Ski guides killed in California avalanche remembered as skilled and passionate

Mitch Hall hadn’t spoken to his former coworker in years, but he said Sunday that he was devastated to learn that Michael “Mike” Henry was one of nine people who died in Tuesday’s Tahoe-area avalanche.

“It sucks to hear that somebody that’s skilled with so much knowledge in the mountains can still somehow get into a deadly avalanche like that,” Hall said.

Henry, who Hall kept up with through his Instagram posts, had been part of a group of 15 on the final day of a three-day backcountry ski trip when the avalanche struck. Henry was one of three people killed who worked for Blackbird Mountain Guides. The other six people who died were clients on the trip.

Hall said he and Henry were hired at the same time in 2017 to work at Mountain Wave, a snowboard and bike rental shop in Breckenridge, Colorado. Henry, originally from Vermont, worked at the shop until 2019. Hall found himself in subsequent years looking frequently at Henry’s Instagram Stories of his mountain adventures. Hall found them inspiring.

“He really was living his passion and did what he loved and wanted to do,” Hall said.

The skiers who died were six moms identified as Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs; Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur; Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon; Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco; and Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae.

As for the three Blackbird Mountain Guides staffers killed in the avalanche, they came from different backgrounds.

Guides Andrew Alissandratos, 34, of Verdi, Nev; Nicole “Niki” Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe; and Henry, 30, of Soda Springs also died. Their names were released Saturday after their bodies were recovered.

But it was clear that Henry wasn’t the only one who followed a passion for the mountains and was doing what they loved.

Andrew Alissandratos

The last time Niko Alissandratos saw his nephew Andrew Alissandratos in June 2023, he’d accidentally shown up to a memorial reception for his brother and Andrew’s father.

Niko Alissandratos said in a phone interview Sunday that he’d been estranged from his brother and other family members for some years and hadn’t intended to come to the reception. He explained that it was being held at a Tampa, Florida-area restaurant where he’d gone for a different social gathering.

When people learned that Niko Alissandratos was there, some were upset. Andrew Alissandratos kept his cool, though. “He was polite and courteous and seemed sincere,” Niko Alissandratos said.

Niko Alissandratos said his nephew had been a smart child, with a curious mind. He enjoyed their conversations. He’d long known his nephew, who was the oldest of three brothers, to be a nice person.

Andrew Alissandratos was from Tarpon Springs, Florida. There in 2008 at age 16, he took part in a time-honored tradition for people of Greek descent: doing the Epiphany dive, where people attempt to retrieve a cross tossed into a body of water. His father had gotten the cross in 1977, the Tampa Bay Times noted.

“I’ve always wanted to catch it,” Andrew Alissandratos told the paper. “I love watching (the divers) all jump in at once.”

He was still building a life for himself in recent months, marrying in September 2025, according to a note in his Facebook bio, now removed. His wife could not be reached for this story.

The Blackbird Mountain Guides website also has listed Andrew Alissandratos’ younger brother as a guide. The person who answered a phone number connected to the brother on Wednesday morning, before the victims of the avalanche were identified, declined to be interviewed.

On Andrew Alissandratos’ Facebook page, Jeff Stoike wrote that he found the news of the death heartbreaking. “No words,” Stoike wrote. “I’ll miss our boat days. Save me a spot up there.”

Nicole ‘Niki’ Choo

At different points in her life, Choo pursued various vocations or interests.

A native of Ottawa, Ontario in Canada, she participated in alpine skiing as an undergraduate at University of British Columbia before she graduated in 2005. Not long after that, she earned an MBA from another Canadian school, Western University. She also played hockey, seeing it as a way to excel in business, as she explained to a Canadian paper that year.

“You definitely feel a camaraderie among your teammates and you definitely meet more people than you would if you were golfing,” Choo told the paper.

At multiple points, she worked for her father’s Ottawa-based company, Ashcroft Homes. She said in a 2013 interview with The Ottawa Citizen about her family’s business that she hadn’t been sure about joining the company.

“There are a lot of interesting things to do and learn about in the world,” she said. “I think it comes down to working with people who believe in you and your abilities.”

Subsequent to this, Choo earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and made her way to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she did product or business development-related work. Her LinkedIn profile noted that she’d worked with Accenture Song since 2021.

Choo’s Instagram identified her as a “biker, skier, paddler” and dog owner. Her dog, Benson the Barnacle, has his own Instagram page, filled with photos and videos of his outdoor adventures with Choo. Choo’s own Instagram also features many photos and videos of her outdoor adventures, including scaling numerous California peaks, rock climbing, skiing, hiking and camping.

In a video posted to YouTube in 2021, Choo described nature as a “place to feel your most authentic self.”

Her Facebook page also included photos of her 2023 wedding in South Lake Tahoe.

“It was a magical, special day,” Choo wrote. “Thank you to everyone who is in our lives cheering for us, supporting us and encouraging us to be our best selves!”

Several people who’d known Choo didn’t respond to messages Sunday. One man said he wasn’t ready to talk.

Michael ‘Mike’ Henry

Like at least three other Blackbird Mountain Guides staff, Henry had ties to Vermont. He had worked in Killington, Vermont, about 1-½ hours south of Burlington.

Andrea Charest, the co-owner of a Burlington-based climbing business as Petra Cliffs, spoke to The Bee before the people killed in the avalanche had been publicly identified. Charest compared Burlington to Bozeman in Montana, Jackson Hole in Wyoming or Boulder in Colorado, calling it a hub for outdoor enthusiasts.

Still, there were limits to what was available in Vermont.

“It’s really hard to be a full-time guide in the east,” Charest said. “You’re usually chasing work.”

For Henry, this meant relocating to Colorado around the late 2010s, where he and Hall were hired together at Mountain Wave. Hall recalled Henry as being “very passionate” about the snow. Of special interest to Henry was splitboarding, which Hall described as climbing on gripped skis when going uphill and then putting the skis together to snowboard downhill.

“He was out splitboarding almost every day,” Hall said, noting that Henry did it more than almost anyone he knew. “So he was really into the mountains.”

Hall remembered Henry as laid-back, quiet and a good worker. Henry worked as an assistant manager at Mountain Wave through October 2019, around the time he was also earning professional certifications, according to his LinkedIn profile. Later, Hall watched what Henry would post on Instagram and took note of the messages he would emphasize.

“Even when the snow is bad, like, not great out there, he was still having a good time and still getting out there, getting after it,” Hall said.

Henry’s Instagram listed his interests as “splitboarding, guiding, education” and listed him as a “facilitator of solid life experiences.” His Instagram showed photos and videos of Henry skiing and splitboarding.

“Embracing the dry spell before the storms roll in,” reads the most recent post from December 2024. “Turn on your brains and connect some dots. There’s always good snow somewhere.”

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