Scenic

No Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball team has had a better won-loss record than the Western Nevada College Wildcats over the last half of the season.

After concluding the first half of the conference season by losing three of four games at College of Southern Idaho and seeing their record fall below .500, the Wildcats won 14 of their final 16 games. Their only two defeats during that stretch were to conference winner College of Southern Nevada, which hosts this week’s postseason tournament.

It wasn’t the way the Western Nevada College softball team planned to end the regular season.

After shining and showing improvement in its previous three Scenic West Athletic Conference series, including winning three of four games from Snow College, the Wildcats were swept by College of Southern Nevada on Friday and Saturday.

College of Southern Nevada avenged an earlier series defeat to the Wildcats by dominating the weekend set in Henderson, winning 8-3 and 11-2 on Friday and 7-1 and 8-2 on Saturday.

As the Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball season winds to a close, Western Nevada College gave itself momentum and possibly a better seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Wildcats swept a doubleheader Friday against College of Southern Idaho, 5-3 and 10-8, at John L. Harvey Field.

The victories assure that WNC will be no lower than the third seed in the upcoming conference tournament in Henderson, and leave the door open for a No. 2 seed. The Wildcats will play another doubleheader against CSI on Saturday at noon, in Carson City.

This Mother’s Day, give Mom a window seat back in time with a tour of the Wild West aboard the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, Sunday, May 12.

This special edition train ride from Nevada's capital, Carson City, to the 1860s boom-era mining town of Virginia City, will provide Mom with a long stem rose, Old West history, storytelling, shopping and dining in Virginia City to go along with the spectacular scenery.

Playing three games in one day is nothing new to the Western Nevada College softball team, but pitching back-to-back complete games certainly is. Freshman pitcher Carlee Beck went the distance in the second and third games against North Idaho College Saturday in Coeur d’Alene.

She allowed just two runs per outing in helping the Wildcats win one of the three Scenic West Athletic Conference matchups with the Cardinals.

Western Nevada College found a cure over the weekend for its recent Scenic West Athletic Conference softball losing streak: the power hitting of Sydney Darby and long pitching stints by Ali Lostra and Carlee Beck.

Darby equaled a program record with her 15th and 16th homers of the season, while Lostra and Beck each tossed a complete game as the Wildcats won three of four games from Colorado Northwestern in Rangely, Colo.

In the four tight games with the Spartans, the Wildcats came through with clutch hits, solid defense and lengthy outings from their pitchers.

Any chance that Western Nevada College would suffer a letdown against Colorado Northwestern after a road sweep over defending Scenic West Athletic Conference champion Salt Lake was knocked out of the park. Instead, the Wildcats erupted for 46 runs and a weekend sweep.

AJ Hernandez hit two home runs, Conor Harber wore out opposing pitchers, and five Wildcats threw multiple scoreless innings Western extended its win streak to eight games.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval favors keeping alive the threat to leave the bi-state Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Compact, a decades-old agreement that has governed environmental controls and development in the scenic Sierra basin straddling the Nevada-California line, a legislative committee was told Tuesday.

This Mother’s Day, give Mom a window seat back in time with a tour of the Wild West aboard the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, Sunday, May 12.

This special edition train ride from Nevada's capital, Carson City, to the 1860s boom-era mining town of Virginia City, will provide Mom with a long stem rose, Old West history, storytelling, shopping and dining in Virginia City to go along with the spectacular scenery.

Fan Appreciation Days

Receive Free Admission to Wildcats’ Midweek Games

Western Nevada College softball fans will be treated to Fan Appreciation Days when the Wildcats entertain North Idaho College Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon at Edmonds Sports Complex in Carson City.

Fans will be admitted free to the Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheaders that begin at 1:30 p.m. each day.

The Wildcats are fresh off taking three of four games from Colorado Northwestern last weekend.

Please share this with your family and friends!

North Lake Tahoe celebrates its long winter season with SnowFest, a 10-day carnival and one of the region’s most popular annual family celebrations. SnowFest is scheduled for March 1-10 and will be held at a variety of venues throughout North Lake Tahoe.

In its 32nd year, SnowFest, presented by the North Lake Tahoe Chamber/CVB/ Resort Association, is expected to draw thousands of attendees, with the majority of events free to spectators.

