is complete.

“This is the public’s land, and they love to recreate on it,” Feutrier said. “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

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