downhill

The Comstock History Center Museum in Virginia City presents a new historic photo exhibit entitled, Vanishing Icons: A Look Back at Comstock Mines and Mills.
In 1980, a documentation project was undertaken on the Comstock to record the remains of historic mine and mill sites originally built throughout Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City and Dayton during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The exhibit features 16 large-format, black and white photographs from this project.

Access to more terrain opened up to skiers and snowboarders Friday at Lake Tahoe. Heavenly Mountain Resort opened Olympic Express, offering guests access to upper Olympic Downhill run. The resort is currently operating 18 lifts, accessing 25 trails, and has three access points to the mountain open, including the Heavenly Gondola at Heavenly Village, Stagecoach Lodge in Nevada, and California Lodge off of Ski Run Blvd.

Cooler temps in the Sierra above Lake Tahoe have allowed Heavenly Mountain Resort to utilize the West Coast’s largest snowmaking system in order to expand terrain and open Stagecoach Express on Saturday, offering a second access point to the mountain, as well as top-to-bottom skiing and riding on the Nevada side.

After a long wait with much anticipation, I finally got a chance to take the new fat bike out for its first snow ride. Acting on a tip that there was good snow cover with several miles of snow machine tracks up near Carson Pass, I loaded the bike up in the car and headed up to Red Lake on Highway 88.

Last weekend we got up to South Lake Tahoe to check out some of the trails they’ve been building up there. To get to the trailhead, we headed south on Pioneer Trail road just past the Casinos, then east on Oneidas Street near Meyers. We followed Oneidas Street until it became a narrow Forest Service road known as Fountain Place Road. We parked just past the creek crossing at a trailhead parking area.

Just south of Silver Springs is Buckland’s Station, an old two story house built in 1870 by Samuel Buckland from the dismantled materials from Fort Churchill. This site was once a Pony Express stop, supply center for early pioneers and nearby Fort Churchill, and a former hotel. Today it’s a quiet old building in a park setting under the cottonwoods along the Carson River. I had a free afternoon recently, and decided to make the station my trailhead for an exploration loop around the mountains.

Now that Autumn has arrived, it’s a great time to explore the areas east of Carson City. These trails and back roads can be impassable in the winter, muddy in the Spring, and too hot during the Summer. This time of year, though, the dry conditions and mild temperatures make it the perfect time to go. One of our favorite Fall rides is the off-road route up to Virginia City via the American Flat Toll Road. With the area’s fun and lively Old West history, this ride has started to become an annual event.

The Comstock History Center in Virginia City, in partnership with the Comstock Cemetery Foundation, is pleased to announce the opening of a new museum exhibit entitled Deathways of the Comstock Chinese.

The exhibit, which highlights the death and burial practices of the Chinese, features artifacts, photographs, video and an accurately reproduced, life-sized Chinese gravesite. The free exhibit will open to the public on Thursday, August 14, 2014 at 11 a.m.

Jamie Anderson of South Lake Tahoe won two awards at Wednesday night's ESPY awards in Los Angeles. She won the award for Best Female Action Sports Athlete and Best Female U.S. Olympian.

Anderson, the 23-year-old who brought home a gold medal, also won the ESPY for Best Female Action Sports Athlete in 2012. She won inaugural Women's Slopestyle Event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

An ESPY Award is an accolade presented by the American cable television network ESPN to recognize individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance.

This weekend provided a lesson in self-kindness I will never forget. It started with a group hike at Upper Thomas Creek Trail.

Hiking with a group, I thought, would make the experience more enjoyable. Unfortunately, initially, it didn't. It wasn't because of the group. It was because of what went on in my head as a result. In an effort to try to keep up with more experienced hikers, I focused outside myself and pushed myself too hard to keep up.

Looking for some new singletrack to ride? Just south of Carson City is the new Clear Creek Trail! The Clear Creek Trail is almost 10.5 miles long, is open to hikers, mountain bikes, equestrians and dogs, has no exit, and is currently 21-miles round-trip.

If you're not into traditional winter sports such as ice fishing, ice skating, downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, snowshoeing or snowmobiling, there is not a lot to do in late winter...for most people.

Some choose to stare out the window, complain about the snow, ice, frost and darkness of wintertime and stay glued to their TV sets. However, there are plenty of activities to take your mind off our cold weather, dark mornings and evenings, if you would like to do so.

South Lake Tahoe's hometown girl Jamie Anderson cleaned up her second run to earn the first-ever women’s slopestyle snowboarding gold medal Sunday at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

While the short-term forecast shows a change this week from the overall stubborn pattern of warm and dry conditions over the region, the drought for this part of the far west is severe and unless we get a lot of snow in the coming few weeks, we're going to face much more serious issues this coming summer.

It’s now officially Fall and it's that unique time of the year again.
This is when the days are very noticeably shorter, the weather is much crisper and Old Man Winter is lurking just around the corner, with all of his cold, frost, snow and ice.

If you were not aware of it, The Sierra Nevada Mountains got their first snow of the year this last Saturday! Winter is on its way!

