Ski firm Blackbird Mountain grieves, seeks answers after Sierra avalanche

Darrell Smith, The Sacramento Bee on Feb 19, 2026

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The Truckee company whose guides and ski group were swept away Tuesday in the deadliest avalanche in California history said it was grieving the tragedy as it worked to learn more about the catastrophe.

“This was an enormous tragedy, and the saddest event our team has ever experienced,” said Zeb Blais, founder of Blackbird Mountain Guides. “We are doing what we can to support the families who lost so much, and the members of our team who lost treasured friends and colleagues.”

Blackbird issued the statement late Wednesday in the firm’s first official remarks since the tragedy.

The group of 11 clients and their four guides had set out from the Frog Lake huts in the Lake Tahoe backcountry near Truckee, where they had been staying since Sunday, when they were caught in the avalanche, Blackbird officials said in a Tuesday Instagram post. The group was returning to the trailhead at the end of its three-day excursion when the deadly incident occurred in rugged, ungroomed terrain near the Pacific Crest Trail.

“There is still a lot that we’re learning about what happened. It’s too soon to draw conclusions, but investigations are underway,” Blais said.

A Blackbird guide and five clients survived the slide and were rescued. Two people were hospitalized. The bodies of eight others remained at the avalanche site, with weather and avalanche conditions too perilous for recovery. A ninth person remained missing and was presumed dead.

Rescue and recovery crews were unable to remove the victims from the mountain Thursday because of hazardous weather and avalanche conditions, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. Recovery efforts were expected to continue into the weekend, and authorities said they would not release the victims’ names, ages, affiliations or hometowns until the mission was completed.

“Due to hazardous weather conditions, avalanche victims cannot be safely extracted off the mountain today,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, adding that crews had worked “tirelessly around the clock” in dangerous conditions.

An avalanche warning remained in effect for the Lake Tahoe area through 5 a.m. Friday, and dangerous conditions were expected to persist for days after, said forecasters.

“It’s not a resource issue as we speak,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a Wednesday news conference detailing the rescue and recovery effort. “It is the conditions — weather conditions and safety conditions for our response teams.”

The dead included mothers of children in the Sugar Bowl Academy, a competitive ski racing program hosted at a ski resort not far from the avalanche site. Sugar Bowl Academy released its own statement Wednesday, saying that “multiple members of the Sugar Bowl Academy community” were among those lost.

They include a Mill Valley mother of two, Max Perrey, the Marin County city’s mayor told The New York Times.

“We are an incredibly close and connected community. This tragedy has affected each and every one of us. The depth of support for the families whose lives have been changed forever reminds us of how special this community is,” Sugar Bowl Academy executive director Stephen McMahon said in the statement.

“The best thing we can do is surround our athletes and families with care and support while providing the necessary space and time for grief and healing,” McMahon said.

Blackbird offers guided backcountry expeditions around Lake Tahoe, Lassen Peak and Mammoth Lakes, as well as several areas of Washington state, including Mount Baker, according to the company. Internationally, it offers backcountry trips to France, Italy, Japan and South America.

The company also offers courses in mountain guiding and in avalanche safety, as well as skiing, alpine climbing and rock climbing.

Blais said each of the guides on the doomed trek was trained and certified in backcountry skiing and served as an instructor with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education.

Blais’ statement added that guides in the backcountry communicate with guides at Blackbird’s base to discuss conditions and routes based on current conditions.

But public criticism, questions and bafflement have surrounded the decision to set out from the huts at Frog Lake in the middle of the season’s fiercest storm.

The state Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees Cal-OSHA, said Wednesday night that it had opened an investigation into the incident, including whether the company’s actions during the storm violated workplace safety rules.

Blais, who founded Blackbird in 2020, appeared to address the public concerns in the lengthy statement, calling for an end to speculation about the disaster. He said Blackbird had suspended its field operations through Sunday at the earliest, though that pause “may extend into the next week or two,” he said.

“Our most important focus is on those directly impacted. We ask that people following this tragedy refrain from speculating,” Blais said. “We don’t have all the answers yet, and it may be some time before we do. In the meantime, please keep those impacted in your hearts.”

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