Three Olympians from the inaugural U.S. slopestyle snowboarding team will compete in the High Roller Hold’Em at Heavenly Mountain Resort on April 4.

Gold medalist Sage Kotsenburg will place his bets against fellow Olympians Billy Morgan and Chas Guldemond, as well as High Roller Hold‘Em veterans Gjermund Braaten and Eric Willett.

High Roller Hold ‘Em combines the thrill of snowboard big air with the strategy of high-stakes poker into an event that sends the winner home with $50,000.

This year the stakes are even higher, with the overall winner receiving automatic entrance to the 2016 X Games big air event.

Competitors will be dealt three cards per hand with each card featuring different tricks based on the face value of the card. From there, each rider will discard two cards, and bet accordingly on the final card in their hand. Once all bets are in, the riders who haven’t folded will head to the top of the course, where the rider who lands the trick with the highest level of difficulty will win the round and qualify for the $50,000 super final.

It will take place on World Cup run. It is free for spectators.

By Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times

This past month was the third-warmest October in California since officials began keeping records more than a century ago, continuing the state’s pattern in what is likely to be its hottest year ever, according to government climatologists.

The average temperature statewide last month was 64.5 degrees, less than one degree under the all-time record set in 2003, the National Climatic Data Center reported.

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The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin the sale of Christmas tree permits on Nov. 24.

Permits cost $10 each (cash or check only, no credit cards), with a limit of two permits per family. Permits must be purchased in person, are not transferable and are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Permit holders may choose from a variety of pine, fir or cedar in designated cutting areas. Permits are available for purchase until Dec. 19, but permits usually sell out before then.

The last day to cut a tree is Dec. 25.

Permits will be sold in two locations (both offices will be closed on Thanksgiving Day):

· Forest Supervisor’s office, 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, Monday through Friday from 8am-4:30pm. For more information, call 530.543.2694.

· Incline Village Forest Service office, 855 Alder Ave., Incline Village, Wednesday through Friday from 8am-4:30pm. For more information, call 775.8310914. During winter weather driving conditions, call the Incline office to make sure it’s open.

Maps to designated cutting areas are provided at the time of purchase. Permit holders should follow permit guidelines for responsible collection, including respecting private property by not trespassing when entering or leaving National Forest cutting areas. Observe seasonal road closures and be prepared to walk in to the cutting area to find a tree. No off-road travel is allowed.

Barry Kay of Incline Village placed second at a the World Series of Poker Circuit at Harveys in Stateline.

He won $77,492.

There were 380 players competing for a prize pool of $570,000.

Winning the four-day tournament was Jesse Wilke of Kenmore, Wash. He took home $125401, the gold championship ring, and will have a seat at the season-ending National Championship.

Robert Donahue of Zephyr Cove placed ninth, winning $11,856.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

South Tahoe and Truckee high schools could find themselves playing against each other in the Division 1-A state championship for girls soccer.

But first both teams must win their respective semifinal game on Nov. 14 in Henderson. South Tahoe faces Faith Lutheran and Truckee will take on Sierra Vista.

The championship game is at noon Nov. 15 in Henderson.

On the boys side, Truckee will square-off against Sunrise Mountain on Friday in Henderson in the semifinal round.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By USSA

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. – The 2015 U.S. Alpine Ski Team was introduced last weekend at Copper Mountain.

Olympic gold medalists Ted Ligety, Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller and Mikaela Shiffrin were on hand as 42 athletes were named during a public celebration to kick off the start of the 2015 Audi FIS Alpine World Cup and Vail/Beaver Creek 2015 World Championships winter.

The 2015 FIS Alpine World Championships team will be announced Jan. 27.

The team is coming off a five-medal Olympics, with Ligety and Shiffrin winning Audi FIS Alpine World Cup titles. Vonn is making a return after an injury at the 2013 World Championships in Schladming took her out of action. She is expecting to start with World Cup speed events Dec. 5-7 in Lake Louise, where she has won 14 times.

The Audi FIS Alpine World Cup swings through North America Nov.29-Dec.1 with a women’s giant slalom and slalom followed by men’s downhill, super G and giant slalom Dec. 5-7 at Beaver Creek, Colo. – host of the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

2014-15 U.S. Alpine Ski Team

Men’s A Team
David Chodounksy (Crested Butte, Colo.)
Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley)
Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah)
Tim Jitloff (Reno)
Ted Ligety (Park City)
Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.)
Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.)

