By Kathryn Reed

Even though the major benefactor Lake Tahoe Unified School District thought it had lined up to help finance the turf and lighting project at the high school fell through, momentum has not waned.

“What we are going to do for the school and the community is huge,” South Tahoe High School Principal Ivone Larson told the school board Dec. 14 as she stood in front of a rendering of the new gridiron.

STHS Principal Ivone Larson talks about the Viking Lights Campaign. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Two football games were played this fall under temporary lights. At one game Larson counted six wheelchairs at the stadium that does not meet regulations with the American Disabilities Act.

As the field is reconfigured to accommodate soccer and football, and the sod is replaced with artificial turf, measures will be taken to ensure it is ADA compliant.

A snag Facilities Director Steve Morales relayed to the board Tuesday night after learning of it earlier in the day is the Department of State Architects says an ADA path from the campus to the field must be part of the plans. It does not have to built in the initial phase, but will have to be down the road.

The district will use $1.1 million in developer fees for the project and will need to raise about $300,000 from donors.

Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe has pledged $36,000. This would buy one light standard.

Bricks that will be prominently incorporated into the design are being sold that will have the donor’s name chiseled in it.

The district is also hoping businesses will donate services, much like what happened with the construction of the track and field at South Tahoe Middle School.

The idea is the field will be ready to use in fall 2011. Construction could mean graduation will have to be moved for one year.

The San Francisco Giants will launch a public tour of the World Champions trophy in early January. The trophy will travel throughout Northern California, Southern Oregon and Western Nevada. It will also travel to New York and Arizona.

It will be in the Lake Tahoe-Reno area Jan. 14-15. Exact times and locations will be announced in January.

Fans will have the opportunity to view the trophy in person and have their photo taken with it. The viewings are free to the public. Fans may purchase an official photo with the trophy through Printroom Photography.

By Lindsey Sine, U.S. Snowboarding

TELLURIDE, Colo. – Falling snow had nothing on Nick Baumgartner of Iron River, Mich., Wednesday as the World Championship bronze medalist led the U.S. in first during the qualifications for the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup at Telluride Resort in Colorado.

Baumgartner led the way for 11 U.S. men into the final round, with Nate Holland of Squaw Valley in fifth, Seth Wescott of Sugarloaf, Maine, in seventh to round out the U.S. men in the top 10.

Sitting lower in the rankings headed into the second qualification run, Baumgartner decided that even with the extra snowfall, he was going to try a different strategy for the race, and it paid off.

On the women’s side, Lindsey Jacobellis of Vermont and Callan Chythlook-Sifsof of Alaska laid down a solid run time to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

The top 32 men and 16 women will go on to compete in the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup on Friday.

Official results, Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup, Telluride, Colo., Qualifications

Men

1. Nick Baumgartner, Iron River, MI

2. Robert Fagan, Canada

3. Alberto Schiavon, Italy

4. Jake Holden, Canada

5. Nate Holland, Squaw Valley, CA

–

7. Seth Wescott, Sugarloaf, ME

14. Shaun Palmer, South Lake Tahoe, CA

16. Alex Deibold, Manchester Center, VT

17. Graham Watanabe, Sun Valley, ID

19. Ross Powers, Stratton Mountain, VT

26. JJ Tomlinson, Park City, UT

27. Jayson Hale, Sierraville, CA

28. Jonathan Cheever, Saugus, MA

–

31. Alex Tuttle, Sugarloaf, ME

Women

1. Dominique Maltais, Canada

2. Alexandra Jekova, Bulgaria

3. Helene Olafsen, Norway

4. Maelle Ricker, Canada

5. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton Mountain, VT

–

6. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, Girdwood, AK

By Freddy Perryman, U.S. Ski Team

MERIBEL, France – Hannah Kearney of Vermont and Patrick Deneen of Washington kept the overall World Cup lead Wednesday with strong second place finishes in Meribel. Bryon Wilson of Montana rounded out the men’s podium in third.

This is the first time the U.S. has had two athletes in yellow at the same time since 2007 when Shannon Bahrke of Tahoe City and Nate Roberts of Park City wore the yellow jersey together.

