An avalanche near Lake Tahoe killed eight people and left one skier still missing and presumed dead, making it the deadliest incident on Castle Peak in modern history. Six others were rescued.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom disclosed Thursday that the tragedy hit close to home. Speaking at an unrelated press conference, Newsom revealed personal ties to the victims.
"It turns out, a lot of mutual friends in Marin County — I'm just learning [that] some of my wife's old family friends were among the victims."
By late Thursday, the identities of six women who died had emerged. Among them were sisters Caroline Sekar, 45, and Liz Clabaugh, 52. Kate Vitt, a mom of two and a former vice president at SiriusXM, was also killed. Others identified on the expedition included Carrie Atkin, Danielle Keatley, and Kate Morse.
Hazardous weather shut down the search Thursday. The Nevada County Sheriff's Office delivered the grim update that morning:
"Avalanche victims cannot be safely extracted off the mountain today."
Recovery efforts were expected to carry into the weekend. Nearly 100 first responders had been involved in the search effort, according to a Wednesday post by Newsom on X. The scale of the response reflects the severity of the disaster, but the mountain itself has refused to cooperate.
Newsom called it the most devastating avalanche in terms of loss of life the state has ever experienced.
Blackbird Mountain Guides, the outfitter that led the trip, acknowledged the catastrophe in a statement:
"This was an enormous tragedy, and the saddest event our team has ever experienced."
The company said it lost three highly experienced members of its own team. It also acknowledged that investigations are underway, though it cautioned that it was "too soon to draw conclusions." Blackbird suspended field operations at minimum through February 22, with a possible extension into the following week or two.
Law enforcement added they were looking into the company, though no specifics about the scope or nature of that inquiry have been made public, according to the NY Post. Backcountry guiding operations carry inherent risk, but paying customers trust that professionals have assessed conditions and made responsible calls. Whether Blackbird did so here is the central question investigators will need to answer.
The families of the victims released a statement through a spokesperson:
"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."
That line tells you something about who these women were. Mothers, sisters, professionals. People whose absence will be felt at kitchen tables and school pickups and holiday gatherings for years. Caroline Sekar and Liz Clabaugh were sisters, meaning one family absorbed two losses in the same moment.
Backcountry skiing has grown enormously in popularity, drawing experienced outdoorsmen and women further from groomed runs and closer to terrain that does not forgive mistakes. The tradeoff between adventure and exposure is one every participant accepts in theory. But eight deaths on a single guided trip is not a routine consequence of risk acceptance. It demands answers.
The mountain will eventually give up the rest of what it took. The harder recovery will belong to the families left waiting at the bottom.