Women’s A Team
Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain)
Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley)
Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, Colo.)
Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.)
Leanne Smith (North Conway, N.H.)
Lindsey Vonn (Vail)

Men’s B Team
Bryce Bennett (Olympic Valley)
Thomas Biesemeyer (Keene, N.Y.)
Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.)
Mark Engel (Truckee)
Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.)
Colby Granstrom (Lake Stevens, Wash.)
Nolan Kasper (Warren, Vt.)
Brennan Rubie (Salt Lake City)
Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah)
Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley)

Women’s B Team
Abigail Ghent (Edwards, Colo.)
Anna Marno (Steamboat Springs, Colo.)
Paula Moltzan (Lakeville, Minn.)
Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.)
Katie Ryan (Aspe)
Jacqueline Wiles (Aurora, Ore.)

Men’s C Team
Nicholas Krause (Northboro, Mass.)

Women’s C Team
Katharine Irwin (Vail)
Lila Lapanja (Incline Village).

By Joe Lindsey, Men’s Journal

When sporting goods giant Nike quietly announced it was dropping snowboarding, it seemed like yet more confirmation of the sport’s downward trend that got so much press last year. After all, participation peaked a decade ago, and has declined 31 percent since, according to figures from the National Sporting Goods Association.

So is snowboarding, credited with reviving snowsports in the 20th century, cooked for the 21st?

Industry sources understandably claim the concerns are overblown. Snowboard icon Jake Burton spoke to that feeling last month in an interview with action-sports industry website Shop-Eat-Surf, saying, “A lot of haters jumped on it as an opportunity to take a shot at snowboarding and I think a lot of it was really misguided.”

Pro boarder Jeremy Jones of Truckee agrees, but also admits boarders have to face the numbers. “There’s no denying that there are fewer boarders out there than there used to be; that’s the reality of the sport,” says Jones, who is also founder of Jones Snowboards. The question then is what’s driving the decline and whether it will continue.

Snowboarding faces several obstacles. It’s almost impossible to learn the sport without falling a bunch, which isn’t true of skiing. And for various reasons — including equipment availability and basic physical development skills like balance — most resorts’ lesson programs start as young as three years old for skiing but only five or older for snowboarding.

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Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/skiing-boarding/is-snowboarding-dying-20141107#ixzz3IaZormmM
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By Amanda MacMillan, Outside

A full gait analysis is definitely more informative than whatever you’ve heard from your shoe store or a well-meaning jogger in the park, but it’ll cost you—usually more than $200. Here’s what to consider before you shell out.

“There’s an old idiom in sports medicine: If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” says Lewis “The Running Doc” Maharam, MD, past president of the New York chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine and former medical director of the New York City marathon. “If you’re happy with your times and you’re not getting injured or experiencing pain, there’s no need.”

If you are broken—meaning you’re chronically injured, or pain is affecting your running form—Maharam recommends seeing a sports medicine doctor. If that doctor says your problem could be gait-related, then it’s time to have an analysis done, either by that doctor or by someone he or she recommends.

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In a week’s timespan the Lake Tahoe Basin will experience a record high and fresh snow.

On Nov. 9, South Lake Tahoe had a high of 69 degrees, which broke the record by six degrees. The previous record was set in 2003 and 1995.

Marvin Boyd, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, said it was unusual for a record to be broken so substantially, adding normally it’s only by a degree or two.

Reno also set a record on Sunday with a high of 76 degrees. The old record of 73 had been set in 1990, 1941 and 1913.

A high pressure system off the California coast is bringing the unseasonably warm weather to the region.

“What made the high pressure so big is there was a massive low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska,” Boyd told Lake Tahoe News. “When you get those big pressure changes like that it affects everything downstream.”

Temperatures will return to normal this week, with highs in the 50s in Tahoe.

A small system will move through the area on Wednesday, but Boyd said snow should only be falling at the higher peaks. It will be rain at lake level.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Lake Tahoe schools dominated the NIAA Division III state soccer tournament.

Whittell High School’s girls won the state crown on Nov. 8 by beating Incline 3-1 on their home field.

All the games were played at WHS.

Whittell beat White Pine 5-0 the day before in the semifinal round. Incline topped North Tahoe in the semis 5-3.

The Warriors were undefeated in league play this season, posting a 14-0 record. The team will be losing five seniors to graduation.

In the boys matchup, Incline and North Tahoe battled for the state championship. Incline eked out a 5-4 win.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report