Photo: Nevada County Sheriff’s Office
A new report has shed light on the leadup to the deadly Castle Peak avalanche. The incident occurred on February 17, 2026, northeast of Donner Summit in the northern Sierra Nevada, killing six skiers and three guides.
The preliminary report was released Sunday by Blackbird Mountain Guides, the company that was leading the group caught in the avalanche. It was prepared by Don Sharaf, an avalanche professional with 35 years of field, education, and consulting experience across the avalanche and ski guiding industries, who looked at weather data, guide records, GPS tracks, and firsthand interviews and statements. By doing so, he was able to glean information about the guides’ decision-making process leading up to the avalanche and the group’s route.
Among the findings were that the group repeatedly attempted to reach terrain farther from the avalanche runout zone, but were stymied by an uncrossable creek. The report states that there was an alternate route available, but it was avoided as it went through private property with owners that have “aggressively pursued trespassers in past years.”
The report also addressed why the victims were not spaced farther apart. “The most likely explanation for the lack of spacing between skiers was that the guides did not recognize that they were in an avalanche path,” read the report. “The tight tree spacing, trees between the group and the start zone above, and the similarity to the terrain that they had just been crossing does not make the path easily recognizable. Navigating by a digital map on a phone can be impossible in blizzard conditions.”
What the report did not answer, though, was what actually caused the slide. “It is not known, nor will it ever be known, whether the avalanche was naturally triggered, or triggered by the weight of the group,” it stated. “None of the survivors report hearing or feeling a ‘whumpf’ or collapse prior to the avalanche.”
Blackbird Mountain Guides also released a statement that coincided with the report. “There is nothing easy about any part of this,” they wrote. “Nine deeply loved people are gone, three of them our own guides. There is still much that remains unknown, but this is the most complete information available so far and we hope the release of this information can help the community begin to heal together.”
