By Lindsey Sine, U.S. Snowboarding

ASPEN, CO — Lindsey Jacobellis of Stratton Mountain, Vt., nailed her fourth gold in a row Saturday, making her the first woman to four-peat in X Games history. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof of Gordwood, Alaska, finished right behind her teammate to take the silver in snowboardcross.

“This is my second go at a four-peat and it feels good to finally get it,” Jacobellis said. “I was just trying to get out in front and stay out of traffic so that I could pick whatever line I wanted.”

Jacobellis was a standout through all her heats, but in the final she laid on the pedal to push herself well ahead of the pack of female riders behind

her and stayed there till she crossed the finish line. Jacobellis credits her aggressive riding style to the fact that she’s always keeping up with the guys.

“I grew up riding with my brother and he never let me go the easy way out. Now I’m chasing the rest of the guys on the team,” Jacobellis said. “They give me all the confidence I need. It helps a lot when you have something that helps you like that.”

Another thing Jacobellis felt giving her the edge on the competition Saturday was a summer full of change for the Olympic silver medalist.

“I didn’t snowboard more than two days this summer in Mt. Hood. I was surfing, biking and working out here and there. I loved it. I came back in the fall and I have never had so much fun,” Jacobellis said.

Right behind Jacobellis was her teammate Chythlook-Sifsof, who said she was happy to be able to medal in the event, let alone come in right behind Jacobellis.

Just like their male teammates, Jacobellis and Chythlook-Sifsof are now moving along to the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Park City’s Canyons Resort Feb. 11-12.

Official results, 2011 Winter X Games, Aspen, Jan. 29, 2011, Women’s SBX

1. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton Mountain, VT

2. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, Girdwood, AK

3. Deborah Anthonioz, France

4. Emilie Aubry, Switzerland

5. Alexandra Jekova, Bulgaria

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7. Joanie Anderson, South Lake Tahoe, CA

9. Faye Gulini, Salt Lake City

By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee

After spending a century building the nation’s largest and most majestic state park system, Californians are poised to do something unprecedented: Retreat from that legacy and start closing parks.

Years of budget cuts in the California State Parks system have resulted in widespread reductions in park hours, crumbling facilities and reduced staffing. But in the past few years, lawmakers have rejected widespread closures proposed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Now, however, the climate has changed. Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget requires another $22 million in cuts to the parks budget – a pittance compared with the $25 billion state budget deficit, but a number that even strong parks supporters say is unlikely to be achieved without shuttering parks.

Brown also wants cuts of $30 million to local libraries and $32 million to local fairs.

Read the whole story

Finally, snow is in the forecast later tonight. Light to moderate winds are in the forecast, so don’t forget your windbreaker.

Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

By Kade Krichko, U.S. Ski Team

ASPEN — The Frenchman Kevin Rolland relied on some last run heroics to edge out Americans Torin Yater-Wallace of Aspen and Simon Dumont of Bethel, Maine, Friday night in Aspen to win Winter X Games gold in halfpipe skiing.

On the final run of the entire competition, Rolland threw down a nearly impeccable display of amplitude and style to spoil Yater-Wallace’s X Games debut. Rolland’s last run went double cork 1080, alley-oop flat spin 360, switch 1080, switch 540, to double cork 1260, securing him the gold.

The real surprise of the night was Aspen’s Yater-Wallace. Just 15, the young skier electrified the home crowd with a stellar third run that put him in first ahead of halfpipe-skiing legend Dumont with only three riders to go. The freshman at Aspen High School punched his ticket to Winter X after a fifth at the Dew Tour on Dec. 10, becoming the third youngest male to ever compete at Winter X and the youngest competitor in the event this year.

A visibly disappointed Dumont took home the bronze, increasing his total medal count to nine at Winter X. Dumont had control of the lead after two runs, but was unable to improve upon his score in his third run.

Both Yater-Wallace and Dumont are anticipated to represent the U.S. at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Park City on Feb. 5.

Official results, Winter X Games 15, Jan. 28, 2011, Superpipe

1. Kevin Rolland, France, 93.66

2. Torin Yater-Wallace, Aspen, CO, 92.66

3. Simon Dumont, Bethel, ME, 90.33

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4. Duncan Adams, Breckenridge, CO, 86.00

7. David Wise, Reno, NV, 56.66

North Lake Tahoe celebrates its long winter season with SnowFest, a 10-day carnival. SnowFest is scheduled for March 4-13 and will beat a variety of venues throughout North Lake Tahoe.

