Multiple Victims Tied to Sugar Bowl Academy in Sierra Nevada Avalanche

Sugar Bowl Academy, a private ski-focused school in Norden, Calif., said Wednesday night that multiple people who died in a Sierra Nevada avalanche had ties to its program. The school said it would not release names or details of those who took part in the three-day expedition.

“We are an incredibly close and connected community,” Stephen McMahon, the academy’s executive director, said in the statement. “This tragedy has affected each and every one of us.” The group of 15 skiers included four guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides and had stayed two nights in huts near Castle Peak.

Only six of the skiers are known to have survived. The huts, owned by the Truckee Donner Land Trust, sit near Donner Summit at an elevation of about 7,600 feet.

United States, Norden, California

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