Blue World Blog 3.02.09

March 2, 2009

I keep going back to Ground Hog Day, when Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and 6 more weeks of Winter was predicted. He wasn’t wrong…

In this past week, Heavenly reported another 15-17” of new snow; Sierra-at-Tahoe got 23-29” and Kirkwood picked up another 34-38” of new snow.

Just keeps coming.

As of this morning a Winter Storm Warning is posted from 10am today all the way thru Wednesday morning at 4am. According to Snowforcast.com there is the potential of snow accumulations above 8000 ft. predicted to be 14-22” today, 16-24” Tuesday with 36”above 8000 ft, 3-5” on Wednesday, a break Thursday and 5-6” on Friday. Could be a total of 5 to 6 feet by this coming weekend with still unsettled weather coming thru. March is definitely coming in like a LION with a ROAR! Or is that the wind?

This past Saturday, Heavenly hosted their first in a Series of 4 “Jackpot Rail Jams” on World Cup Run. Results of the competition.

Online registration is open for the next event scheduled for Saturday, March 14, followed by the 3^rd of the series on March 21 with the Finals slated for Saturday, March 28 by invitation. Go to www.skiheavenly.com for more info.

Prizes for the qualifying events include: Automaton snowboards, Moment skis, Solstice clothing, Neff gear, VonZipper goggles, Skullcandy headphones, DaKine bags, Freeskier gear, Bern helmets and items from Ride, Flatline, Eesa, Smith, Landing, Girl Powder and BettyRides.com.

Also I will be Emceeing the Special Olympics Celebrity Winterfest Race and Activities this Saturday at the Base of Heavenly’s World Cup Run. Calling the Play by Play along with both AM590 KTHO Radio Personalities and KMTN TV will be catching all the action to be played back on Channel 9 & 19 on the South Shore. This a THE fundraiser for Northern CA/NV Special Olympics and everyone is invited to come out and support the cause, meet the celebrities and root on your favorite teams.

Sierra at Tahoe is offering some great deals in March.

Learn To Ski/Ride for just $25

From March 8 through 13, would-be skiers and snowboarders can get a heck of a deal with Sierra Resort's Learn to Ski/Ride special. The package includes a 2.5-hour beginner lesson, ski or snowboard rental equipment for the day and a lift ticket that accesses the beginner chair lifts. Package must be reserved online in advance. With snow conditions as good as they are, learning how to ski or snowboard in March will be a piece of cake!

Backcountry Lessons for as low as $33

With the incorporation of Huckleberry Canyon inside the Sierra Resort boundary this winter, expert skiers and snowboarders jonesing to experience extreme terrain but cautious enough to want to do so with a guide can take advantage of the new Backcountry Lesson. This 2.5-hour lesson covers both technique for skiing/riding extreme terrain and route finding skills. All necessary equipment, including avalanche beacon, probe & shovel, are included in the lesson price, which is $49 or $33 with a 3-Pak! The opportunity to experience some of the premiere backcountry terrain in North America at this price makes this one of the best deals in the ski world.

Kids Ski Free

Book an overnight ski package with one of our partners in South Lake Tahoe and you'll receive a free child's lift ticket with each adult lift ticket. Packages represent an average savings of nearly $80 per person per night and are valid through March 31, 2009.

The Snow keeps piling up at Kirkwood and they have some great events and money saving deals offered as well.

Starting March 5-8, they are hosting:

THE NORTH FACE MASTERS OF SNOWBOARDING

Professional and up‐and‐coming snowboarders from around the globe gather at Kirkwood for the final stop along the tour of The North Face Masters big mountain competition to battle it out in the

Legendary terrain of The Cirque, home to the resort’s most challenging cliff drops and chutes.

Male and female snowboarders over the age of 18 years are welcome to participate in the event

and can register online at www.thenorthfacemasters.com.

Big name riders expected to be seen at The North Face Masters this year include Laura Dewey, Shannan Yates, Rachel Sheidow, Jonathan Penfield, Korey Kaczmarek, Ralph Backstrom, and

Ryland Bell. Champions of the tour will be crowned at Kirkwood following the conclusion

of competition on March 8; each winner will receive a portion of the tour’s $45,000 cash purse

and a chance to compete in additional circuit events.

Kirkwood also has a bunch of Screamin’ Deals offered this month to include:

Their Mid Winter Season Pass, good every day thru the end of the Season for only $249. And if you are a Season Pass Holder of any other Lake Tahoe Resort, you can purchase the Tahoe / Kirkwood Upgrade… Bring your Season Pass out to Kirkwood and receive 3 Lift tickets for only $99. Lift Tickets are good for the holder of the pass only and are non-transferable Call their pass office at 209/7254 or visit Kirkwood.com.

