The Heavenly Ski and Snowboard Foundation’s 22nd annual Ski and Snowboard Swap at MontBleu in Stateline is Nov. 19 and 20.

Proceeds benefit the foundation, a nonprofit organization providing skiing and snowboarding programs for regional youth, local middle school students, and the S.O.S. program.

The swap opens with Moonlight Madness on Nov. 19 from 6 to 11pm in the MontBleu Convention Center. Admission for adults is $5, children 12 and under are free.

The deals continue Nov. 20 from 10am to 5pm. Admission is free.

Public merchandise registration is at the Heavenly Ski and Snowboard Foundation building, located in the Heavenly California Lodge parking lot at the base of World Cup lift across from the Heavenly Tram, on Nov. 17 from 3 to 6pm. No equipment over 5 years old.

For additional information, call (530) 541.7354.

Publisher’s note: A bruised Manny Pacquiao will be at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Nov. 16 with his band.

By Barry Horn, Dallas Morning News

Perhaps the five kind souls on the California athletic commission were doing Antonio Margarito a favor when they refused to license him to fight Manny Pacquiao.

Here in Texas, boxing’s regulatory body welcomed Margarito with open arms. In the wake of the beating he took Saturday night from Pacquiao, Texas will be sending Margarito home to Mexico after he undergoes surgery Tuesday to repair a fractured socket around his right eye.

Promoter Bob Arum delivered the medical report Sunday afternoon. He said Margarito was taken to Methodist Dallas Medical Center immediately after the fight at Cowboys Stadium. Doctors are waiting for the swelling to go down before operating, Arum said. He added that the damaged orbital was Margarito’s lone medical problem.

Pacquiao mugged Margarito for 36 minutes before 41,734 eyewitnesses in capturing the WBC’s 154-pound world championship. The judges’ decision wasn’t simply unanimous, it was lopsided. One scored it 12 rounds to none. One had it 11-1, and the third had it 10-2.

A 112-pound champion as recently as the final month of the 20th century, Pacquiao has climbed the championship ladder to 122, 126, 130, 135, 140, 147 and now 154 pounds. No one ever had won titles in eight weight divisions. He now weighs in as a legitimate contender for the title as “greatest of all time.”

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A 272-acre ranch in El Dorado County was bought by the American River Conservancy for $3.3 million.

This area near Coloma is thought to be the first North American site settled by Japanese colonists.

A public park and museum are planned.

The former Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony was used for silk worm farming and growing rice, tea, stone fruits and bamboo.

Torstein Horgmo, one of the world’s top riders, has joined the Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort Professional Freestyle Team and will represent the resort in competitions including the Winter Dew Tour, Winter X Games and other high profile winter events.

Horgmo, who is from Norway, was the first to land a triple cork off a park jump.

Torstein Horgmo

Horgmo began snowboarding in 1999, was sponsored in 2004 and turned pro in 2009. He has consistently placed among the top finishers in high profile events including the Winter Dew Tour, WIIG Invitational, Arctic Challenge and Winter X Games over the past three years, including a first place finish in the Winter X Games Big Air in 2008, and second place finishes in 2009 and 2010. Horgmo, is also featured with a top-to-bottom Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort park run in the recently released 2010 Standard Films movie “The Storming.”

By Joel Gratz

“Hey La Nina, what’s in it for me?” When geek-speak goes mainstream, you know the nerds must have a hot topic on their hands. You might think that I’m talking about The Facebook Movie (“The Social Network”), where geeks write computer code over shots of Tequila. But not quite.

I’m actually talking about meteorology. With the words La Nina getting mainstream attention this fall, all skiers are scrambling to hone their weather skills in hopes of finding just what “The Girl” (or “The Nina” according to Chris Farly) has in store for them. As a meteorologist and lover of snow and skiing, I’m here to turn the geek speak into snow information.

Early snow covers Heavenly on Nov. 9. Photo/Kathryn Reed

To save you most of the suspense, here’s the conclusion right up front. If you’re further north in the U.S., you’ll probably see higher than average snowfall. If you’re further south in the U.S., you’ll probably see lower than average snowfall. Don’t worry; there are more details in a bit.

You might be thinking, “Why do we care about La Nina, or El Nino?” In short, it’s really the only reliable clue that meteorologists have to predict temperature and precipitation patterns months and seasons in advance.

