The family of six friends and their mother killed in an avalanche in the Sierra Nevada this week identified the victims Thursday and said they were “devastated.”The victims include Carrie Atkin, Liz Clabaugh, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Caroline Sekar and Kate Vitt, their families said in a statement. The women, mostly raising families in the Bay Area and traveling regularly to the Tahoe area, are close-knit.“They were mothers, wives and friends, all connected by their love of the outdoors,” the family said. “They are passionate, skilled skiers who cherish the time they spend together in the mountains.” The women’s two-night guided trip to Frog Lake, a remote cabin outside Truckee, Calif., was planned in advance, the statement said. They were experienced skiers “equipped with full avalanche safety equipment.” Family members said they still have many questions that remain unanswered. Sekar, 45, lives in San Francisco, and her sister Clabaugh, 52, lives in Boise, Idaho. Sekar’s husband, Kiren Sekar, 46, provided a separate statement to The New York Times, recalling his wife as “authentic, unapologetic and unvarnished” and a woman who spread joy and enthusiasm to her circle of friends, her children’s school and her community. He said he and his wife have been together for more than 20 years, and she has raised two children who enjoy hiking, biking and skiing in the mountains.“Caroline spent her last few days doing her favorite things in her favorite place with the people who loved her most,” Seka wrote.In addition to the sisters and Atkin, the other avalanche victims were from Marin County, California, north of San Francisco.The avalanche was the deadliest in modern California history and one of the deadliest in the United States.Eight women were on the friends’ ski trip, family members said, suggesting two survived. Three of the four guides were killed in the avalanche, according to their employer, Blackbird Mountain Guides. Many of the mothers were contacted through Sugar Bowl Academy, a private ski school that said Wednesday that multiple victims were connected to its community in Norden, Calif., a few miles from where the avalanche occurred.Marin County is an affluent, family-oriented town, and children’s sports and ski vacations in the Tahoe area have become a regular part of the local culture.According to officials in Nevada County, which includes the area where the avalanche occurred, rescuers have not yet been able to free eight victims on the mountain because of the storm. A ninth person is still missing.
