Category: Outdoors
Best alternative use for a cane
It’s hard to imagine exactly what Mark Shuey means when he says that a cane is not a crutch. That is, until he (gently) wraps the handle of said implement around your neck. A Southern Californian by birth, general contractor by trade and world-class martial artist by hobby, Shuey moved to Incline Village in 1977. […]
The Tahoe Fund Takes Off
For all the talk of protecting Lake Tahoe, lack of funds, reams of paperwork and bureaucratic holdups often delay getting initiatives beyond the drawing board. Enter the Tahoe Fund. “It’s a nonprofit dedicated to on-the-ground projects,” says Cindy Gustafson, Tahoe Fund president. “We’re about raising funds to get projects done.” A bi-state, Basin-wide initiative, the […]
War of the Roses
By defining the division between opposing sides with an actual physical or geographic border—the proverbial “line in the sand”—in the hope of promoting resolution through separation, the discourse may only become darker. Consider the symbolism of the Mason-Dixon Line or the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, dividing the Hatfields and McCoys during their […]
Heli-Skiing Takes Off in Tahoe
Has heli-skiing been a long-standing item on your bucket list, but the cost and distance too much to manage? This might be the year that your deep powder dreams come true. Pacific Crest Heli-Guides has launched a helicopter skiing and snowboard service at Lake Tahoe this season, with access to more than 100,000 acres of […]
The Slopes Beyond the Ropes
Loosely defined, sidecountry is legal out-of-bounds areas or backcountry terrain that is accessed from a ski resort. Over the past decade, sidecountry skiing and riding has exploded in popularity in North America. Liberal boundary policies, the proliferation of fat skis (which increase flotation in deep snow) and improved avalanche awareness have helped fuel the rapid […]
Corporate Climbing
Many a hardcore climber has had a youthful fling with the vertical, but eventually succumbed to the gravitational forces in work life. Jan Holan is one of the lucky ones—he discovered a way to parlay his yen for climbing into a new industry and a multimillion dollar business. In 1994, Holan founded what is now […]
Natural Rhythms: Winter
Animal instincts Animals have three basic strategies for coping with Tahoe winters: leave the region, stay active and struggle to find food and stay warm, or shut down. Some animals combine strategies, and black bears are a great example. In colder parts of North America, bears retreat to a den and become inactive, but few […]
Do-it-Yourself Skis
In search of summer snow, I’ve traded Tahoe for Mt. Shasta’s south face in mid-June. I’m teetering atop a pair of skis I’ve lovingly handcrafted from sustainably harvested wood, about to tilt them into their maiden voyage down Avalanche Gulch. I briefly wonder if my quest is sheer folly: riding a pair of unproven skis […]
Weekend Road Warriors
Five hours in the car, fast food for dinner. Road markers race by your window and eventually you stop for gas. In this weather, you could be stuck on Interstate 80 for hours, waiting for crews to untangle a seven-car pileup or for a road full of truckers to don their chains for another routine […]
Slopes sold to big buyers
Lake Tahoe saw the sale of two of its iconic ski resorts this past fall, as Vail Resorts purchased Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort and private equity fund KSL Capital Partners bought Squaw Valley USA. Both companies plan to bring a wealth of expertise and improvements to their respective mountains, though many wonder if corporate ownership will destroy […]
