San Francisco Woman Among Six Victims Identified in Deadliest California Avalanche

Six victims of Tuesday’s deadly avalanche near Lake Tahoe have been identified, including a San Francisco mother who lived in Bernal Heights, according to family representatives and local officials.

The avalanche near Castle Peak killed nine people total, making it the deadliest in California history, according to authorities. Eight bodies have been recovered and one skier remains missing and presumed dead.

A spokesperson for several families identified six victims: Carrie Atkin, Liz Clabaugh, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Caroline Sekar, and Kate Vitt. Caroline Sekar lived in Bernal Heights with her husband and two children, a neighbor told media outlets.

The group consisted of eight close friends who had planned a professionally guided, two-night backcountry hut trip to Frog Lake Huts outside of Truckee, according to the family spokesperson. The skiers were experienced in backcountry conditions and carried avalanche safety equipment.

“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,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Sekar’s husband, Kiren Sekar, described his wife as “authentic and unabashedly unfiltered” in a statement to media. “Caroline spent her final days doing what she loved best, with the people who loved her most, in her favorite place,” he said.

The tragedy struck a three-day backcountry ski party that included 11 guests and four guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides, a Truckee-based outfit. Three guides and six guests died, including Sekar’s sister Liz Clabaugh, who lived in Idaho, according to reports.

Marin County communities are mourning several victims who lived there. In Greenbrae, neighbors remembered Kate Vitt, who had moved to the area about four years ago with her husband and two sons.

“They were just an ideal family,” her next-door neighbor Sheryl Longman said. “It doesn’t feel real.”

Longman described the Vitt family as adventurous, often taking camping trips. She showed a Christmas card from the family featuring them with their new Portuguese water dog, Smokey, on a rocky shore beside a mountain lake.

“Attractive, hard-working people, good to their kids,” Longman said. “Just everything you’d want to be.”

Another neighbor, Carleen Cullen, said she had bonded with Vitt, a former SiriusXM executive, while discussing local public schools. “She just was super friendly, upbeat — kind of, you know, a mom that was in there with the kids,” Cullen said.

In Mill Valley, Mayor Max Perrey confirmed that several skiers on the trip, including at least one who died, were mothers who lived in the Marin County town. “Our heart in Mill Valley goes out to the families that have been impacted,” Perrey told local media. “It’s a huge tragedy and a huge loss.”

The avalanche occurred during ski week, the winter break when Bay Area families typically flock to Lake Tahoe resorts, according to local observations.

Several victims had connections to Sugar Bowl Academy, a private school for competitive youth skiers, with some of their children reportedly on the academy’s teams. “We are an incredibly close and connected community. This tragedy has affected each and every one of us,” said Stephen McMahon, the school’s executive director.

In a tragic coincidence, one unnamed victim was married to a member of the rescue team that responded to save the stranded skiers, according to Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo.

The incident has shaken Bay Area skiing communities, highlighting the risks even experienced backcountry skiers face in challenging mountain conditions.