The backcountry skiing guide company whose guides led a group of skiers through blizzard conditions and into the path of an avalanche in February has been hit with a fine by Cal/OSHA, and they are appealing.

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, has formally cited Truckee-based Blackbird Mountain Guides over decisions that led to the deaths of three of its employees, after an avalanche overwhelmed and buried a group of back-country skiers on February 17, killing a total of nine people.

As KCRA reports, Cal/OSHA has now fined the guide company for multiple violations, with the largest fine being $81,000 for "Failing to correct the imminent hazard posed by traveling in avalanche terrain when the avalanche danger was rated high." Together with several other violations, including "failing to provide effective employee training," the fines total $151,300.

Cal/OSHA's fines comes two weeks after the release of an independent report — commissioned by the guide company — that assigned no blame and avoided the central question at the heart of the tragedy, which is why did the group opt to leave the Frog Lake Backcountry Huts, where they were sheltered, in the middle of a blizzard?

The report points an actively running creek that the group tried to cross twice as they tried to ski out of the area, according to GPS data, which created an "impassable barrier" that led them instead into terrain that was a known avalanche zone.

An earlier report from April, put out by an avalanche education organization, placed blame for the tragedy on the guides themselves.

Blackbird Mountain Guides put out a press release Friday morning in response to the Cal/OSHA fines, saying, "The citations do not reflect the reality of our profession or the safety program we have built." The company adds that it "operated in full compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements and consistent with the established safety frameworks of the broader professional mountain guiding industry."

"As an [International Federation of Mountain Guides] 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," says Blackbird Mountain Guides owner Zeb Blais in a statement. "Guides pursue knowledge and excellence as a lifelong responsibility and the guides on this trip approached their work with care and professionalism."

The company says it is "hopeful that through the appeal process, it will demonstrate its compliance with the professional and state regulatory standards that govern the mountain guiding industry."

Separately, the avalanche incident remains under investigation by the Nevada County District Attorney's Office. Civil lawsuits are also possible from the families of the victims, however none have been filed to date, as the New York Times reports.

Killed in the avalanche were six women, mostly from the Bay Area, who were part of a group of eight that set out to the Frog Lake Huts on February 15 for two days of backcountry skiing, amid well publicized forecasts an incoming snowstorm. They were led by two guides from Blackbird Mountain Guides. Joining them was a separate group of three men led by two other guides.

All 15 skiers set out in a line back toward where their cars were parked near Donner Pass on the morning of February 17. About two hours after leaving the Frog Lake Huts, most of the group was hit by the avalanche. Per the Times, two of the surviving men, who were at the rear of the group, said they did not recall any discussion of an impassable creek.

Killed in the avalanche below Castle Peak were Carrie Atkin, 42, from South Lake Tahoe; Liz Clabaugh, 52, from Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, from Marin County; Kate Morse, 45, from Marin County; Caroline Sekar, 45, from San Francisco; and Kate Vitt, 43, from Marin County; along with the three Blackbird Mountain guides, 34-year-old Andrew Alissandratos, 42-year-old Nicole "Niki" Choo, and 30-year-old Michael Henry.

The sole surviving guide has not spoken publicly about tragedy, nor have they been publicly identified.

The Sacramento Bee reported, via that independent report earlier this month, that lead guide Alissandratos had spoken with company owner Zeb Blais the night before the avalanche, saying he was confident, based on previous trips to the Frog Lake Huts, in the safety of the planned route out despite the high avalanche danger.

Previously: New Report Blames Back-Country Guides For Choosing Highly Avalanche-Prone Route In Tahoe Tragedy