Sierra avalanche disaster victims: Mothers, adventurers, sisters

Several of the victims in California’s deadliest avalanche in modern history were mothers with ties across Northern California, from the Bay Area to the mountains around Tahoe.

Many of the women who were caught in the avalanche Tuesday north of Lake Tahoe were among a close group of friends who loved to spend time in the mountains, according to local and national media reports.

At least eight skiers have been confirmed dead, and one remains unaccounted for but is presumed dead, according to authorities. Six people were rescued from where the group encountered an avalanche in the Castle Peak area on their way back from a backcountry skiing adventure.

Officials have not yet released the identities of any victims, and extreme weather in the area has continued to stymie efforts to search for the missing body, or even to retrieve those already confirmed dead.

Still, as information is slowly revealed about who died in this devastating mountain incident, grief has shaken communities across Northern California and beyond.

What we know about the avalanche victims

The group of 15 — four paid guides and 11 trip participants — were at the end of a three-day backcountry skiing trip to the Frog Lake huts when the avalanche occurred.

Among the victims were two sisters, Caroline Sekar, 45, of San Francisco and Liz Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho, according to the New York Times. Their families told the outlet that the two were both moms and part of a tight-knit group of friends who often met up for ski trips.

One of the victims was the mother of two elementary-school-age children in Marin County, according to the Marin Independent Journal. The superintendent of Kentfield School District, about 15 miles north of San Francisco, sent an email to families describing the victim as “a cherished part of our community,” the outlet reported.

The mayor of Mill Valley, a Marin County city not far from Kentfield, told the New York Times that some of the skiers on the trip, including at least one who died, were mothers from his city.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of those women had ties to the Sugar Bowl Academy, a private ski and snowboard school and club in the Tahoe area. The school said it had members of its community who died in the avalanche.

In a statement, the Norden-based school didn’t say exactly who in its community had died, but ABC7 Los Angeles reported that several parents of students at the academy had died in the expedition.

“We are an incredibly close and connected community. This tragedy has affected each and every one of us,” Stephen McMahon, the executive director of the academy, said in a statement. “The best thing we can do is surround our athletes and families with care and support while providing the necessary space and time for grief and healing.”

One of the dead skiers was married to a member of the Tahoe Nordic rescue team, a volunteer group from Tahoe City that joined in the desperate search.

Three of the four guides, all from the Truckee-based company Blackbird Mountain Guides, were also among the eight confirmed dead.

The three guides were all trained or certified in backcountry skiing by the American Mountain Guides Assn. and were instructors with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education, according to a statement from Zeb Blais, founder of Blackbird Mountain Guides.

In addition to that training, their guides in the field “are in communication with senior guides at our base, to discuss conditions and routing based upon conditions,” Blais said in a statement. “There is still a lot that we’re learning about what happened. It’s too soon to draw conclusions, but investigations are underway.

“We ask that people following this tragedy refrain from speculating,” Blais wrote. “In the meantime, please keep those impacted in your hearts. … This was an enormous tragedy, and the saddest event our team has ever experienced.”

What we know about the trip

The backcountry ski trip to the Frog Lake huts is described by Blackbird Mountain Guides as a way to access “some of the best backcountry skiing terrain in North Lake Tahoe.” The trip can cost a skier around $1,500 depending on the timing of the journey. The huts are owned by the Truckee Donner Land Trust, which warns that the journey from the trailhead to the cabins takes several hours and passes through dangerous avalanche terrain.

On Sunday, as forecasters warned that the biggest winter storm of the season was headed for California’s High Sierra, the group of nine women and six men set off on the expedition on the slopes above Donner Pass.

The storm arrived as predicted and by Tuesday morning had dumped several feet of fresh, unstable snow. That’s when the group attempted its perilous journey back to civilization, in a blinding blizzard beneath towering, avalanche-prone slopes.

But just as they were a couple of miles from safety, someone in the group saw a wall of snow — estimated to be the size of a football field — barreling toward them. Someone yelled, “Avalanche!” according to Rusty Greene, operations captain for the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials received a distress call around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, setting off a challenging rescue operation in treacherous, remote, freezing conditions, eventually reaching the six survivors around 5:30 p.m.

What we know about those found alive

The six found alive — four men and two women — ranged in age from 30 to 55, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

One of the four guides on the expedition survived.

Times staff writer Jack Dolan contributed to this report.