High Sierra A.S.A softball sign ups for girls and boys ages 5-16 are March 2 from 5:30-7pm at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Center, March 8 from 5:30-7pm at Kahle Community Park in Stateline, and March 24 from 5:30-7pm at the South Lake Tahoe Rec Center.
The cost is $100 for the first child, $175 for two children and $225 for three children.
Winter storm watch starts at 4 this afternoon, with the high wind warning for the Lake Tahoe Basin lasting until 4pm.
Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.
By Amy Alonzo Rozak, Union Democrat
Tucked away in Yosemite Valley is a granite pocket known as the “Coiler cave.” Hidden by a jumble of large boulders, it remains dry throughout the year. Despite Yosemite’s 30-day per year camping limit, for eight years Bryan Kay called it home.
“I was a criminal for living in the cave,” laughs Kay, who, as a member of an elite group of Yosemite climbers known as the “Stone Monkeys,” goes by the nickname “Coiler.”
Nowadays it would be hard to find anything illegal about Kay. Married, with two daughters, an arsenal of pets and a house in Chinese Camp, Kay’s life has done an 180-degree turn since his life as a member of Yosemite’s elite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) team and climbing bum living in the Coiler cave.
Kay first began climbing at age 13 while living in Irvine, introduced to the sport by the brother of a friend.
“It was game on from there,” he says.
He escaped the city as soon as he graduated high school in 1989.
“They handed me my diploma and I packed everything into my Volkswagen bus and headed to Yosemite,” Kay recalls.
Living the life of which most rock climbers only dream, he spent the summer in Yosemite, the winter in Joshua Tree, and had plans to spend the next summer back in Yosemite.
A head-on collision during the drive north altered Kay’s plans.
With injuries ranging from a broken arm to a leg crushed in around 75 places, Kay’s plans went from a summer of climbing to relearning to walk.
By Kathryn Reed
RENO — It’s one of those days when the slopes are as enticing as relaxing in the lodge.
At 8,260, Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe has bragging rights for having the highest base elevation of any Tahoe area ski resort. The summit is 9,700 feet.
Being located on the Mt. Rose Highway between Lake Tahoe and Reno, it falls into a pattern that gets hit hard with good snow. And the elevation of the resort means if the groomers do their job right, the snow is good even when Mother Nature hasn’t dumped freshies in a while. A week ago when some area resorts had spring-like conditions, Rose was ripe for carving turns on the hard pack.
The slopes of Mt. Rose are reflected in windows of Winters Creek Lodge. Photos/Kathryn Reed
But it, like other exposed resorts, is susceptible to the wind wreaking havoc. It was blowing so hard Mt. Rose didn’t open Valentine’s Day.
Even with today likely to be a powder day, I wouldn’t go in the chutes. And I certainly wasn’t going down what looked like a glacial ice field last Thursday. I’m just not good enough.
All the chutes at Mt. Rose are 45- to 50-degree pitches. That’s something that sets the resort apart from most of Tahoe – the number of steep runs as well as the sustained pitch.
Resort officials say they benefit from a bit of a cult following. The chutes are one of the reasons. About 50 percent of the clientele is local – which is mostly Reno residents. The rest are primarily from the Bay Area, with the South Bay dominating that group.
Mike Pierce, marketing exec at the resort, isn’t exaggerating when he says Mt. Rose’s blues are equivalent to Northstar-at-Tahoe’s blacks. Going down Ramsey’s – a blue – I feel like this is a black at many Tahoe resorts.
With the amount of terrain, it’s easy to pick a side to ski, after all, this used to be two distinct ski reports – Mt. Rose and Slide Mountain.
Slide Mountain, the closest to Reno, opened in 1953. Both were in operation in 1964. Slide went bankrupt in 1987, when Mt. Rose bought it out. The Slide side is on U.S. Forest Service land, while the Rose side is privately owned.
The lack of lodging at the resort makes it a definite day-use area and not a destination resort. But the Rose side is slated to be developed – one day, with something. The market will dictate if it’s houses or hotels or condos or something else that gets built. Nothing it being talked about at this time.
The privately owned resort is doing better than a year ago, Pierce said. The early snow made for a base that all the Tahoe resorts have been living off of since Mother Nature has been chincy with the white stuff in 2011.
Another draw this season was the opening of Miller Time, the ninth gated chute.
Still looking brand new is the Winters Creek Lodge on the Slide side that opened last season.
Remnants of the old Reno Ski Bowl are no longer visible now that the Winters Creek Lodge has opened on the knoll that was home to the old structure. Employees used to be park here, too.
With nearly 360-degree views from the floor-to-ceiling windows, this high point of the base area is definitely being put to better use. So ideal is the setting, the lodge has a separate website from the resort’s because of its high demand for special events.