Deneen was edged out by France’s Guilbaut Colas, earning his 10th World Cup victory, in the finals 18-17. Deneen was first across the line, but Colas had better air and turns to take the win.

Good news for the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team Wednesday also came from Sho Kashima of Stateline who finished 20th. After a season ending injury last year, Kashima is recovering ahead of schedule.

“He’s doing great” says U.S. Moguls Coach Garth Hager. “He’s right in the mix, back to his old air plan and performing well.”

On Dec. 17, the FIS Freestyle World Cup is making its first moguls stop in China.

Official results, FIS Freestyle World Cup, Maribel, France, Dual Moguls

Men

1. Guilbaut Colas, France

2. Patrick Deneen, Cle Elum, WA

3. Bryon Wilson, Butte, MT

4. Sergey Volkov, Russia

5. Alexandre Bilodeau, Canada

–

9. Jeremy Cota, Carrabassett Valley, ME

17. Joe Discoe, Telluride, CO

20. Sho Kashima, Lake Tahoe, CA

21. Jimmy Discoe, Ridgway, CO

–

40. David Digravio, Farmington, ME

Women

1. Yulia Galysheva, Kazakhstan

2. Hannah Kearney, Norwich, VT

3. Justine Dufor-Lapointe, Canada

4. Ekaterina Stolyarova. Russia

5. Regina Rakhimova, Russia

–

12. Heather McPhie, Bozeman, MT

18. Laurel Shanley, Squaw Valley, CA

–

DNS: Heidi Kloser, Vail, CO

DNF: Eliza Outtrim, Steamboat Springs, CO

It’s a powder day — what more do you need to know?

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

By Elizabeth Karam, U.S. Snowboarding

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. – Spencer Shaw of Winhall, Vt., and Allyson Carroll of Truckee landed the top steps of the podium at the U.S. Revolution Tour’s halfpipe snowboarding contest at Copper.

In a contest stacked with international and national riders, including Olympians, X Games and World Cup medalists, the United States swept the top spots. In addition to the challenging field of riders, athletes were faced with a long day attributed to the huge field forcing finals well into the late afternoon.

“(Tuesday)morning it was really nice. It was bluebird skies and warm. All the girls were happy and ready to go,” explained Carroll, who clinched the win with her first run. “But the day kind of slowed down and we had to wait because things were running late. Finally, finals came and everyone got pumped up again. We took our last run when the moon was coming up. It was pretty cool – a really long day. But it was worth it.”

Carroll, who landed both runs claimed the “W” with a frontside straight air to a backside straight air into a frontside straight air followed by a back 5 to a frontside straight air into a back 7, ending her run with a switchback 5. Sitting in second and third behind Carroll were Kirby Kelly of Algonquin, Ill., and Jenna Dramise of Henderson, Nev.

“My runs went really well. I was just happy to land them because visibility was so tough,” Carroll said. “Landing back-to-back runs is such an awesome feeling.”

In the men’s contest, Shaw came back from a fall in his first run to throw down his second run for the win – although it didn’t go exactly how he planned.

The U.S. Revolution Tour at Copper continues todday with the men’s and women’s slopestyle snowboarding contest.

Official results, U.S. Revolution Tour, Copper Mountain, Halfpipe

Men

1. Spencer Shaw, Winhall, VT

2. Kazuumi Fujita, Japan

3. Ryo Aono, Japan

Women

1. Allyson Carroll, Truckee, CA

2. Kirby Kelly, Algonquin, IL

3. Jenna Dramise, Henderson, NV

By Susan Wood

The Reno-Tahoe Winter Games Coalition has a deadline to drum up support for its quest to bring the 2022 Winter Games back to the region 62 years after Squaw Valley hosted them in 1960.

Based on the past, the U.S. Olympic Committee is expected to court bids from interested cities in early 2012, Chief Executive Officer Jon Killoran told Lake Tahoe News Tuesday when asked what was new since the last report.

“But they could ask us about it tomorrow,” he said. This is why Killoran and others are out courting potential backers who would be part of the Reno-Tahoe Games.