In its 30th year, SnowFest is expected to draw thousands of attendees, with the majority of events free to spectators. The annual favorites are back, along with expanded special events, including the Opening Night Ceremonies, Laser Show, Torchlight Parade and Fireworks; Mamasake Extreme Food Challenge for those with a strong stomach; 21th Annual Gar Woods Polar Bear Swim in Tahoe’s frigid waters; SnowFest Parades in Tahoe City and Kings Beach; Sunnyside Luau; the Great Ski Race, an annual cross country adventure; Kings Beach Ice Castle and Lighting Contest; Wacky Winter Human Bowling with snow saucers and inflatable pins; Tahoe City Golf Course’s “Dog Pull”; the Dragon Snow Palace; Dummy Downhill at Diamond Peak in Incline Village; the highly creative and 23rd Annual Snow Sculpture Contest at Tahoe City’s River Ranch Lodge; Special Olympics Polar Plunge at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe; and the 3rd Annual Ta-Hoe Nalu Arctic Standup Paddleboard Race.

For more information about SnowFest and a complete list of events, visit the website.

By Katharine Greider, AARP Bulletin

Well, folks, it’s happening. The baby boomers, popularizers of tennis and skiing in the 1970s, inventors of jogging and step aerobics in the 1980s, are advancing through middle age to the very threshold of senior citizenship: The oldest boomers turn 65 this year.

And if their parents’ generation inaugurated the science of good nutrition — the five food groups and all that — the boomers’ adult years have, fittingly enough, produced a major new body of evidence on the benefits of “getting physical.”

In fact, this evidence suggests that exercising regularly during middle age and beyond is an enormously effective way to promote just the sort of old age boomers dream about: independent, robust and free of chronic disease or disability. “If you had to pick one thing, one single thing that came closest to the fountain of youth,” says James Fries, M.D., a pioneer researcher on healthy aging at Stanford University, “then it would have to be exercise.”

Exercise maintains healthy blood vessels for good circulation in the body and brain. It also helps people manage their weight and cope with stress. And exercise stems age-related losses in bone density and muscle mass while it keeps the heart and lungs strong.

The bottom line, reflected in dozens of studies, is that people who exercise, on average, live longer than those who don’t, with a reduced chance of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancers, depression, falls and even mental decline.

Read the whole story

South Lake Tahoe’s Joanie Anderson and Trevor Ricioli are going for the podium, as both made the finals in their respective sports, boardercross and skiercross.

Anderson is a veteran of the X Games, while this is Ricioli’s first trip.

Anderson has the added twist of having her sister, Jamie, competing at the games. ESPN Action Sports caught up with the sisters before the competition in Aspen started this week. Here is that story.

For Ricioli, he will be facing Olympians Daron Rahlves, who also skis for Sugar Bowl, and Errol Kerr, who trains at Alpine Meadows.

Also representing South Tahoe in the finals is Shaun Palmer in men’s boardercross.

The X Games are televised. Here is the schedule.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By ESPN

Sarah Burke won her fourth Winter X SuperPipe gold medal Thursday night under the lights at Winter X 15 at Buttermilk, Colo. Winter X rookie Brita Sigourney of Squaw placed second, and Roz Groenewoud rounded out the podium.

Burke, who qualified in the last position for Thursday night’s final, earned the highest score — a 91.33 — for her second run, which included back-to-back flairs, a 720 and a corked 900.

“It feels great,” Burke said, “and all it took was nine hard days of training.” Recovering from a shoulder surgery she underwent this past summer after a disappointing 2010 contest season (she placed sixth in Slopestyle and SuperPipe at Winter X last year), Burke wasn’t cleared by her doctor to ski halfpipe until less than two weeks before Thursday night’s contest.

Read the whole story

Afternoon on the slopes means the sun has had more time to soften things up.

Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

Plumas-Eureka State Park, located in the Sierra near Graeagle, will be partially closed this summer to allow for a cleanup of hazardous materials. Parts of the park will remain open, but the campground, museum area, and other selected sites throughout the park will temporarily be closed for clean-up.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has initiated a remediation effort to remove toxic materials, a legacy left behind from the days when the site was a working gold mine. Soils within certain areas of the park were found to be contaminated with arsenic, lead and mercury at actionable levels above federal standards.

The work will begin immediately after the spring thaw and will likely proceed into the fall. Should the work proceed without unforeseen problems and be completed sooner, State Parks will reopen portions of the park as soon as possible. The campground will be the first site treated, in an effort to allow camping to resume as soon as possible.

Plumas-Eureka State Park is the site of a historic hard-rock gold mining operation and was a major producer of gold in the late 1800s. State Parks acquired the site as a park in 1959, inheriting 4,000 acres of a high Sierra forested watershed, but also a legacy of historic mine tailings left from the milling process.

Visitors holding reservations will be contacted by Reserve America’s Customer Service to transfer their reservation to another date or another park, pending availability. If your reservation cannot be transferred, it will be canceled and a full refund issued.