It’s a done deal — Intrawest, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, and Mammoth Resorts are all under the same ownership.

In early April, Aspen Skiing and Denver private equity firm KSL Capital Partners announced they were partnering on a $1.5 billion deal for Intrawest Resort Holdings’ six ski areas. Two days later the new Aspen Skiing Co.-KSL Capital Partners alliance said it was buying Mammoth Mountain, June Mountain, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain.

The new conglomerate will be operating Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, Snow Summit, Bear Mountain and June Mountain in California; Steamboat Ski & Resort and Winter Park Resort in Colorado; Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Ontario; Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec; Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont; and Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia.

The company also owns developable real estates and Canadian Mountain Holidays, the world’s leading heli-ski operator.

With the completion of the transaction come personnel changes.

KSL’s Bryan Traficanti became interim chief executive officer. Thomas Marano, Intrawest’s CEO, resigned his position; Rusty Gregory, Mammoth Resort’s Chairman and CEO, is an investor in the new company and will serve on the board, and become senior strategic advisor to the new company; and Andy Wirth, president and CEO of SVSH, will become president and COO of SVSH; David Perry, previously vice president and COO of Aspen Skiing Company, was named the newly integrated company’s president and COO; Intrawest’s Sky Foulkes, previously president of Winter Park Resort and COO of Intrawest, transitioned to focusing full time on Winter Park Resort as its president and COO; and Mark Brownlie will be president and COO of Mammoth Resorts.

For the full 2017-18 winter season, the new company will continue to honor the existing pass products that are currently on sale. The new company expects to launch a new name and brand prior to this ski season.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Ty Polastri

Each year, major road cycling events attract thousands of cyclists to the Lake Tahoe area. They come from across the United States and internationally to enjoy Tahoe’s natural beauty, fresh air, and cycling challenges that may include distance traveled, summits conquered or riding for a cause.

Two particular events have been delivering exceptional rides for over 20 years. They are the Death Ride: Tour de California Alps (Death Ride) in the Alpine County area, and America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Tahoe (AMBBR).

Each event attracts more than 3,000 riders annually with uniquely different ride routes and personal objectives.

Death Ride. The Death Ride challenges cyclists to ride five mountain passes, 129 miles, and 15,000 feet of elevation gain. For many cyclists, the Death Ride serves as a benchmark to test and evaluate their personal fitness and endurance levels. Featured the second week in July each year, the ride provides ample time for cyclists to train for the event and once their preparedness is tested on event day, they can share their experiences, and re-establish new personal goals and continue their training.

America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride. On the other hand, AMBBR challenges cyclists in a slightly different way. While riding around the Lake’s 72-mile circumference and 4,000 plus feet of elevation is certainly a challenge in its own right, the added challenge is raising dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Each year, the Society in collaboration with Teams In Training conducts a six month cyclist’s training program in preparation for the ride and coaching them in the solicitation of pledges for the fundraising portion of the event. More than 2,000 riders from 23 states come to Tahoe to ride for family and friends who have been afflicted with these deadly blood diseases. The AMBBR event is the largest yielding fundraising event for the society each year – having raised over $94 million with 24,000 participating cyclists since they started coming to Tahoe in 1994. These funds help the society explore new paths to cures, supporting approximately 300 active, cutting-edge research projects in blood cancer research for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. The event is on the Sunday following Memorial Day Weekend each year and is open to about 3,500 riders. This event, like the Death Ride sells out early.

More recently, the world’s cycling media and public has learned about Tahoe and the surrounding area’s beauty and great road cycling conditions as a result of the internationally televised Amgen Tour of California (TOC) professional bike race. The Amgen TOC is the most important professional bike race in America. The world’s top pro teams send members here to compete in the weeklong event as it travels along the coast, climbs the sierras, and entertains thousands of spectators in major cities. This event serves both as a training race for the development of new professional cyclists and for the elite professional cyclists as a preparation for the world’s most important bike race in July – the three weeklong Tour de France.

Cyclists who have not yet ridden the area in either of the events or recreationally, can now get a glimpse of the areas’ beauty and type of roads by viewing the new bike video produced by Bike Tahoe in collaboration with the Nevada Commission on Tourism.  This video, Road Cycling: Lake Tahoe is part of the We Bike Tahoe Video Series highlighting some of the ride sections featured in the Death Ride and AMBBR events.

