Don’t be surprised if people with notebooks and cameras are scattering about the South Shore in the coming week. Find out on Saturday at 10am who these people are in Lake Tahoe. Phil Weidinger will be doing the talking on KTHO AM-590 and FM-96.1 and www.kthoradio.com.
By Gamaliel Ortiz, Sacramento Bee
If you love to play outdoors in the winter, consider a class in how to survive if something goes wrong. Here are some options:
What: Winter travel safety with Doug Huffman
Scattered snow showers continue in the Lake Tahoe Basin throughout the day. Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe, delivers his ski report for the day.
By USSA
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Two-time defending World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) retook the overall lead Friday, notching her second consecutive super G win and first victory in the discipline at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
“I’m really happy,” Vonn said. “It couldn’t be going any better for me right now in the speed disciplines. It’s nice to have the confidence back and have a more positive race after the last week of technical races.”
Vonn, who hasn’t missed a super G podium in four tries this season, surpassed Germany’s Maria Riesch atop the 2010 Audi FIS Alpine World Cup leaderboard after the dominant .67-second margin romp.
Rest assured, she was plenty fast in her seventh World Cup win of the season. In addition to her 56-point overall lead over Riesch, Vonn holds an iron-clad 170-point lead in the super G.
Fabienne Suter of Switzerland finished second, followed by Sweden’s Anja Paerson.
After tearing her ACL in a Cortina downhill last season, Leanne Smith (Conway, NH) crossed 20th for her third-best finish ever in the super G and added some more intrigue to next week’s Olympic team selection
Her 20th matched teammate Keely Kelleher (Big Sky, MT) for the third best U.S. super G result of the year behind leaders Vonn and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA). It was the final super G before the Olympic Team is named next week.
Stacey Cook (Mammoth, CA) landed in the points in 30th, while Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO, 32nd), Mancuso , 33rd, Kelleher , and Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, VT) gave the U.S. Ski Team seven finishers in the top 40.
Vonn will go for career win No. 30 in Saturday’s downhill, for which she was fastest in training Thursday after Mancuso held that distinction Wednesday.
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Jan. 22, Women’s Super G
1. Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO, 1:21.74
2. Fabienne Suter, Switzerland, 1:22.41
3. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 1:22.48
4. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 1:22.79
5. Andrea Fischbacher, Austria, 1:22.84
–
20. Leanne Smith, Conway, NH, 1:23.66
30. Stacey Cook, Mammoth, CA, 1:24.15
32. Alice McKennis, Glenwood Springs, CO, 1:24.23
33. Julia Mancuso, Olympic Valley, CA, 1:24.39
39. Keely Kelleher, Big Sky, MT, 1:24.95
40. Chelsea Marshall, Pittsfield, VT, 1:25.09
By USSA
KITZBUEHEL, Austria — Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) and Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) stepped up their game in the Olympics hunt, tying for 11th Friday in Kitzbuehel, 0.70 seconds behind winner Didier Cuche of Switzerland.
The pair missed the podium by little more than half a second in a tight field, and Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) made a slight mistake but finished 17th, just .11 seconds back.
“It was a good day today for the team,” said Men’s Head Coach Sasha Rearick. “Maybe not the best results, but the guys stepped it up with their skiing.”
Weibrecht’s finish ties a career best in super G set in Kitzbuehel last year, and it also equals his best result this season.
“It was solid, nothing fancy,” Weibrecht said. “A decent run. I just stuck to my game plan and skied well.”
It also marked the best result of the season for the veteran Sullivan, who was 10th in the super G and 6th in the downhill at Kitzbuehel in 2008.
“I had a good start number (2nd), and the track was in great shape,” Sullivan said. “I’ve been frustrated by a lot of crap going on, but I just stopped thinking about it and had a solid run.”
Despite the speedy time, Sullivan bobbled coming across a traverse at the bottom, leading him to struggle for a few gates.