Washoe Lake shimmers on one side, while the snow covered slopes are in the opposite the direction. The contrast, especially this time of year, is stunning, as the Carson-Reno area seems a brown desolate desert in comparison to the winter scene on the mountain.
Jazz is playing as we walk up to the lodge in the morning. A few people are getting breakfast. Not many cars are in the lot. The Blazing Zephyr six-pack opens at 8:30am, 30 minutes before the rest of the mountain.
Lodge or slopes? A lot of both is the best answer.
Getting there:
From South Lake Tahoe, take Highway 50 east. Turn left on Highway 28 at the top of Spooner Summit. In Incline Village, turn right on Highway 431 – Mount Rose Highway.
The Mt. Rose base is the first entrance on the right. The Slide Mountain entrance is about a half mile farther on the right.
More information is online.
ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)
By U.S. Ski Racing
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — In the end Aksel Lund Svindal made the Italians — silver medal winner Christof Innerhofer and bronze medalist Peter Fill — look like pretenders, claiming the gold medal of the World Championship super combined by an outstanding 1.01 seconds. But the Italians weren’t complaining.
It was the second straight combined gold in World Championship competition for Svindal, having also claimed the top prize in 2009, but it was his first medal of these championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and it was well earned.
The Italians were joyful. Fill tossed his ski poles high in air as he recognized his time and Innerhofer held his slalom skis aloft, celebrating his third medal of these championships, an unlikely circumstance from a man with one World Cup win to his credit and the two Italians quickly surrounded Svindal in the finish, anxious to pose for photographers.
The Americans had a rough go. Tim Jitloff of Reno had made a costly mistake in the downhill and pushed gamely from the second start of the slalom to make up a nine second deficit with predictable results. He put up the third fastest slalom run on the day, but wound up tied for 14th. Ted Ligety had a decent downhill (11th) and was definitely full-out attack in the slalom, but exited about half way down the slalom. And Bode Miller showed he can exit a race course with as much flamboyence as anyone, flying past the second gate on the hill horizonal to the ground, his skis above his head.
With the downhill leg of the race run an hour earlier than the men’s downhill on Saturday – going off at 10am versus 11 – and with a clear night allowing radiant cooling, the Kandahar course was icy and fast. It was a touch smoother than it had been for earlier training runs, but those ragged runs had already had their effect on the combined field. Many skiers had opted out, including Ivica Kostelic, already the World Cup combined champ with three wins in three eveents. The start list for the combined numbered 41 and that dropped to 34 after the downhill.
The slalom leg, across town, started at 2pm and long shadows crossed sections, but by no stretch, all of the steep Gudiberg hill. By the final racers the slalom hill did show rutting, but it held up well.
This just in from Curtis Fong at 8am: Heavenly’s upper mountain closed, Squaw’s upper mountain closed, Alpine’s upper mountain and back side closed, and Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe is closed.
Love and snow are blowing in the air this Valentine’s Day.
Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.
Winter is expected to return with a vengeance to the Lake Tahoe Basin this week.
A winter storm watch is in effect from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service in Reno is calling for possible snow accumulations of 12 to 18 inches at lake level, 1 to 2 feet above 7,000 feet and up to 3 feet near the sierra crest.
Winds will be out of the southwest at 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph on Tuesday. Ridge gusts may hit 110 mph.
Although the storm watch is in effect for that time period, the Weather Service is calling for snow today through Thursday night.
The highs will start off today in the 40s before dropping to the teens on Thursday. The overnight lows will be in the 20s, with 12 forecast for Thursday night. There is a six-degree spread for Thursday with the high that day in the basin slated to be 18 degrees.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
By Colin Bane, ESPN Action Sports
Nobody was more surprised than 34-year-old Janna Meyen-Weatherby when she won the Women’s Slopestyle contest at Snowbasin Sunday, beating out South Lake Tahoe’s Jamie Anderson and Spencer O’Brien for the win at the last stop of the Winter Dew Tour.
Weatherby blazed through the top section of the course with 50-50s and boardslides, then floated a Cab 540 mute and a backside 360 stalefish on the jumps. “I’ve been competing for more than two decades,” she said. “When I started riding, snowboarding wasn’t even allowed at most mountains, so I’m honored to still be able to hang out on a podium with people like Jamie and Spencer.”
After wins at the first two stops of the tour, Jamie Anderson’s second place finish Sunday was enough to secure her second Dew Cup trophy in a row, ahead of Rebecca Torr and Jordie Karlinski.
“I’ve been having a great year and I’m so stoked to take the Dew Cup,” Anderson says. “I’m so inspired to see Janna out here laying it down and I hope I can keep progressing and stay in this for a long time.”
