Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is looking for hard-working, dedicated volunteers who love working outdoors, educating wilderness visitors, performing monitoring or administrative duties and are interested in preserving Desolation Wilderness. 

There will be an informational open house on March 15, 5-7pm and March 17, 9:30-11:30am at the USFS office, 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe. The open houses will include information about volunteer opportunities, training, minimum requirements and how volunteer help is important to the preservation of Desolation Wilderness. 

Volunteers work closely with Forest Service wilderness staff and can choose from a variety of projects including visitor education, wilderness staff support for office and field projects, back-country trail maintenance, campsite restoration and wilderness character monitoring. Field projects involve hiking in moderate to difficult terrain and require an appropriate level of physical ability. Volunteers should be able to commit to a minimum of seven days for the summer season and must be age 18 or older. Additional information is available online.

Selected candidates will be required to attend a volunteer training workshop May 19-20 in Pollock Pines.

For more information, contact Don Lane at 530.543.2621 or Bob Becker at 530.543.2688.

By Dan Wolken, USA Today

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Snowboarder Jamie Anderson of Meyers couldn’t eat Thursday morning before her competition in the first big air event in Olympics, so instead she poured a thermos full of hot tea with homemade ghee that she brought with her from the United States.

Anderson’s ghee, however, is not just plain, old clarified butter. It was cooked down at her home in Lake Tahoe with “good love” that includes crystals being placed around the pan while it cooks and “sound therapy,” which she explained as something akin to a humming that reverberates off the metal.

 “You have to bless it, you know?” said the 27-year old, who already had a gold medal at these Games and 2014 in the slopestyle competition. “I love ghee because especially in the morning if I’m not eating food it’s really healthy fats for y our brain and just is delicious.”

Though that may not be every Olympian’s morning routine, it certainly worked for Anderson, who landed a frontside 1080-degree trick on her first jump, eventually launching her to a silver medal behind Austria’s Anna Gasser.

Read the whole story

By Associated Press

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — At least the Americans have the Phoenix Snow Park halfpipe.

Freestyle skier David Wise of Reno successfully defended his gold medal Thursday, breaking through on his final run to give the U.S. its third gold medal in the halfpipe at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Wise wiped out on his first two runs before sneaking past countryman Alex Ferreira on his third with a score of 97.20.

Read the whole story

By Ashley Williams, AccuWeather
 
A recent study has found that virtually all United States-based winter recreation locations could experience shorter ski seasons, exceeding 50 percent by 2050 and 80 percent in 2090 for some downhill skiing destinations.

Researchers examined projected climate change through the 21st century and found that the continued rise in temperatures, which results in more rainfall than snowfall, will likely decrease the duration and extent of the Northern Hemisphere’s natural snowcover.

To conduct the study, researchers used a physically based water and energy balance model that simulated natural snow accumulation at more than 240 U.S. winter recreation spots.

Read the whole story

Maddie Bowman in the qualifying round in South Korea. Photo/Brian Walker

Maddie Bowman will always be an Olympic gold medalist, but she was unable to add to her collection of hardware at this Winter Games.

Bowman, who grew up in Meyers and calls Sierra-at-Tahoe her home resort, was unable to land any of her three runs in halfpipe freestyle skiing. The event was Feb. 20 in South Korea – Feb. 19 Tahoe time.

After falling on her final run she laid in the bowl of the halfpipe in tears. Her mom, Sue Perpall, went up to make sure her daughter wasn’t hurt beyond her pride being wounded. Bowman was hoping to defend her gold medal from 2014.

The U.S. did medal. Brita Sigourney who grew up in Carmel and trained at Alpine Meadows took home the bronze. In 2014, she finished sixth at the Sochi Games.

The gold went to Cassie Sharpe of Canada, while Marie Martinod of France earned silver.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Laura Ratliff, Today

Last week, Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson became the first female snowboarder to win not one, but two gold medals. The successful run came on a day with temperatures were in the single-digits and 30 mile-per-hour wind gusts challenged riders.

In an interview with “Today’s” Willie Geist, the Olympic champion says that her mindset was crucial to her success.

Getting that calm outlook, however, came after a harrowing injury that almost derailed her career.

Read the whole story

Giant slalom specialist Tim Jitloff of Reno was not able to complete his run at the Olympic Games.

Of the 100 men competing in South Korea, he was one of 21 to not finish. He crashed.

This was his lone event.

Four years ago Jitloff finished 15th in GS at the Sochi (Russia) Olympics. 

“Here you are doing this really wonderful thing, traveling around the world. But you feel depressed because the pressure to perform beats you down, you feel relegated to a number or you are lonely,” Jitloff told Reuters of the mental challenges that Olympic athletes face.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Frederick Reimers, Outside

The outdoor recreation economy is officially a big deal. On Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released numbers detailing the economic power of the outdoor recreation industry, showing it comprises 2 percent ($373.7 billion) of the entire 2016 U.S. gross domestic product.

It’s an impressive figure that puts it on the scale of industries like construction (4.3 percent); legal services (1.3 percent); agriculture, including farming, forestry, and fishing (1 percent); and, most significantly, mining, oil, and gas extraction (1.4 percent). The report also stipulates that the outdoor industry is growing by 3.8 percent, a faster rate than the overall economy (2.8 percent).

The BEA report was two years in the making, initiated when President Barack Obama signed the Outdoor Recreation Jobs and Economic Impact Act. Signed in 2016, it directed the federal agency to measure the outdoor economy with the same tools it uses to chart other industries and the economy as a whole.

Read the whole story

By Associated Press

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — For about 20 minutes during the Olympic giant slalom, Ryan Cochran-Siegle was in the leader’s box, soaking up the spotlight. By the end of the race Sunday, he had slipped into a tie for 11th.

That’s just about par on the icy course for the U.S. men’s Alpine skiing team at these Winter Games.

The squad wasn’t really expected to do all that well — and it hasn’t.

Read the whole story

Whittell High School will soon have a press box and concession stand to go along with its new field.

Douglas County School District trustees last week approved spending $122,281 to complete the amenities.

While the vote was unanimous, some board members expressed frustration finding out about the overruns when they didn’t’ have much choice but to approve the bill.

A donation of $2.5 million from the Lisa and Robert Maloff Endowment Fund is paying for the football field to be completely renovated as well as the track. It should be ready for use next school year.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report