Tahoe’s second-generation skiers making their mark
By David Bunker, Tahoe Quarterly
This winter, if lucky, you might see Warren Miller skier and Truckee local Amie Engerbretson rocket off a cliff in Squaw Valley’s Fingers named after her dad. Or you might catch 16-year-old Noah Gaffney dropping into a chute immortalized in “Squallywood” — the unofficial guidebook to Squaw Valley skiing penned by his father.
A generation has passed since a surge of skiers flocked to Tahoe’s slopes in the 1980s, drawn by the siren song of Scot Schmidt films and photos, ski flicks like “Hot Dog…The Movie” and ski magazine shots of neon-clad “extreme” skiers pushing the outer edges of the sport.
Many of these Tahoe transplants put down permanent roots in the area, becoming icons and influencers in the ski world and raising sons and daughters on the same hallowed ski terrain that brought them West.
Now, their offspring are carving out their own place in the ski world.