Experienced Ski Guide Group Founder Tragically Involved in Fatal Tahoe Avalanche

The founder of a guiding company now under criminal investigation following a tragic avalanche at Lake Tahoe is no stranger to high-altitude achievements. Zeb Blais, the accomplished skier and mountaineer who created Blackbird Mountain Guides in Truckee, California, back in 2020, boasts an impressive record with two successful summits of Mt. Everest.

Over his two-decade career as a mountain guide, Blais has led numerous expeditions, but none as heart-wrenching as the recent ill-fated tour group at Castle Peak. The avalanche tragically claimed the lives of eight individuals, including six women affectionately known as “supermoms” and three guides, with another person still presumed dead.

The incident has spurred an investigation by state and local authorities into Blackbird Mountain Guides. They are scrutinizing the decision to proceed under treacherous conditions, especially after a video was posted on social media the day before the excursion. The clip showed a guide examining a fragile snow layer that could easily trigger an avalanche, accompanied by a warning of an incoming “BIG storm.”

Blais himself is no stranger to the perils of the mountains. In a 2021 podcast interview, he recounted a harrowing experience in Tajikistan where he and his team were caught in an avalanche. They had grown “impatient” while traversing a glacier known for its “unstable” snow, a reminder of the ever-present risks in such environments.

Blais himself is no stranger to disaster.

He said he got caught in an avalanche in Tajikistan after he and his team grew “impatient” crossing a glacier they knew had “unstable” snow, he explained in a 2021 podcast interview.

Blais said his group exhibited poor judgement and called it “one of the biggest learning experiences of my career” after snow buried the thrill-seeker and he needed to be rescued.

“I don’t care where you are, you just don’t want to get caught in a real avalanche. Yeah it was for me, it was a huge shift, and just like, yeah, this can happen to you,” he said.

Blais has reached some of the world’s tallest and most perilous peaks, including Everest, Cho Oyu and Lobuche in the Himalayas, according to his bio on Blackbird’s website. He’s summited other famed mountains, from Argentina’s Aconcagua and Alaska’s Denali to Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn in the Alps, as well as skiiing six of the seven continents.

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Blais is also a licensed “avalanche blaster,” meaning he’s authorized to trigger explosives to clear unstable snow that could lead to avalanches, according to his LinkedIn page.

He also has other qualifications related to avalanche safety and teaches courses on the subject.

Blais founded Blackbird to “help his clients reach their lofty mountain goals in good style,” his bio states.

“Whether its shredding powder, jamming on granite or swinging tools on ice, Zeb loves moving people in the mountains and sharing his experience with his clients. His favorite thing about guiding is seeing his clients progress and helping his clients to achieve their goals.”

Blais called the Castle Peak avalanche an “enormous tragedy” and the “saddest event our team has ever experienced” in a statement on Wednesday, adding the company lost three “highly experienced” guides in the avalanche.

None of the guide have been identified.

The ski group reportedly took the most dangerous route to escape the mountain, choosing a “complex” 60-degree incline that was given the second highest rating on the avalanche risk scale.

There was a longer, flatter route the group could have taken that was graded as the second lowest threat of snow slides.

A statement from the families of the mothers killed in the avalanche said they “trusted their professional guides” on the excursion.