Meteorologist Joel Gratz is the creator of ColoradoPowderForecast and is based in Boulder, CO. Data from Tony Crocker contributed to this article. His website has additional information on the impacts of El Nino and La Nina on snowfall.

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South Tahoe High School’s boys’ and girls’ soccer teams were in action this weekend. Both teams have much to celebrate.

At the class 3A Boys State Tournament in Mesquite on Friday the guys beat Boulder City 5-0, while Sparks needed overtime to top Truckee 1-0.

In Saturday’s championship match, South Tahoe beat Sparks 3-1.

In the girls’ division on Friday, STHS beat Truckee 3-0, while Elko topped Boulder City 2-1 in overtime.

In the championship game on Saturday, South Tahoe prevailed over Elko 2-0.

By Lisa Ramsey-Simpson

The American Youth Soccer Organization has been a fixture in South Lake Tahoe youth soccer for some time, providing a way for local youth to learn about the game of soccer, sportsmanship and the value of working together as a team.

Each year South Lake Tahoe sends one to two All-Star teams to compete for the title of All-Star Champions for our region. This year was no different. Having only two weeks to prepare for the tournaments, the coaches had their work cut out for them. They had to take 10 kids per team and get them not only to play together, but to play a strategic and competitive game of soccer at a level above the regular season.

Coaches Mark Salmon, Perry Quinn, Arcadio Garza and Freddie Gonzales took the task of getting the U-10 girls ready for the big event. The two teams practiced together several days per week with and against each other to prepare. Schedules were announced and the teams were notified their first game was going to be early. They all had to be at Carson City no later than 7:30am last Saturday. Each team played hard in the first game and both teams came out with their first wins of the tournament.

South Lake Tahoe's girls soccer teams made it to the championship tournament. Photo/Victoria Gonzales

Saturday afternoon the girls played their second games and came out with another win for each of their respective divisions. The comradery was displayed between the two teams as players and parents watched both divisional games to support the South Lake Tahoe girls.

Sunday would prove to be more challenging. Weather would be a factor with the temperature dropping and consistent rain throughout the day. Dedicated parents withstood the rain and wind to watch the morning games. The air was filled with anticipation, hope and cheers. Luckily, the weather seemed to have little impact on the girls who continued to win again in both divisions. Excitement filled the chilly air as the coaches, girls, and fans realized both teams would be competing in their respective divisions for the All-Star championship.

The Championship games were tough. The Sierra division saw their opponents score a goal within minutes of the first quarter. The Cascade division was able to score a goal in the first quarter, but after multiple attempts couldn’t score again. In the end, the Sierra division took their first loss, which was hard for the players and their friends. The Cascade division was able to hold on to their 1-0 lead to win the Championships.

Cascade team and players moved over to the Sierra division field to rally with the other Tahoe players. Parents, friends and family members created one large Tahoe tunnel and chanted “Tahoe, Tahoe” while the players ran through.

In the end, one could be really proud of the girls from Tahoe. They played well, dominated with points, and above all, played with great class. Coach Mark Salmon told the parents earlier this week “I’m watching our current varsity girl’s team capture the league title over Truckee and moving onto State and picturing this same group of girls doing it several years from now.” Congratulations to all the coaches representing South Lake Tahoe, but especially to Mark, Perry, Freddie, and Arcadio who helped develop these girls to compete on this level. Congratulations to all the players who rocked the fields last weekend and played with every thing they had.

Lisa Ramsey-Simpson is a parent of one of the players.

By Kathryn Reed

INCLINE VILLAGE — A case was made Friday to start a pilot waterborne transit project on the North and West shores as early as next summer.

“Essentially it would be public transit on the lake,” explained Gordon Shaw of LSC Consultants. “This is not going to be a big ferry.”

He was hired by the Tahoe Transportation District to study the feasibility of such a service. On Nov. 12 he made a presentation to the board that outlined how such a system could work, the potential passenger load and projected revenues.

The board is expected to take action on a potential course of action at the December meeting.

Gordon Shaw

Shaw’s proposal anticipates the need of $1.3 million in start-up funds, which could come partially from federal grants.