If the USOC wants the Tahoe-Reno region to host the Games in 2022, the organization will take its national bid to the International Olympic Committee for consideration in 2013, Killoran speculated.

In the meantime, the coalition has made the rounds to meet with various recreation venue managers and tourism advocates. Killoran met with Chris Hawken, interim director of the South Lake Tahoe Parks and Recreation Departmenet, about the ice arena in September. The visit wasn’t designed to check out the arena as a venue, but Killoran didn’t rule it out either.

Hawken said it most likely would be used as a training site, not for competition. The rink size if National Hockey League compatible, but not Olympic-size, Hawken told LTN.

Truckee Mayor Carolyn Dee, who is also Squaw’s director of Business Administration, said she thought it would be smart to look at the South Tahoe rink.

Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Bureau spokesman Ben McDonald said his agency, which serves on the Winter Games Committee, has pledged support in the planning process — but nothing specific thus far.

The group has stayed afloat during this planning stage with the help of agencies such as the Nevada Commission on Tourism with a $10,000 grant. The coalition hopes to cultivate private donors as its membership expands and it undergoes a reorganization.

Tahoe-Reno’s dream of hosting the Winter Games again has been bumped from 2014 to 2018 before 2022 appeared to be closer to reality once Chicago lost its bid for the 2016 Summer Games.

Speculation lingers that Denver is interested in hosting 2022 as well as Salt Lake City. The Utah city operated on a $3 billion budget that brought in a $76 million profit in 2002.

Lake Placid, N.Y., hosted the Games for the United States twice — but those years were 48 years apart from its first 1932 Games.

By Ryan Sabalow, Record Searchlight

There may not be American gray wolves in California yet, but U.S. Rep. Wally Herger has joined a group of Republican lawmakers urging the animals’ removal from the Endangered Species Act — just in case.

The Chico Republican says he co-sponsored a bill last week with seven other House Republicans pushing for the removal of the wolves’ protected status because he’s worried that environmental groups may someday try to introduce them in his district as they have in other states.

At least one environmentalist group says wolves should be brought back to the north state, though there are no immediate plans to do so.

“I think restoring wolves to a larger portion (of their original habitat) is a necessity before removing protection for them,” said Noah Greenwald, the director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered species program in Portland, Ore.

The center’s biologists believe that wolves could survive in some north state forests, including parts of Trinity, Siskiyou and Modoc counties.

Read the whole story

Join the Tahoe Rim Trail Association for its annual National Winter Trails Day. Participate in a day of winter recreation, presentations, and activities on Jan. 8 between 10am and 2pm. The event will be near the west end of Tahoe Meadows on the south side of Mt. Rose Highway. To participate, contact Tom at (775) 298.0238, programs@tahoerimtrail.org.

The TRTA will be offering free guided snowshoe hikes throughout the day, providing users with useful information on winter travel as well as dramatic views of Lake Tahoe. Tahoe Mountain Sports will also be on site to showcase winter recreation gear, from MSR and Kahtoola snowshoes to avalanche beacons and probes.

A presentation by the American Red Cross on winter safety and preparedness will take place at noon, along with an assortment of other talks on how to make this winter season as enjoyable as possible. For younger winter enthusiasts, there will be an ongoing snowman contest throughout the day, along with snow shelter construction and demonstrations.

Explore Tahoe will also be partnering with TRTA in hosting a guided snowshoe hike from 9am to noon to 12 at the Kingsbury North Trailhead near Heavenly Mountain Resort. Post-hike hot beverages and treats will be provided! To participate, call Lauren Tomaselli at Explore Tahoe at (530) 542.4637.

The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a winter weather advisory for the Lake Tahoe basin from 7am today through 1am Wednesday.

Expect the roads to be nasty, especially with rain on the roads before the temperatures drop — which is the perfect way to make ice. Road conditions may be accessed from the Home page of Lake Tahoe News.

NDOT crews had not been on top of Spooner Summit at 8am, where a couple of inches of snow had accumulated.

Wind is likely to wreak havoc with lift operations at the higher elevations.

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