California workplace safety officials have cited a Truckee-based guide company in connection to the deadliest avalanche in modern state history, the first formal finding of fault against the company since the Feb. 17 slide killed nine people.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) confirmed to CapRadio Thursday it cited Blackbird Mountain Guides for seven alleged safety violations, totaling $151,300 in proposed penalties, including a willful violation for failing to keep its guides out of avalanche terrain when the danger was rated “high.”
The news comes just over six months after three Blackbird guides and six clients died in the Feb. 17 avalanche near Perry’s Peak in the Sierra Nevada backcountry. Two of the violations are directly related to the avalanche itself, while the remainder are for general workplace violations.
Cal/OSHA documentation shows the citations were issued on Aug. 12. A spokesperson for Blackbird told CapRadio Thursday the company has filed a formal appeal of the citations, saying they “do not reflect the reality of our profession or the safety program we have built.”
"We believe Blackbird operated in full compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements, consistent with the established safety frameworks of the broader professional mountain guiding industry,” the company said in a statement, adding that mountain guiding happens in “dynamic wilderness environments where conditions change minute to minute.”
The statement also noted that all three guides who died in the avalanche — Andrew Alissandratos, Nicole Choo and Michael Henry — had years of experience and certifications from the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), recognized as the gold standard in international mountain guiding.
"As an IFMGA guide, I’ve pursued the highest training and certification available to our industry because I take this responsibility seriously, as do all of my guides," Blackbird’s founder and owner Zeb Blais said in the statement. “The guides on this trip approached their work with care and professionalism."
“Serious accident-related” violations
Cal/OSHA’s authority is limited to workplace safety, so its findings focus on the three Blackbird guides who died, not on the six clients.
The biggest proposed penalty levied by Cal/OSHA totals $81,000, and is classified as “willful-serious accident related,” meaning the violation contributed to a death or serious injury.
It focuses on violations of state standards for keeping a written injury and illness prevention program. Investigators determined that Blackbird Mountain Guides did not maintain such a program on two instances related to the tragedy.
In one case, Cal/OSHA says Blackbird “failed to implement effective methods or procedures” to address the “imminent hazard” of the company’s guides travelling into the backcountry amid the increasing danger of an avalanche.
The citation added that Blackbird did not do enough to remove “exposed employees” from the hazard area “in, near or below avalanche terrain.” The company also failed to ensure its guides “did not make decisions contrary to forecast recommendation, until the existing conditions were corrected.”
As a result of these failures, the agency wrote that Alissandratos, Choo and Henry were fatally injured by the Feb. 17 avalanche.
Additionally, Cal/OSHA wrote that Blackbird did not correct “unsafe conditions and work practices of employees.”
Investigators said one employee bypassed an “Incident Command Post” and entered an “identified high risk avalanche area managed under an Incident Command System, against the recommendation of local law enforcement.”
No information was provided about who the employee was, or which law enforcement agency was making the recommendation.
CapRadio reached out to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office for clarification. A spokesperson said Friday the sheriff's office led rescue and recovery efforts during the avalanche, but directed other questions to the Nevada County District Attorney's Office.
Beyond the willful violation, Cal/OSHA says Blackbird failed to "effectively and accurately identify, assess, and anticipate the dangers" of running guided tours when the avalanche hazard was rated high.
This $16,200 citation was classified as “serious accident-related” and lists four shortcomings. The agency says the company had no effective procedures for when the Sierra Avalanche Center raised its danger rating from "considerable" to "high" on the morning of Feb. 17, a rating that carried "a recommendation not to travel in, near, or below avalanche terrain."
It also says Blackbird never evaluated the risk of "combining two guided tour groups together" into a single party for the exit. Fifteen people were traveling together when the slide hit.
The agency says the company failed to check that its guides were filling out their morning hazard and risk forms "completely and correctly." Blackbird's own preliminary summary, released Aug. 9, described a detailed internal forecast on the morning of Feb. 17, rating the danger high at all elevations and setting the day's mindset as a "MAJOR Step Back."
“Serious” and other violations
Three violations cited by Cal/OSHA were deemed “serious” by investigators, each carrying a $16,200 penalty. The agency says Blackbird failed to assess whether its guides needed protective equipment for travel "in or near avalanche terrain with highly anticipated avalanche conditions."
The citation names two devices the company should have considered: avalanche airbags, backpacks that inflate to help keep a skier near the surface of moving snow, and Avalungs, breathing devices designed to extend survival time under burial.
All nine victims died of asphyxia, according to the Nevada County Coroner’s Office. The deepest were buried under roughly 10 feet of debris. One guide was found with his head about a foot beneath the surface. Officials said all victims were carrying avalanche beacons during the time of the slide.
Another citation says Blackbird did not adequately train guides on its own risk-management system, including the morning and evening forms meant "to reduce risk and human error." Cal/OSHA also said Blackbird did not train employees involved in emergency response, "to ensure that employees coordinated with law enforcement and did not bypass established Incident Command Post."
The final “serious” citation was for failing to include “all required elements” in Blackbird’s written safety plan covering hazard identification, employee training and accident investigation. Cal/OSHA did not specify which elements were missing.
Two other citations were also levied against the company. Cal/OSHA fined Blackbird $5,000 because it did not “immediately report” the deaths of its three guides within an eight-hour period required by state law.
The company also lacked a written heat illness prevention plan, which state rules require for outdoor employees. The penalty was $500.
Abatement
All seven violations are marked "Corrected During Inspection." A separate notice says the agency verified on July 10 that the five serious violations had been abated, about a month before the citations were issued.
The penalties for those items were reduced by half as a result, according to the citation's standard language.
Prior investigations
Cal/OSHA’s citations were issued just days after Blackbird released a preliminary, independently-conducted investigation into the Feb. 17 avalanche.
The report was compiled by veteran avalanche professional Don Sharaf, and paired with Blackbird’s summary of his findings.
Sharaf’s report concluded the touring group was trying to reach a pre-mapped route to get out of potential avalanche danger zones — and put more distance between itself and avalanche paths overhead – but an open creek blocked their way out.
The report also detailed snow and weather conditions on the day of the accident, the chaos as surviving clients and guides tried to dig out their buried travelers, and the response from first responders and others — including Blackbird’s founder, Zeb Blais.
A separate inquiry by Cal/OSHA's Bureau of Investigations, which reviews workplace deaths for possible criminal charges, remains open.
The Nevada County Sheriff's Office also opened a criminal investigation into Blackbird Mountain Guides days after the accident. A sheriff’s office spokesperson previously told CapRadio it has been forwarded to District Attorney Jesse Wilson for review.
The Blackbird citations are not the first time Cal/OSHA has proposed six-figure penalties over an avalanche death in the Sierra this year.
In June the agency cited Mammoth Mountain Ski Area for three alleged violations, including one classified as willful, after a December 2025 avalanche killed 30-year-old ski patroller Cole Murphy and seriously injured a second during avalanche mitigation work.
The proposed penalties in that case total $126,000. Mammoth contested all three citations on July 22, and the case remains open according to Cal/OSHA’s website.
This story was originally published on the Capital Public Radio website on Aug. 20, 2026.
Editor's note: This story was updated by CapRadio to include a response from the Nevada County Sheriff's Office.
