Rescuers Find Ninth Skier Dead After Lake Tahoe Avalanche
Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said during a news briefing on Saturday that all nine victims have now been recovered from the Castle Peak area in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
She also confirmed the identities of those who died, which included close friends, two sisters, and three mountain guides. Two members of the group survived the “football-field sized” avalanche, the deadliest in modern California history, and authorities indicated that their accounts may help reconstruct the events leading up to the disaster.
Sheriff Moon described the severe weather conditions faced by rescue teams, noting that white-out conditions had hampered days of searching. Authorities also reported that avalanche risks remained high following Tuesday’s slide, and strong winds initially prevented the use of helicopters.
Once winds subsided on Friday, helicopters were deployed to pour water over the area — a precautionary measure to reduce avalanche danger — before search teams recovered the final missing skier.
The deceased were identified as Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs, California; Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur, California; Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, California; Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco, California; and Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, California.
The three Blackbird Mountain guides who perished were Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nevada; Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, California; and Michael Henry, 30, of Soda Springs.
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