On another note, Lake Tahoe Radio is Back… KTHO AM590, kicked off its new format this morning with your “Weekday Wake up” with the team of Tom & Bill in the morning from 6am-9am, weekdays. Tune in for all the local news, information and my Mountain Resort Reports each morning. What’s cool is the KTHO has changed their music format to CLASSIC ROCK… Oh yeah… with other news programs such as “Tahoe FYI” hosted by Paul Middlebrook and Bill Kingman on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:15am, Tom Wendell is hosting “Tahoe Perspective” on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:15am; The Insane Darrell Wayne and the Knuckleheads are hosting their Classic Rock Show on Wednesday evenings from 7pm-10pm. Other music programming includes Grateful Dead selections with “Dead Reckoning” with Timmy, Saturday night from 10pm till Midnight, but wait there more and more changes coming in the next weeks so tune in and get all the local information and great classic rock music you want. You can also hear them world wide with live streamed music on the internet at kthoradio.com. Yes indeed. Local information radio is back serving our community with local news, road & weather, talk shows and great Classic Rock. Tune it in at AM590 – KTHO – Serving America’s All Year Playground.

Have a great week and don’t put away the shovel just yet.

See you on the Slopes.

Curtis Fong

The Guy From Tahoe

tgft@bikethewest.com

Blue World Blog 2.23.09

February 23, 2009

President’s Week has come and gone. Local retail and rental shops had brisk business, especially on those stormy days when the shopping and indoor activities seemed to be a good option. Oh yeah, the restaurants were busy as well. Lots of new snow fell this past week and I had a chance to ski Heavenly on Tuesday. 8 inches of fresh was reported that morning so I had to at least get a few hours of finding the good stuff under my skis.

I got to the Stagecoach Parking lot about 9:15am and it was almost full and headed to the upper mountain. Riding up the lift I noticed only a few tracks under the lift, so I delayed heading up further to take a warm up, under the lift. Very… Very… Nice!

By the time I got to the upper mountain there were a good number of skiers and riders starting to congregate at Dipper and Comet Lifts. I rode up Dipper and B-Lined it to Milky Way Bowl. Lots of folks had the same idea… I traversed across the bowl and jumped in down past the tree line (Stu’s Run) and caught several powder turns. I headed back up to do it again and decided to traverse all the way over the Killebrew Canyon rope line and ski the trees down… Sweet! After that, yet another ride up Dipper to see what was left down Dipper Knob and it was pretty well skied out but the snow was great. From there I continued past the Galaxy Lift and headed on the cat track to catch a few turns in Galaxy Glades, another stash that many skiers and riders bypass, and found a route, although a much lower angle, to satisfy my addiction for powder!

I rode Galaxy back up and headed to Comet. The bumps were starting to form on Little Dipper, but the tree skiing was still really good… so, two more runs down the trees and I was ready for a break. I stopped in to my perch at the Star Bar and had my usual warm up drink… Poor man’s mocha… ½ Coffee & ½ Hot Chocolate with a topping of a little whipped cream…

I was also preoccupied thinking about my North American Snow Sports Journalist Western Winter Summit coming up the next week and decided I should start preparing for my trip, so I rode Comet one more time to head back to Stagecoach Lodge.

On the way down the mountain the impulse hit me and I found myself loading the Olympic Express to check out the “WP”. Some tracks were in there but still lots of pow left to my surprise, and then continued down through North Bowl Trees and down to the base of the North Bowl Lift. The ride up North Bowl, as with Galaxy, is slow but a welcomed recovery ride to rest my screamin’ legs. I headed back down to finish up at Stagecoach Lodge before heading out. A great morning on the Heavenly mountain, and now you know where some of my powder stashes are.

This past week Kirkwood was also able to get both sections of the Covered Wagon Platter Lifts fired up to access Emigrant Basin as well as the New Vista T-Bar at the top of Chair #2 to access, what we used to call, the Moon Cornice and Boogie Slide in Thunder Saddle, so if you are heading out, check it out. Plenty of snow at the Wood.

With more snow coming this week, the conditions on the mountain continue to get better and better and more upper mountain off-piste terrain is getting better and better as well.

If you plan on skiing or riding off-piste, do as I say and not as I do… Always ski and ride with a buddy. Be Safe and stay in-bounds.

Have a great week,

Curtis Fong

“The Guy From Tahoe”

BikeandSkiTahoe.com

tgft@bikethewest.com