Sisters who were on a skiing trip with friends have been identified as two of the victims of the fatal avalanche in California, according to their brother.
Authorities said eight people have been found dead since the avalanche took place in the Castle Peak area of the Tahoe National Forest on the morning of Feb. 17. One person still has not been located, but is presumed to be deceased.
Although officials have yet to officially release any names, McAlister Clabaugh identified two of the victims as sisters Caroline Sekar, 45, of San Francisco, and Liz Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho, according to The New York Times.
McAlister, 50, described Caroline as a mother of two who previously worked in the tech industry.
“I’m just devastated,” he said. “These are two of the best people I’ve ever known. They were incredible sisters, mothers, wives and friends. And the idea that they are both gone is, I don’t even know how to put it into words.”
McAlister said he believed the group had been friends since college, many of whom attended Stanford University, and that they frequently met up for ski trips over the years.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/castle-peak-avalanche-1-021826-f5c81570d8ca4f719f328797a0d4ae0f.jpg)
“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 wives.”
The San Francisco Chronicle previously reported that the victims included a group of mothers whose kids were on a ski team at the nearby Sugar Bowl Resort, citing a source.
On Wednesday, Sugar Bowl Academy, a ski school affiliated with the resort, confirmed in a statement that multiple members of its community, along with others connected to Sugar Bowl, Donner Summit, and the backcountry community, were among those killed.
As of Thursday, Feb. 19, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office announced that the avalanche victims could not be safely extracted from the mountain due to hazardous weather conditions.
Recovery efforts are expected to continue through the weekend.
