Investigation Into Deadly CA Avalanche Released, Including New Details Into Rescue Efforts

A new report on the deadliest avalanche in California history provides new details into the conditions and the days-long rescue efforts by emergency crews to rescue six skiers and retrieve the bodies of nine others.

A group of 15 skiers was on the last day of a three-day backcountry skiing tour in the remote Sierra Nevada on Feb. 17, and had decided to end the trip early due to an impending snowstorm when an avalanche nearly the length of a football field suddenly struck.

Twelve skiers were immediately buried under the heavy snow. Three skiers who avoided being trapped desperately searched for their friends and were able to rescue three others, according to the report.

Search and rescue teams fought through heavy snowstorms and avalanche risks to reach the survivors, some of whom were taken to Frog Lake Huts to rest, and at least two to hospitals for treatment of injuries suffered during the avalanche. At that point, the remaining skiers still trapped under the avalanche were presumed dead.

On Feb. 20, PG&E helicopters successfully performed mitigation efforts in the area to prevent avalanches, according to the report, dropping and dragging hundreds of gallons of water with buckets along a slope.

This broke up the snow to intentionally release unstable snowpack, allowing rescue crews to safely get back into the Castle Peak area and retrieve the bodies of five skiers before returning the next day for the remaining four, according to the report.

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 Michael Henry, 30, of Tampa, Fla., 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.

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.