Ty Polastri is president of Bike Tahoe.

By Aja Seldon and Spencer Blake, KRON-TV

On Saturday the San Jose Earthquakes honored three heroes who rescued one of their players from drowning over the Fourth of July holiday.

Twenty-year-old Brazil native and Earthquakes midfielder Matheus Silva, was swimming in Lake Tahoe when he went under after struggling to stay afloat.

Two paddle boarders, Colby Peterson, and Chris Guenther jumped into action.

Read the whole story

Kim Iliffe hits a forehand with partner Keri Mills en route to winning the women’s 10.0 division on July 30. Photo/ZCTC

By Lake Tahoe News

It was hard to find a time when Kim Iliffe wasn’t on one of the six courts at Zephyr Cove Tennis Club in the last four days.

The Mill Valley resident was the lone player entered in three events at the Tahoe Tennis Classic. She walked away the winner in two divisions and reached the semi-finals in the third event.

Also having a two-win tournament was Carolyn Wright of Zephyr Cove.

This 34-year-old all doubles tournament on July 27-30 set a record with 215 players.

Iliffe paired with Michael Kiskinen of El Dorado Hills in the mixed 10.0 division to get the best of David Hardern of Gold River and Amanda Walker of Gold River 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Iliffe and Keri Mills of Carmichael retained their title in the women’s 10.0 division by beating Jeanette Berry of Reno and Laura Pierce of Reno 6-2, 6-3.

Iliffe was also playing in the 9.0 division. With partner Dawn Schlagel of Sacramento they made it to the semi-final round where they lost to Berry and Pierce 6-0 7-5. In the finals on July 30, Berry and Pierce beat Penne Burgess of Carson City and Shannon Schuld-Gray of Carmichael, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Wright teamed up with Barbara Cooper of South Lake Tahoe in the women’s 7.0 division to beat Denise Higgins of Gardnerville and Rhoda Shaponik of South Lake Tahoe 6-1, 7-5. All four have been teammates on the ZCTC 3.5 USTA team.

In the 7.0 mixed Wright and Thor Spargo of Fair Oaks defeated last year’s champions Craig and Donna Rockwood of South Lake Tahoe 6-3, 6-2.

Other results:

·        Women’s 8.0: Donna Kaneko of San Jose and Lauri Selover of San Jose defeated Karen Frederick of San Jose and Patricia Spratt of San Jose 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.

·        Women’s 6.0: Nancy Cumming of Rancho Palos Verdes and Jean Van Well of Incline Village beat Kari Beronio of Zephyr Cove and Carol Romero-Bergren of Zephyr Cove 6-2, 6-3.

·        Men’s 10.0: Tony Matkulak of Reno and Kevin Strawn of Reno beat Ryan Johnston of South Lake Tahoe and Mohamed Irfan Lakdawala of San Francisco 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.

·        Men’s 8.0: Fernando Quinones of San Francisco and James Reed of Modesto beat Duane Catania of Incline Village and Vincent Catania of Elk Grove 6-2, 6-1.

·        Men’s 6.0: Carl Bergren of Zephyr Cove and Ted Cloward of South Lake Tahoe beat Mike Riley of Incline Village and Dan Smith of Zephyr Cove 6-1, 6-2.

·        Men’s 50 doubles: Geoff Garret of Rocklin and Ken Vowell of Lincoln defeated Lee Shin of South Lake Tahoe and John Wlcek of South Lake Tahoe 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

·        Men’s 65 doubles: Kurt Chan of Gold River and Tad Yukawa of Palm Desert beat Dan Bohannon of Orange and Mark Peterson of Truckee 6-4, 6-2.

·        Men’s 70 doubles: David Heldt-Werle of Reno and Steven Privette of Sparks beat Brian Silvestri of Stateline and Brian Streck of Galveston, Texas, 6-1, 6-2.

·        Mixed 8.0 doubles: Andrew Stinnett of South Lake Tahoe and Joyce Youngs of South Lake Tahoe beat Fernando Quinones of San Francisco and Amy Warden of Modesto 6-3, 6-1.

On Sept. 9, cyclists will get the chance to see if they have the steam to beat the old trains of Ely.