“Looking at the splits, I think I lost about three-tenths there,” he said. “Overall, it’s OK. I’m just happy to be in the finish and have a decent run.”
Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was 24th, while Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) landed just outside the points in 33rd.
“I was pleased to see him charging, balanced on his outside ski,” Rearick said of Nyman.
Miller won Thursday’s training run in the downhill and is coming off a victory last weekend in the super combined at Wengen, so expectations are high for Saturday’s speed test.
The pressure is weighing on everybody, however, as skiers try to make an impression before the selection of the U.S. Olympic Team early next week. Friday was the final super G before the Olympic Team announcement.
“Again tomorrow in the downhill, the bottom section is critical coming across the traverse and down onto the Zielschuss and up top coming off the Steilhang which leads onto the long road,” Sullivan said. “I’ve kind of blown that in training, so that’s where I need to improve. I just need to make good, solid turns up top and have good aerodynamics in the middle.”
Kitzbuehel, Austria, Jan. 22, Men’s Super G
1. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 1:17.94
2. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 1:18.22
3. Georg Streitberger, Austria, 1:18.23
4. Andrej Jerman, Slovenia, 1:18.30
5. Erik Guay, Canada, 1:18.33
–
T-11. Andrew Weibrecht, Lake Placid, NY; and Marco Sullivan, Squaw Valley, CA, 1:18.64
17. Bode Miller, Franconia, NH, 1:18.75
24. Ted Ligety, Park City, UT, 1:19.12
33. Steven Nyman, Sundance, UT, 1:19.79
DNF – Erik Fisher, Middleton, ID; and Scott Macartney, Crystal Mountain, WA
By Kathryn Reed
The chance of snow today is not as great as it has been for most of the week — it’s only at 90 percent. Totals should be less than a half foot at the lake.
The best opportunity to see the sun in Lake Tahoe will be Sunday, though Saturday looks pretty good too, according to the National Weather Service. But Sunday night the odds are at 70 percent for snow in the basin.
With all the snow that's fallen in Tahoe, a whole family of snow people could be built. Photo/Kathryn Reed
A couple feet have fallen this week at lake level, though those living in higher locales like Upper Kingsbury Grade and Truckee are reporting even more white stuff has been shoveled.
Mountain passes have been sketchy at different times. On Thursday afternoon some SUVs were driving the speed limit in near whiteout conditions at the top of Spooner Summit.
A Carson City firefighter was let out on the westbound side to cross the barrier to assist passengers in two vehicles headed toward Carson City that were smashed up on the side of the highway.
Roads should be good this weekend as the storms let up.
Bundle up — the low Saturday night might hit single digits. Highs today and Saturday should be in the low 30s, with it a balmy 41 on Monday.
Weather has been the topic of conversation throughout much of California and Nevada.
Acting Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday proclaimed a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco and Siskiyou counties because of the storms that have brought high winds and significant amounts of precipitation. Deaths, injuries, flooding, heavy snow and mudslides are occurring up and down the state.
Flights out of Reno-Tahoe International Airport were delayed Thursday, though the bar was busy making bloody Marys.
Ski resorts in the Tahoe area are giddy about the several feet of snow that have fallen in less than a week. It’s dumped so much that Tahoe is boasting the most snow of any ski region in the country.
Kirkwood Mountain Resort, which usually receives the most snow of all Tahoe are resorts, is claiming 6 feet of snow for the week as of late Thursday. Sierra-at-Tahoe expects to hit the 6-foot mark by the time the skies clear. Heavenly says 3 feet have fallen. Alpine Meadows is saying 6 feet, too.
Northstar-at-Tahoe is having its benefit for the Sierra Avalanche Center on Jan. 24 with a limited number of $40 tickets. Click here for info.
The abundance of white stuff also means the snowpack’s water content could be above normal by the time the sun comes out in the next day or two.
