Elena Hight finished sixth in the halfpipe at the 2006 Olympic Games. At 20, she hopes to improve upon that accomplishment in Vancouver next month.

Home resort: Northstar-at-Tahoe

Why did you choose this resort?: Northstar always is so much fun to ride. They always make great park and pipe and no matter what are maintaining it.

How often are you in Lake Tahoe?: I spend about a total of 3 months of the year at home between all my travels.

When you aren’t training and competing where can we find you and what would you be doing? I spend most of my time relaxing in my house. I love to cook so I am typically in the kitchen during anytime I have off.

After you win gold in Vancouver, what is your next goal? Wow … well, right now think I am just focusing on one thing at a time. I will tackle something new when the time comes.

How long have you been participating in your sport? I have been snowboarding since I was 6 years old and I have been competing professionally since I was 14.

Who inspires you most and why? My mom is my biggest inspiration because she is always there for me and somehow always has the right answers.

Your life is devoted to an event that is over in minutes, how do you prepare for that thrill of victory or agony of defeat? The Olympics would be an amazing goal to achieve but no matter what the outcome, I still snowboard because I love it. No matter what I will still continue to push myself and look for the next challenge within snowboarding.

Publisher’s note: Read about slopestyle specialist Jamie Anderson on Jan. 7.

By Tim Hauserman, Reno Gazette-Journal

After 25 years of downhill skiing, Dave Polivy doesn’t go to the ski areas anymore.

“Now, I wait and look for the wind to come up, because snowkiting has become my new true passion,” said Polivy, from Tahoe Mountain Sports. “I can go fast, I can get great air. There is no other feeling like launching on your snow kite and floating through the air for 20 to 30 feet and then coming down and softly landing in a pillow of snow.”

Snowkiting combines either skiing or snowboarding with the waterborne sport of kite boarding. Snowkiters put on a harness and their skis or snowboards then let the wind swiftly pull them over the snow. If it’s really windy, snowkiters can get major air, even fly for brief periods.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

With youths starting to try alcohol and other drugs at an earlier age, agencies throughout the South Shore of Lake Tahoe are trying to do something to curb that trend.

Drug Store Project is dropping a grade level, with the March 31 program targeting sixth-graders for the first time.

The all-day reality program is designed to get students to think about the choices they make and learn about the consequences if they choose to use.

Lake Tahoe Unified School District had run the program for six years. State budget cuts eliminated the job of the person who put it on and consequently the program.

Lisa Huard is now working as a consultant for Tahoe Youth & Family Services in South Lake Tahoe. She is in the process of developing the daylong program with the assistance of dozens of agencies, hundreds of volunteers and the financial donations of service clubs and others.

Sixth-graders from all schools in the South Shore will be able to participate assuming their parents give consent.

“Last year alcohol use, marijuana and tobacco were up. We gather that information from Tahoe Youth & Family Services, Barton (Memorial Hospital) and probation,” Huard said.

Alissa Nourse, executive director of TY&FS, said, “Alcohol is always huge because it’s available in homes for free, unlocked.”

Huard said, “Prescription drugs are in homes and kids mix those things.”

Drug Store Project shows students what it’s like if they get caught with drugs – jail, court, counseling, overdosing, grieving parents, death.

Most of the people involved are not acting – it’s a real coffin, a real doctor, real police officers, a real judge. Only the student is acting.

TY&FS follows up with students as part of the debriefing process. It gives counselors a chance to talk about some delicate issues with students, to let them talk about life at home, and to show students that they have choices.

For more information about Drug Store Project, contact Lisa Huard at lisahuard@sbcglobal.net. She is looking for donations and volunteers.

Women Entrepreneurs meet Jan. 7 from 11:30am-1pm at Passeretti’s Restaurant at 1181 Highway 50, South Lake Tahoe.

Lunch is $13 for members or advance registration; $15 for non-members or at the door.

RSVP to jctahoewriter@hotmail.com.

“The Laramie Project” is a docu-drama about the 1998 hate-crime murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally beaten by two young men, tied to a fence, and left to die.

Writer-director Moisés Kaufman and actors of New York’s Tectonic Theatre Project journeyed to Laramie to interview townspeople about the horrific murder. After 400 hours of interviews, what emerges is an unusual and powerful theatre piece focusing on the citizens of Laramie, how they were affected and ultimately changed by this act of brutality within their community.

Mature themes and content – may not be suitable for children under 15.

A series of events, including panel and post-show discussions, will be held in conjunction with this production, culminating in a Candlelight Vigil Against Hate following the final Saturday evening performance on March 20.

Auditions are: Jan. 5 at 7pm in the Duke Theatre at Lake Tahoe Community College, South Lake Tahoe.

Peformances: March 12, 13,18,19,20 at 7:30pm, March 14 and 21 at 2pm

Abbacadabra – The Ultimate ABBA Concert is at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe South Shore Room on May 28-30 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $25. Call 800.786.8208 or purchase tickets online at www.SouthShoreRoom.com.

Elvin Bishop is at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe South Shore Room on May 22 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $29. Call 800.786.8208 or purchase tickets online at www.SouthShoreRoom.com.

Northstar-at-Tahoe’s 420-foot superpipe with its 18-foot walls is open.

The Ultimate Boarder Championship will be at the Truckee resort March 12-14, with the superpipe part of the competition.

Photo/Provided to LTN

Nik and Willie’s Pizza on Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe has not been a fan of Terry Daniels for years. Daniels, as of the start of 2010, is now the former police chief of the city.

A grand jury report from a few years ago detailed some of the accusations between the ex-chief and the pizza parlor owner.

It’s a blue birdday in Lake Tahoe. Bring the sunscreen. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.