So, if you would like a last try at fishing some of our higher altitude lakes before they freeze up or are closed for the 2013 season on November 15, here are some suggestions on where to go:

This is my annual reminder that a number of nearby fishing waters will be closing for the year at sunset on September 30. Those waters include the following:

Here’s an advance notice of something very special in the Outdoor world that will occur in just a few days: Draw a great big red circle around the date of Saturday, June 8 on your calendar and then plan to have a fun-filled day in the Great Outdoors.

June 8 is Nevada’s Free Fishing Day for the year 2013. On that day, you can fish anywhere you want, and not need a Nevada fishing license or a Nevada Trout Stamp or a Nevada Second Rod Stamp.

North Lake Tahoe pulls out all the stops to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of hosting the 1960 Winter Olympics with the Olympic Heritage Celebration beginning Saturday and lasting through Jan. 21 at venues throughout the region.

The event, which is sponsored by the North Lake Tahoe Chamber/CVB/Resort Association, kicks off Saturday, January 12 with the REI Winter Trails Day at Tahoe Donner Cross Country Resort in Truckee.

Although you might not feel it, the weather is starting to change in North Lake Tahoe. Days are still warm, with temperatures averaging in the 60s, but nights are dropping to approximately 35 degrees. It’s the time of year that the region’s upper elevations may even see a dusting of snow.

“We’ve been reviewing all the long-range forecasts,” said Chief Marketing Officer Andy Chapman of the North Lake Tahoe Chamber/CVB/Resort Association. “And if Mother Nature keeps up her end, we should have above-average snowfall this winter.”

This is an annual reminder that a number of nearby fishing waters will be closing for the year at sunset on September 30. Those waters include the following:

Vail Resorts, Inc. which has three ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area, announced Thursday an unprecedented partnership with Verbier, Switzerland, that will enhance the already incredible value of Vail Resorts’ Epic Season Pass, providing three days of free access to the Verbier ski resort, including Les 4 Vallées, the largest ski area in Switzerland, for new and renewing 2012-2013 Epic Season Pass holders.

Here’s an advance notice of something very special in the Outdoor world that will occur in just several days:

Draw a great big red circle around the date of Saturday, June 9 on your calendar and then plan to have a fun-filled day in the Great Outdoors.
June 09 is Nevada’s Free Fishing Day for the year 2012.

On that day, you can fish anywhere you want, and not need a Nevada fishing license or a Nevada Trout Stamp or a Nevada Second Rod Stamp.

May 16th was Muscle Powered’s annual Bike to Work Week cruiser ride, and this year we had record attendance. We estimated around 100 riders this year, double the previous record of about 50. Thank you nice weather!

Drew and Kristy prepping to ride

About a year and a half ago, I met Mike Ball down at the Tap Shack, a little hole in the wall bar in downtown Carson City. He and a couple other of my friends were discussing building a bar on wheels that could be pedaled around town. While it sounded very cool, I passed it off as one of those crazy ideas that bubbles up after a few pints of beer. Something akin to quitting your job and backpacking across Spain, or the ultimate bank heist. It sounded like too much effort to me.

Hobart Reservoir, a small, high-mountain reservoir, located at an elevation of 7,600 feet in the mountains between Carson City and Lake Tahoe, will open for the 2012 fishing season on May 1.
Because of its high elevation and location, this reservoir is normally covered with ice, and surrounded by deep snow drifts, when it opens on May 1.
However, this year is entirely different, ice and snow-wise. It will remain open to fishing through September 30.

Diamond Peak will continue the tradition of the Dummy Downhill on April 1, 2012. This will be the 12th year for the community’s favorite event of the season.

Participants build a dummy on skis or a snowboard that gets launched off a big jump on Showoff run. Categories include Best Crash, Longest Jump, Most Creative, Shortest Distance and whatever else the judges decide to make up.

Sochi, Russia is next on the list for orthopedic surgeon, Terrence Orr's medical volunteerism. As a physician with Tahoe Orthopedic & Sports Medicine, he will be previewing the future site of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games as part of his role as Head Team Physician for the United States Men's Alpine Ski Team — a position he has held since 1999.

Jill Kinmont Boothe, the former ski champion and Olympic hopeful who was left paralyzed after a skiing accident in Utah in 1955 and whose life story was the subject of the film "The Other Side of the Mountain" and a subsequent sequel, died Thursday at Carson Tahoe Hospital in Carson City, the Los Angeles Times reports. She was 75.
Ruth Rhines, senior deputy coroner of Carson City, confirmed that Boothe died. A cause of death wasn't given and Rhines could not confirm reports that Boothe died of complications related to surgery.

Extreme snow sports legend and Transformers film wingsuit stuntman JT Holmes has finished shooting promotional TV spots for the Tahoe Fund’s Plate for Powder program, which gives purchasers of California and Nevada

The snow forecast to hit the Lake Tahoe region during the next few days is expected to give the Tahoe Fund's Plate for Powder program a boost along with Sierra ski resorts and businesses. Drivers who purchase a California or Nevada Tahoe vehicle license plate will receive two free ski lift or Nordic tickets to the resort of their choice. New Tahoe plates cost $50 in California and $61 in Nevada.