By Kathryn Reed
With more than 85 percent of the houses in South Lake Tahoe having been built before 1980, it’s likely a substantial amount of lead is still on the walls of houses in the area.
The federal government banned lead paint in 1978, but it didn’t mean having to eradicate it from places where it had been used.
Now, decades later, the feds are helping to do just that.
South Lake Tahoe is one of 12 cities in the country to share $12 million to buy the equipment to test homes for lead, train contractors to rid a home of the dangerous element and pay for a house to be repainted. South Tahoe is receiving $1.5 million. The money comes from the Office of Healthy Homes.
The goal is to rehab at least 100 houses of lead paint and test another 100 within the city limits.
All of the money except for the $25,000 that will be used to buy the equipment to test the paint is expected to stay in the community. Buying the equipment is less expensive than having to pay a certified inspector about $500 per test. The machine also allows for instantaneous results instead of waiting days or weeks.
“The money allows us to train contractors how to get rid of lead based paint. (Lake Tahoe Community College) is putting together the program for training,” explained Nancy Kerry, manager of the city’s Redevelopment and Housing Department.
A meeting will be conducted Jan. 28 at 5pm at Lake Tahoe Airport for all contractors who are interested in being part of the program.
“We want them to help design the program,” Kerry said of the contractors.
She would like the training to begin in March, with work on some homes starting in May. The grant lasts three years, with the money arriving this month.
For a homeowner to be part of the project, they must meet low-income requirements, which more than half of the households in South Lake Tahoe can do. And it’s the occupant who has to meet the guidelines, not the owner.
Households with children will also go to the front of the list. The grant provides money for Barton Memorial Hospital to administer blood tests to children living in houses with lead paint.
If lead is found, grant money can be spent on relocating the home occupants while the lead is removed and the house is repainted. Relocation is necessary because lead can’t just be sanded off the walls. Everything will have to be covered up so it doesn’t get into other areas.
“We will use tax roles to look for older homes, owner occupied. We’ll send them letters telling them we’d like to test their home if they meet income requirements,” Kerry said.
For more information, call Nancy Kerry at (530) 542.6043 or click on meeting.
By Matthew Berger, ISP
WASHINGTON — As 2010, the U.N.’s International Year of Biodiversity, gets under way, a fight against some of the most damaging invasive species in U.S. waterways is heating up.
The U.N. says some experts put the rate at which species are disappearing at 1,000 times the natural rate, and invasive species – which consume the food or habitat of native species, or the native species themselves – are one factor contributing to this acceleration. Climate change is another major factor.
“Often it will be the combination of climate change and [invasive] pests operating together that will wipe species out,” says Tim Low of the Australia-based Invasive Species Council.
By Kathryn Reed
Outside Television Network will replace Resort Sports Network as of June 1.
Outside magazine’s parent company Mariah Media Inc. bought a small stake of RSN in December.
South Lake Tahoe is one of the 110 destinations where RSN is located. The entire network reaches 61 million viewers annually.
How the merging of the two entities will affect the local station remains to be seen.
“What it means for us locally is we go through a rebranding phase. We haven’t decided anything yet. There’s not even a new logo,” Pete Loughlin, South Lake Tahoe RSN general manager said.
So far the staff remains intact.
Loughlin said he has had a number of conversations with higher ups regarding programming, but no firm decisions have been made.
Some of what the local station produces goes to all the RSN stations — like the Glen Plake show.
“From a synergy and content standpoint it seems like a perfect match,” Loughlin said of the merger.
From an advertising standpoint it could mean more dollars with Outside’s name being on the marquee. Outside magazine is more widely known than RSN, which is one of the main reasons the magazine name is going to be used going forward.
RSN is continuing with its plans to thoroughly cover the Olympics in Whistler next month. A number of RSN camera crews will be at the Games, plus the network has broadcast agreements with NBC.
E! Entertainment is showing a segment on Jaycee Lee Dugard. For dates and times, click here.