By Craig Childs, High Country News

The woman behind the counter asked where I lived. It turns out she grew up in the very same small town, population 300. She said she had to leave it to find a job, moving to the nearest place with a population nearer 10,000.

“So you must be the new trash that’s moving in,” she mused.

The woman looked 40 or so, with the dry complexion of winter wheat, as weathered as something wadded up and left in a corner for too long. She did not even attempt to smile.

Something pithy should have come out of my mouth about then. “Yeah, I am. You must be the old trash that moved out.”

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By U.S. Ski & Snowboard

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo.  – Jamie Anderson of Meyers and Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) both landed second-place finishes in slopestyle snowboarding finals at Dew Tour, achieving maximum Olympic selection points and confirming their nominations to the U.S. Olympic snowboard team.

Anderson’s signature smooth style was on display right out of the gate when she scored a 93.33 on her first run of the day to hold down the second podium spot. Canada’s Spencer O’Brien landed the win, and Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi was third. U.S. riders Hailey Langland (San Clemente) and Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

“I feel really good – I can’t believe the Olympics are around the corner,” said Anderson. “It was really fun out here in Breckenridge. All of the girls are killing it. Super happy for Spencer putting down a new, creative run. I was definitely bummed I couldn’t land my cab double-nine, so I still have some work to do. But yeah, I’m feeling good.”

After finishing second at last weekend’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, local rider Corning added another podium to his Olympic qualification results, putting down a massive second run to score a 95. Canada’s Max Parrot answered back with a 97, landing him the first place spot. Norway’s Mons Roisland was third.

“Oh dude, it’s amazing [to have made the Olympic team],” said Corning. “I don’t really know what to say or what to think, but I’m pretty stoked. I just wanted to get some runs down and at least get a top five, that was pretty much the goal. But I’ll take a second place out of it.”

The U.S. had three additional riders finish in the top 10, including Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.) in fourth, Judd Henkes (La Jolla) in sixth and Brock Crouch (Mammoth) in seventh.

Olympic qualification competition continues after the New Year with Toyota U.S. Grand Prix stops at Snowmass Jan. 7-14 and Mammoth Mountain Jan. 15-21.

By U.S. Ski & Snowboard
 
VAL GARDENA, Italy – Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah) scored a career-best FIS Ski World Cup result, finishing ninth in downhill Saturday in Val Gardena, Italy. Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley) just missed the top 10, finishing 11th.

“I was pushing the line and telling myself ‘don’t do that … just get back to the regular line’,” said Goldberg, who won the opening training run on Wednesday. “Now that I’m running in the top 30, I have a clearer course and I can get away with pulling off a more difficult line.

“I got out of the track a little bit on one turn, right before the flat and I could feel myself decelerate a little bit,” he added, “but I knew that if I just got back in the track and stayed low, that I could make it up on the bottom.”

Norway took the top two spots with Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud going 1-2. Austria’s Max Franz was third. With the victory, Svindal maintained his overall World Cup lead over Jansrud, and teammate Henrik Kristoffersen, who did not compete Saturday.

Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) returned to the World Cup circuit Saturday, finishing 41st.

“I wasn’t confident and flowing and going,” said Nyman, who has all three of his World Cup downhill victories on the Saslong course. “I had some fast splits, but I had some bad splits too. But it’s OK! There are some positives, and right now I’m focusing on … training, getting the confidence back, getting the movements back, dialing equipment in … but it’s always great to race here and be back racing.”

Up next, the men’s tech team tackles a giant slalom and nighttime parallel giant slalom in Alta Badia, Italy Sunday and Monday.

A tree went into a South Lake Tahoe house on Dec. 16. Photo/SLTFD

Thousands of customers on both sides of the state line are without power on the South Shore, along with residents in Carson City.

It meant eating by phone flashlight for some people at Freshies in South Lake Tahoe when the lights went out just before 9pm Dec. 16.

Initially, NV Energy reported 8,363 customers without power when the incident occurred at 8:45pm. Fifteen minutes later that number was 4,468.

Kristen Saibini, with NV Energy, as of 9:40pm Saturday told Lake Tahoe News she didn’t know what caused the outage. Still, the company is expecting power to be back by midnight.

Liberty Utilities, which gets much of its power from NV, is saying it could be 8am Sunday before power is restored. No one from that company was available for comment.

Wind has been an issue Saturday evening. A tree fell onto a house on June Way in South Lake Tahoe. Damage was minimal.

Firefighters were called out to Ironwood Cinema in Minden for reports of smoke. No fire was reported.

In South Lake, two people had to be rescued from a elevator at the Tahoe Beach Retreat when the power went out.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Associated Press

A Reno sign collector is trying to persuade city leaders to keep Reno’s iconic downtown arch neon instead of switching to LED lights during a planned makeover.

