Two sisters have been identified as victims of a California avalanche that buried eight mothers alive.
Caroline Sekar, 45, of San Francisco, and Liz Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho, were among the group of 11 skiers who took off on Castle Peak Mountain near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday morning when they were caught in the sudden avalanche, their brother, McAlister Clabaugh told The New York Times.
‘They were incredible sisters, mothers, wives and friends,’ he said. ‘And the idea that they are both gone is, I don’t even know how to put it into words.’
McAlister then went on to explain that many in the ski group had been friends since they attended Stanford University together, and would meet up regularly over the years for ski trips.
‘A lot of the people on that trip were Caroline’s friends who used to do this together,’ he said. ‘There’s a whole community of people, a lot of whom just lost their lives.’
The news of the sisters’ deaths comes just hours after the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that SiriusXM executive and mother-of-two Kate Vitt, 43, a Boston College alumnus, was also killed in the rockslide.
It is unclear whether they were connected to the Sugar Bowl Academy, a private, ski-focused school that said Wednesday that multiple victims had ties to its community in Norden, California, just miles from where the avalanche occurred.
Sugar Bowl families go on an annual trip to the slopes together, which is organized by the parents and not affiliated with the school, a close source told the San Francisco Chronicle. In this instance, the fathers are believed to have skied together on one excursion, and their wives went off on another.
Caroline Sekar, 45, was identified Thursday as one of the victims of a fatal avalanche near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday
Her sister Liz Clabaugh was also killed in the deadly avalanche
Fifteen skiers led by Blackbird Mountain Guides were on Castle Peak late Tuesday morning when they were hit by a slide and a huge storm dumping heavy snow
A Sugar Bowl alum has claimed the tragedy had nothing to do with the victims’ skiing abilities.
‘I am pretty surprised that there were people out there backcountry skiing, but I don’t think it’s a matter of anybody’s skill,’ Alex Alvarez, who attended the academy during her junior year of high school, told CBS News.
‘I think it’s more Mother Nature saying, “Hey, this is a bad time.”‘
Alvarez added that the scale of devastation, which saw nine people killed, is ‘really unexpected’ in the Lake Tahoe area.
‘We get big avalanches, but it’s usually just one or two people,’ she said.
The rockslide was the deadliest in modern California history, and rescue workers have been unable to reach the bodies of eight skiers on Castle Peak mountain amid treacherous conditions, which were expected to continue at least through Thursday.
Meanwhile, a ninth person remains missing, but is presumed dead.
Six people were rescued six hours after the avalanche hit as they were concluding a three-day ski tour organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides.
Kate Vitt is the Vice President of Product Operations and Customer Success at SiriusXM
The skiers took off amid treacherous conditions in the Lake Tahoe region
Authorities have said the skiers had little time to react.
‘Someone saw the avalanche, yelled “Avalanche!” and it overtook them rather quickly,’ said Captain Russell ‘Rusty’ Greene, of the Nevada County sheriff’s office.
Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said investigators would look into the decision to proceed with the trip on Sunday despite the forecast of a massive incoming storm.
That morning at 6.49am, the Sierra Avalanche Center issued an avalanche watch, indicating that large avalanches were likely in the next 24 to 48 hours.
The watch was elevated to a warning by 5am Tuesday, indicating that avalanches were expected. It is not clear whether the guides knew about the change before they began their return trek.
Blackbird Mountain Guides also said in a statement Wednesday night that it has launched an investigation and paused field operations at least through the weekend, while prioritizing support for the victims’ families.
The company guides who led the group were trained or certified in backcountry skiing and were also instructors with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education.
Some of the victims of the tragic California avalanche were a group of mothers whose children attended the elite Sugar Bowl Academy ski school in the Lake Tahoe community
While in the field, they ‘are in communication with senior guides at our base, to discuss conditions and routing based upon conditions,’ Blackbird Mountain Guides founder Zeb Blais said in the statement.
‘We don’t have all the answers yet, and it may be some time before we do,’ the company said. ‘In the meantime, please keep those impacted in your hearts.’
But for those that have now lost their loved ones, McAlister said ‘it’s the worst nightmare.’
He told the Times how Sekar and her husband were in the process of setting up a guesthouse on their property in San Francisco, and said he had texted with her just last week about visiting.
‘I literally had it on my calendar to give her a call, because we had been playing phone tag,’ McAlister recounted.
He said Sekar worked in the tech industry, but her true passion was taking care of her two sons.
Her husband, Kiren Sekar, 46, also called his wife ‘authentic and unabashedly unfiltered,’ a woman who spread joy and enthusiasm to her friends, her children’s school and her neighborhood.
He said he and Caroline had been together for more than 20 years and that she raised her two children to love hiking, bicycling and skiing in the mountains.
‘Caroline spent her final days doing what she loved best, with the people who loved her most, in her favorite place,’ Kiren said.
‘She was with me, her children and our puppy and then on one last adventure with her sister and close friends, who she now rests with.’
