Eight skiers dead, 1 missing presumed dead, in Sierra avalanche

A

againstthegrain

Well-known Member
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Sun Valley, ID
"The bodies of eight of the nine skiers overcome by an avalanche on Tuesday near Lake Tahoe had been found, Nevada County officials said in a news conference on Wednesday. One member of the group remains missing and presumed dead, in what is already the deadliest avalanche in modern California history.

The skiers had been part of a group of 15, including four guides, on a three-day backcountry expedition in a rugged but popular recreational area near Castle Peak. Six others from their group were able to use a combination of emergency beacons and iPhone S.O.S. functions to contact rescuers, who braved treacherous conditions to reach them late Tuesday night."

Backcountry skiing is risky business.
 
When I saw the news about the avalanche today, I was hoping they'd be found alive, but knew the reality was that they probably wouldn't be. I find it particularly sad when people are just out to have a good time and wind up being the victims of tragedy. It's also still dangerous for the rescuers because more avalanches are forecast. I really feel for their families. May those lost R.I.P.
 
Not only is it tragic that eight skiers are dead, but that has to be one of the most terrifying ways to go. First they were swept away in the avalanche. Then they were buried alive in what some who have escaped a similar predicament described as being immobilized in concrete.

I'm a bit claustrophobic and just thinking about what that must have been like makes me anxious.
 
"Multiple victims in the Sierra Nevada avalanche had ties to the Sugar Bowl Academy, a private, ski-focused school located several miles from where at least eight people died, the program said Wednesday night.

Officials with the school in Norden, Calif., said they were not releasing the names or details of the people who went on the three-day expedition.

“We are an incredibly close and connected community,” Stephen McMahon, executive director of the Sugar Bowl Academy, said in the statement. “This tragedy has affected each and every one of us.”

A group of 15 skiers, which included four guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides, embarked on the backcountry expedition on Sunday and stayed two nights in huts near Castle Peak. Only six of the skiers are known to have survived.

The group had been staying in cabins known as the Frog Lake huts, which are owned by Truckee Donner Land Trust, a nonprofit land conservancy. The huts are near Donner Summit, just northwest of Truckee, at an elevation of about 7,600 feet above sea level.

Max Perrey, the mayor of Mill Valley, Calif., said that some of clients on the ski trip, including at least one who died, were mothers who lived in his city. Mill Valley is a picturesque town in Marin County about 180 miles southwest of the Donner Summit area, and many Sierra skiers have roots in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mr. Perrey did not know whether the Mill Valley residents had ties to the Sugar Bowl Academy. “Our heart in Mill Valley goes out to the families that have been impacted,” he said. “It’s a huge tragedy and a huge loss.”"

Blackbirds Insta post prior to the storm.

"As we move into a large storm cycle this week, pay close attention to places where faceting has been particularly strong - avalanches could behave abnormally, and the hazard could last longer than normal.

⚠️Pay close attention to @savycenter and use extra caution this week!"

They know what's coming, but even that isn't enough to prevent a disaster.

 
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IrishEyes said:
I have been in that area when I went to Lake Tahoe and it is some wicked terrain near the Donner Pass.
Just visualizing skiing that after walking some of it :eek: Condolences to the families and friends.
Click to expand...

Boy is that the Gospel Truth. I would imagine most folks don’t know the dark history of Donner Pass.

Donner party | History, Route, Facts, & Survivors | Britannica


“ No fear“ as I used to be, there is no way this side of Hades that I would tackle that area in the winter months. They say one of the deceased skiers was married to one of the rescuers trying to find them.
 
Saw one video of the avalanche approaching and it seemed some didn't think it would affect them yet the snow splashed on the lense.

Same thing happened in Italy many at the bottom didn't realize it would affect them

RIP those lost and hoping for survivors.
 
"The families of six friends and mothers who were killed in a Sierra Nevada avalanche this week identified the victims on Thursday and said they were “devastated beyond words.”

In a statement, the families said that the women who died were Carrie Atkin, Liz Clabaugh, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Caroline Sekar and Kate Vitt. The women bonded as most of them raised their families in the Bay Area and enjoyed regular trips to the Tahoe region.

“They were all mothers, wives and friends, all of whom connected through the love of the outdoors,” the families said. “They were passionate, skilled skiers who cherished time together in the mountains.”

The women embarked on a guided, two-night trip to the Frog Lake Backcountry Huts outside Truckee, Calif., that was planned well in advance, according to the statement. They were experienced skiers who were “fully equipped with avalanche safety equipment.”


The families said they had many unanswered questions and requested privacy as they grieved.
Ms. Sekar, 45, lived in San Francisco, and her sister, Ms. Clabaugh, 52, lived in Boise, Idaho.
Ms. Sekar’s husband, Kiren Sekar, 46, provided a separate statement to The New York Times recalling his wife as “authentic and unabashedly unfiltered,” a woman who spread joy and enthusiasm to her circle of friends, her children’s school and her neighborhood.

He said he and his wife were together for more than 20 years and that she raised their two children to love hiking, bicycling and skiing in the mountains."
 
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