The goal would be to start with one boat that could hold up to 20 people and add a second with similar capacity the following year. They would allow for wheelchairs and bicycles. Eighteen knots would be the maximum speed. Eight decibels the highest noise output so they could not be heard a quarter mile offshore.

Waterborne transit is not new to Lake Tahoe. Vessels plied the waters years ago to great fanfare in the first half of the last century. Attempts to resurrect this mode of transportation on a wide-scale basis has sputtered and petered out when anything did get launched.

Shaw said the key to being successful this time around is going slow and offering services that will be dependable. The boats would likely run Memorial Day to Labor Day, with weekend service after that.

Lew Madden, a retired Navy captain who lives in Carnelian Bay, spoke in favor of the boat shuttle, but raised a slew of questions that were not addressed in the consultant’s presentation.

(Madden has experience with getting boats on water, which he is in the process of doing in Alaska.)

He doubts Tahoe could implement this plan until summer 2013 based on getting federal funding. He cautioned going forward without contracts in hand from landing sites. He urged TTD to join the Passenger Vessel Association to receive help, guidance and insight.

“I think it will require more work than you can imagine,” Madden told the board.

Jim Markle, an Incline resident representing Sustainable Tahoe, would like the board to look at other watercraft than the five models presented. His interest lies in stability as well as the ability to land on a beach, which could open more areas to the shuttle service.

Stuart Yount, also of Incline, would like to see watercraft that could land at boat ramps and possibly a larger craft. He said with the Incline General Improvement District changing by 40 percent, to not rule out being able to dock in Incline in the future.

Ron Treabess, interim executive director with the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, said his agency may have money to help with something like this.

The reason to start with Placer County destinations is the number of communities in a small area. Plus, a private operate has a shuttle service on the South Shore during the summer that hits Camp Richardson, Lakeside and Timber Cove marinas.

Kings Beach is not on the list of potential landing spots because the water level is too low.

Board member Ron McIntyre brought up the idea of a temporary floating pier in Kings Beach.

With the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s shorezone ordinance on the losing end of a recent court battle, the idea with the water transit to have nothing to do with building new piers.

Water transit is part of TRPA’s Regional Plan and is a component of all community plans that it would engulf; so permitting should not be more difficult than usual. The U.S. Coast Guard would also have to sign off on the plans.

Tahoe Vista Recreation Area is interested, as is Gar Woods in Carnelian Bay.

Possible sites on the North Shore also include Tahoe City Marina, Grove Street Pier and Sunnyside Resort.

Places in Homewood Shaw has spoken to include West Shore Café, Homewood High and Dry Marina, and Obexer’s Marina. Chambers Landing is out for the time being because of lack of parking.

It was noted the reduction in particulate matter from people driving less would be minimal.

“It’s close to being a wash on environmental impact,” Shaw said of the water shuttle.

By Heather Hansman, Ski

Nervous about your kid falling off the chairlift? Do their short legs make them ride precariously close to the edge? Good news. Now, you can magnetically stick them to the back of the chair.

French company Magnestick has been installing magnetized chairs in Europe for the past three years, and this winter they’re coming to the U.S.

Magnets keep kids on the lifts at Alpine. Photo/Rachael Woods

Alpine Meadows is the first resort in the states to implement Magnestick. They installed it in two of their beginner chairs: Meadow and Subway.

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By Emi Urabe and naoko Fujimura, Bloomberg News

Forget the ice ax and $500 climbing boots. The mode du jour for today’s female mountain hikers in Japan is a miniskirt and leggings.

The North Face, the San Leandro maker of Gore-Tex waterproof jackets, and Alpine Tour Service Co. are targeting “yama girls,” or mountain girls, the nickname for the growing number of women who are taking to the hills of Japan wearing short pants or fleece skirts with leggings and designer trekking boots.

“I want to wear something cute like a skirt,” said Machiko Miyauchi, 25, who made her first ascent of Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak, earlier this year after buying new equipment and shoes. “Climbing is healing. You can breathe fresh, clean air.”

Visitors to Mount Fuji in the two months ended Aug. 31, the busiest climbing season, were the most since the government began tracking traffic using infrared sensors in 2005. The number of women applying for Alpine’s treks jumped sixfold from last year, prompting the Tokyo company to increase women-only tours to 13 this year from six in 2009, spokesman Yasushi Kodama said.

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