Road bikers will begin with a short ride to the entrance of the Robinson Nevada copper mine where they will circle a 240-ton haul truck. On their descent toward Ely, they will be side by side with the giant iron horse coal fired steam engine. The road bike course spans approximately 25 miles with an elevation gain of 820 feet.

Mountain bikers will ride 11 miles on single and double track trails with an elevation gain of 1,400 feet.

Entrance fee is $75. To register and for more information, go online.

All racers will receive a shirt, finisher’s medal, swag bag, barbecue ticket and train ride voucher which may be used to get the racer and their bike to the start line (bike spaces are limited) or on one of the regular train excursions scheduled throughout the weekend.

It might be necessary to give flowers extra water this week as temps soar. Photo/LTN

By Lake Tahoe News

Hot, hot, hot. That’s the forecast for Lake Tahoe.

“For the end of July and early August we are definitely going to be flirting with near record temperatures,” Evan LaGuardia, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, told Lake Tahoe News.

Temperatures are forecast to reach the 90s in parts of the Lake Tahoe Basin early this week, with Reno topping the century mark. It’s possible record high temps could fall throughout the region.

A high pressure system sitting over the area is responsible for the hot weather. The stable air and lack of wind will mean hot weather for a few days.

Mid-week there could be a break. It all depends on where the high pressure goes. Afternoon thunderstorms are in the forecast for now for later in the week, but the Weather Service said the confidence in those developing is low.

The problem with thunderstorms is they come with lightning, making for dangerous fire conditions.

Lightning sparked hundreds of fires of various sizes throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada in the last week.

By Tay Wiles, High Country News

The morning after the 2016 presidential election, California’s legislative leaders issued a message that has set the tone for the state under the new administration, under President  Trump. “Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land,” it said.

Since then, many Californians have pushed back against conservative policies on everything from immigrant rights to the environment. One of those offensives is Senate Bill 50, which, after sailing through committee this spring and summer, aims to stop the federal government from transferring or selling off public lands to corporations.

The Public Lands Protection Act is part of a series of three bills introduced in late February called the “Preserve California” package, meant to preempt any efforts by the Trump administration to weaken environmental laws. The bill would allow California’s State Lands Commission first dibs on lands the federal government wants to sell, and would let the state have a say in transferring to a new owner.

Read the whole story

Truckee police are warning cyclists to lock their bikes to help prevent it from being stolen.

High-end downhill mountain bikes are what thieves like. Most thefts involve expensive bikes being stolen out of vehicles that were unattended. The thieves have cut cables on bikes locked to vehicle racks and other simple locking mechanisms.

The Truckee Police Department recommends using a high quality bike lock, and recording the serial numbers on the bike upon purchase. Not doing so can make it difficult for the rightful owner to get her bike back.

Proper locking is the first defense against bike theft. Officers say to use a hardened-steel U-lock as a primary lock. Cable locks and cheap U-locks can easily be cut. Secure your wheels with locking skewers (best) or cable around both wheels. Lock the U-lock to the bike frame (never just the wheels) and to a secure rack or pole.

Dixie Valley toads inhabit Nevada’s Great Basin. Photo/Patrick Donnelly/Center for Biological Diversity

By Maya L. Kapoor, High Country News

Researchers at UNR have named three new toad species: the Dixie Valley toad, the Railroad Valley toad and the Hot Creek toad. This is an especially exciting feat because it’s rare to find new species of any amphibians, the class of animals that includes toads, frogs, newts, salamanders and caecilians.

The most recent toad discovery north of Mexico, the Wyoming toad, was found almost half a century ago in 1968, and it has since gone extinct in the wild.

And while it’s rare to find new amphibians anywhere, these toads are particularly intriguing because they live in the Great Basin region of Northern Nevada, which is one of the driest parts of the country, averaging slightly more than 13 inches of rain per year. The toads thrive in tiny, naturally occurring oases such as small springs, wetlands or seeps, where thick vegetation makes them hard to spot during the day, according to a statement by researchers.

Read the whole story

By Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle

One little secret can save you money if you camp a lot at state parks this summer while on vacation. Especially for families.

That secret is about those little tokens you buy to take a shower at California’s state-park campgrounds.

If you are someone who camps a lot — I camp as many a 200 days in a year — the difference for that number of nights would be $200 against $400 per year. On the road, you find out, the overhead can consume you. The motto is, “Many small leaks can sink a big ship.”

Read the whole story