TRUCKEE — Six of the eight people confirmed dead in an avalanche earlier this week in the Sierra Nevada were identified Thursday afternoon.
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They were identified as Carrie Atkin, Liz Clabaugh, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Caroline Sekar and Kate Vitt, according to a statement released by their families.
“We are devastated beyond words,” the statement read in part. “Our focus right now is supporting our children through this incredible tragedy and honoring the lives of these extraordinary women.”
“They were all mothers, wives and friends, all of whom connected through the love of the outdoors,” the statement read. “They were passionate, skilled skiers who cherished time together in the mountains.”
Authorities have said they would not publicly confirm the identity of anyone killed until after the bodies had been brought down the mountain, an operation that was still delayed Thursday due to blizzard conditions.
The women were on a “professionally guided” trip to Frog Lake Huts outside Truckee when they were caught in the avalanche – the largest in state history – near Castle Peak, according to the statement.
“They were trained and prepared for backcountry travel and trusted their professional guides on this trip,” the statement read. “They were fully equipped with avalanche safety equipment.”
Two other people on the trip were killed and another is missing but presumed dead. They have not been identified.
In San Francisco’s Bernal Heights, where Sekar lived with her husband and two children on a block packed with young families, neighbors said they have lost the “brightest, sunniest and most positive person” — an amazing mom.”
“The way it works with all these kids around the same ages is like, if you’re mom to one, you’re mom to all. And she definitely was that, and then some,” said Jen Wofford, who lives across the street and said her daughter and Sekar’s daughter are close friends.
During the pandemic, Sekar, 45, helped block off the street and hosted movie nights projected onto her garage door. She started a WhatsApp group among parents to keep track of their kids playing at different houses and opened her front porch for drop-offs of organic produce boxes for neighbors.
“She called it ‘babysitting them,’” Wofford said Thursday. “If it’s hot, there’s an umbrella. If it’s raining, there’s an umbrella at a different angle,” she said, describing Sekar’s habit of adjusting the porch setup to keep the kids comfortable.
Skiing was a “huge part” of the Sekars’ lives, she said. They spent much of the summer in Tahoe and had headed to the mountains for ski week when the tragedy struck.
The bodies of the nine people who died remain on the mountain, marked only by avalanche poles pushed into the snow.
“That part really bothers me,” Wofford said. “It’s just horrible.”
Emergency crews, who battled gale-force winds and whiteout conditions to rescue six survivors Tuesday evening, are waiting for the weather to improve before they can return to bring the victims home.
Check back for updates.