By Lindsey Sine, U.S. Snowboarding
OGDEN, Utah — It was Kelly Clark’s world, and we were all just observers Saturday night as the two-time Olympic medalist from Vermont threw down her newly patented 1080 to take the win and overall title in halfpipe at the Winter Dew Tour at Snowbasin in Utah. Luke Mitrani of Mammoth Mountain won the men’s competition, but Louie Vito of Sandy, Utah, who won the tour’s previous two stops, took the overall title.
Clark put down a front 7, cab 7, a huge frontside 1080, cab 3, front 5 and a back 5 for the win. She was followed in second place by Kaitlyn Farrington (Sun Valley, Idaho) and Japan’s Soko Yamaoka was third.
In the men’s competition Mitrani put down an incredible run with a double Michael chuck, frontside 9, backside 5, front 10 and a cab double 10 to earn a staggeringly high score of 97.00.
Greg Bretz of Mammoth Mountain finished second while Steve Fisher of Breckenridge, Colo., threw down with the first double cork of his career for third.
“It was a great contest, the last stop of the Dew Tour, and the crowd was amazing. A really good energy,” said Mitrani. “I can’t believe I won. I’ve never won a contest this big so I’m really tripping.”
Official results, 2011 Winter Dew Tour, Ogden, Halfpipe
Men
1. Luke Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 97.00.
2. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 95.00
3. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 92.00
4. Jack Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 89.00
5. Spencer Shaw, Stratton, VT, 84.50
6. JJ Thomas, Breckenridge, CO, 80.75
7. Louie Vito, Sandy, UT, 73.50
8. Ben Watts, Bend, OR, 60.25
9. Matt Ladley, Steamboat Springs, CO, 48.75
10. Brett Esser, Breckenridge, CO, 30.00
11. Zach Black, Breckenridge, CO, 24.50
Women
1. Kelly Clark, West Dover, VT, 95.75
2. Kaitlyn Farrington, Sun Valley, ID, 91.00
3. Soko Yamaoka, Japan, 86.25
4. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 74.75
5. Queralt Castellet, Spain, 70.00
6. Ellery Hollingsworth, Darien, CT, 65.00
By U.S. Ski Racing
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — There is great joy in Austria today. Elisabeth Goergl picked up her second World Championship of the week, bringing Austria her 22nd global downhill title (men and women) and first since 2003 with a beautifully executed run that set the tone for a Murder’s Row of top competitors who would ski just after her. Though they would challenge, none could out race her on this day as she won her first elite downhill and brought the Austrian women’s team its third consecutive win at these championships.
“It’s the downhill,” Goergl simply said when question why this medal as a little more special to her than the super G title she won on Tuesday. She collected four World Cup downhill podiums since 2006, but never a win.
With a courageous effort that fell 0.44 seconds short, American Lindsey Vonn added a silver medal to the gold she had won in the event at Val d’Isere in 2009 and local favorite Maria Riesch (0.60 back) contributed the bronze medal to the roaring approval of her hometown fans.
“Today feels like a gold medal,” said a very pleased Vonn. “It’s a really great feeling and I couldn’t be happier. I could feel the speed today. It was a fun downhill and I enjoyed racing it today.”
The U.S. ended up with three skiers in the top 10, a feat not accomplished in a downhill in 15 years, with Squaw Valley’s Julia Mancuso finishing sixth and Laurenne Ross, the first skier on the hill today, finishing 10th for her best top-level result ever.
Mancuso challenged but never came close enough to match either Goergl or Riesch and Anja Paerson never seemed to find the flow of the course at all, finishing well off the pace 1.78 back.
“It’s amazing how different your strategy has to be if the snow changes and it’s amazing how different the course can change. Today it was like frozen spring skiing as opposed to the ice we had in the first training run,” said Mancuso. “The surface is actually really good. My game plan was just to take risks and make sure to not give myself any room for mistakes. I executed the second half of the course, but unfortunately I’m not sure where the time went on the top part.”
Vonn picked up momentum as her run progressed and she made up the bulk of her time on the last chunk of hill, coming in 0.44 econds off the pace of the Austrian. It was her first full-on speed run since sustaining a head injury Feb. 2 that has caused her difficulty gauging speed and the first real sign her recovery has approached a successful conclusion. The 2009 Worlds downhill and super G champion pulled out of the the week’s first downhill training and opted to run the final “dress rehearsal” in an unusual costume as she tested the “cloudy head,” which slowed her to a seventh-place finish in he super G, wearing loose fitting free skiing clothes to slow her down.
Tina Maze, the combined silver medalist, charged hard enough to push Mancuso down one more notch and Daniela Merighetti was solid in finishing seventh, but the race was essentially over with Vonn’s run.