The city currently is conducting an online survey on a variety of possible changes to the arch on the main casino drag with the slogan, “Biggest Little City in the World.”

One of the options is to vote for programmable LED lights or neon lights on the “RENO” portion that tops the structure.

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By Bart Jansen, USA Today

A record 107.3 million people will travel to celebrate year-end holidays, braving higher gas prices than last year and roads in some spots threatening three times the normal traffic congestion, according to a AAA forecast Thursday.

Holiday travel already set records this year for Memorial Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving, according to AAA. The projected 3.1 percent increase in travel from Dec. 23 through Jan. 1 would represent the ninth consecutive year-end rise, according to AAA.

Most travelers will jump in cars, with 97.4 million projected to hit the road.

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El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office is partnering with Lyft to encourage residents to not drink and drive this holiday season.

Between now and Jan. 1, Lyft will provide discounted rides throughout El Dorado and Placer counties. New users may enter the code RIDESAFE2018 in the app for $5 off their first 10 rides, and existing users may claim 10 percent off two rides with code RIDESAFECA.

According to the DA’s office, impaired driving remains a serious problem throughout the state and in El Dorado County, which was fourth worst in total fatal and injury collisions in 2015. In California, there were 17,390 injury collisions involving alcohol in 2015 alone. That same year, there were 122 alcohol‐involved injuries or fatalities in El Dorado County.

By U.S. Ski & Snowboard

VAL D’ISERE, France – Lindsey Vonn of Vail is back to her winning ways, taking her 78th FIS Ski World Cup victory in super-G in Val d’Isere, France, Saturday. Italy’s Sofia Goggia, who much like Vonn has struggled with early-season results, finally landed on the podium in second. Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel scored her first World Cup podium in third.

“I guess I’m not a washed-up old hag,” Vonn said following the Dec. 16 victory and responding to numerous social media comments this week regarding her form as she prepares for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. “I think I proved myself, and karma definitely comes back around. I’ve got some good karma coming my way.”

Indeed, good karma played a key roll in Saturday’s victory as she edged one win closer to the all-time World Cup victory mark of 86 wins held by the great Ingemar Stenmark.

“I almost went down there before the finish, but thankfully I was able to hold on to it and pull it out,” Vonn said following her victory on the slow, soft track.

With snow, fog, and wind wiping out downhill training this week, the women tackled an abbreviated soft and bumpy super-G course – a make-up race from last week’s canceled event in St. Moritz. And despite a few course holds due to fog and light snow, four American women scored World Cup points, including Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.), who took a huge step toward returning to top form following last season’s knee injury.

“The track is in a lot better shape than I thought it would be based off how much it has snowed over the past couple of days,” said Ross, who finished eighth. “It is a little bumpy, but it’s still totally rip-able and the snow is responsive enough to feel your skis.

“Today was definitely a big step,” she added. “I feel really good to be back, and be back in race mode.”

Alice McKennis (New Castle, Colo.) was 22nd and 2016 World Juniors Downhill Champion Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) scored her first World Cup points, finishing 24th. Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley) continued her comeback from injury, finishing her first World Cup race in more than two and a half years, in 45th position.

“It was really a bit of a challenge today with the flat light and the snow, but I stuck to my plan and skied really solid, and I’m really happy with how it went,” Merryweather said. “I have a little bit of confidence now and I’ll take it into tomorrow and charge even more.”

With downhill training canceled this week in Val d’Isere due to weather, the women race super-G again on Sunday. On Monday the tech women head to Courchevel, France, for a giant slalom and a parallel slalom under the lights. Current overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin, as well as Lindsey Vonn and Resi Stiegler will headline the tech women. 

By Lake Tahoe News

STATELINE — The South Shore in April will be home to the largest trade show of its kind for all things related to winter travel.

While this will be the 43rd year for the Mountain Travel Symposium, it is the first year this region has hosted it.

More than 1,200 people from 35 countries are expected to attend the April 8-14 event at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

While it is geared toward people in the industry, there will be sessions open to the public — for a fee.

Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority is the host. That board received an update on the event this week.

Tony Lyle with LTVA explained how the week involves a traditional trade show and workshops targeting strategic issues.

It will be an opportunity to showcase what the South Shore has to offer. This location was picked in large part because of its rebirth, so to speak, in the last decade.

Board member Jerry Bindel more than once voiced a request that attendees not be limited to the Stateline/Heavenly Village area, pointing out that there is more to the region than just that hub.

For more information about the symposium, go online.

By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee

This is how dry it has been so far this season: California’s chances of having a normal “water year” have fallen to around 33 percent in much of the state, according to a federal scientist.

Michael Dettinger, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said those dismal odds are based on the amount of rain and snow that has fallen so far this year – and the history of how much precipitation California traditionally gets in the remaining months of the rainy season.

Dettinger said most of Northern California has either a 33 percent or 34 percent chance of having a normal water year.

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