Nine bodies recovered in deadly Sierra Nevada avalanche, officials say

The bodies of nine skiers who were killed in an avalanche in the mountains near Lake Tahoe in California this past week have been recovered, authorities said Saturday, bringing to a close an effort that had been hampered for several days by hazardous weather conditions.

A ninth victim who had been missing was found and recovered along with four other victims Friday, Lt. Dennis Haack of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said at an afternoon news conference.

Four other victims were recovered Saturday morning, according to the sheriff’s office.

“While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home,” said Shannan Moon, the sheriff.

The avalanche Tuesday was the deadliest in modern California history. The victims were part of a group of 15 people, including four professional guides, finishing up a three-day backcountry trek through Castle Peak, a remote part of the Sierra Nevada.

The group had set out on its expedition last Sunday even as the region anticipated its first big blizzard of the year and an avalanche prediction center had warned of a “high” danger level for travel in avalanche-prone areas.

Officials for the first time identified the victims, including a group of six women and three of the group’s guides, two men and one woman. The six women were Carrie Atkin, 46; Liz Clabaugh, 52; Danielle Keatley, 44; Kate Morse, 45; Caroline Sekar, 45; and Kate Vitt, 43.

Family members, who had previously identified the women, said they were a friend group, including two sisters, who regularly took trips to the Lake Tahoe area. Several were from the Bay Area. The three guides, who worked for Blackbird Mountain Guides, were Andrew Alissandratos, 34; Michael Henry, 30; and Nicole Choo, 42.

Officials said Saturday that the recovery operations began Friday, after they took steps to reduce the threat of further avalanches in the area and deemed conditions safe enough to send in rescuers. A storm that passed Thursday also had complicated recovery efforts.

All of the bodies were hoisted out using helicopters and taken to a staging area near Frog Lake huts, where the group of skiers had been lodging before their trip, officials said. The ninth victim, who had been missing, was found “relatively close to where everyone else was located,” Haack said.

Officials had previously said the ski group had been caught in an avalanche about the size of a football field around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Six survivors, four men and two women, were rescued after using avalanche beacons and the SOS satellite function on their iPhones.

Rescuers had traveled for several hours in a snowcat, a treaded vehicle, over difficult terrain before finally reaching the survivors around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the county sheriff’s office. The survivors led the rescue team to the remains of three people, and rescuers later located five other victims.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.