Nevada's window into the Old West is now wide open with tickets available aboard the historic Comstock-era Virginia & Truckee Railroad which launches its 2013 season in May with runs from Carson City to Gold Hill and Virginia City through October.

North Lake Tahoe announced today that the Wanderlust Festival, the world’s largest and fastest growing yoga and music festival, will return for a fifth year to the picturesque setting of Squaw Valley Thursday, July 18 through Sunday, July 21.

Alpenglow Sports has teamed up with Tahoe Cross Country to present the first-ever Lake Tahoe Nordic Festival Friday, February 8 through Sunday, February 10. All events are free, open to the public and take place at Tahoe Cross Country Ski Area in Tahoe City, California. A full schedule of events is available at www.tahoenordicfestival.com.

Today was my first bicycle ride since my shoulder surgery back in early November. This has been the longest period of being off my bike in more than a decade, time enough away that riding seemed foreign and unfamiliar.  The cold weather and icy streets didn’t exactly keep me longing for two-wheeled travel either. But after nearly three months of healing and physical therapy, and with temperatures breaking 40 degrees, I decided today was the day to get back in the saddle.

Baseball pollsters weren’t reluctant to include a young Western Nevada College squad among the top teams in their preseason rankings, given the Wildcats’ penchant for success over the past several years.

WNC, which made it to the JUCO World Series for the third time in program history last spring, has been ranked eighth in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll. The honor came despite the fact that Head Coach D.J. Whittemore must replace 15 of his top 18 players from a team that posted a 48-17 record and won the NJCAA Western District title for a third time.

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.

Carson Now is proud to begin its third year of being a host to Western Nevada College Baseball broadcasts. Western Nevada Baseball is now widely known as a national power across the USA. In 2012, Carson Now brought you the exciting season that saw the Wildcats baseball program make it to their third JUCO World Series appearance. This year, the Wildcats will have a strong team that is anxious at retaking that trip to Grand Junction, Colorado.

Getting to North Lake Tahoe’s snowy ski slopes just got a whole lot easier with the launch of the region's first area-wide free ski shuttle serving North Lake Tahoe, Truckee and Donner Summit.

The service runs between area lodging properties to 9 different ski resorts on weekends and holiday weeks now through March 31. It was formed through a collaboration of the North Lake Tahoe Chamber/CVB/Resort Association in partnership with the Truckee/North Tahoe Transportation Management Association and Placer County, the town of Truckee and several ski resorts.

This course will teach you to recognize and overcome the common problems facing everyone starting in photography. You will be entertained by your instructor as he shares over thirty years of adventures and misadventures as an international photo-journalist. Topics covered: The art of seeing, equipment, photographing people (formal & candid), working with children and pets, scenic (seascapes/landscapes), and introduction to Photoshop. The course is open to beginners and anyone needing a review. For registration go to www.breweryarts.org.

Tuition: $100 ($90 BAC Members)

This course covers the same material as the original Adventures in Photography but with greater emphasis on using all that new equipment you got from Santa! This course will teach you to recognize and overcome the common problems facing everyone starting in photography. You will be entertained by your instructor as he shares over thirty years of adventures and misadventures as an international photojournalist. Topics covered: The art of seeing, equipment, photographing people (formal & candid), working with children and pets, scenic (seascapes/landscapes), and introduction to Photoshop.

First, let me say Happy New Year. This is the first part of January and this is also a good time for all of us (including me) to make some personal resolutions for the year 2013.
Most importantly, remember that if you do make any resolutions, be sure to follow through with what you resolve to do in this new year.
Resolutions are easy to make, but sometimes hard to accomplish.
I have a number of things I would like to accomplish this year, so without any further ado, here are my 2013 resolutions:

I RESOLVE TO:
Finally catch a fish larger than Elaine's:

Regular readers of BikeCarson.com may have noticed that there have been far fewer postings lately. I suppose an explanation is warranted, because I don’t want you to think that I have lost interest in cycling, as this is not the case. I haven’t been riding my bike though, and it’s awfully hard to write about something I’m not actively engaged in.  After years of tuning-up my bike, it was time to tune-up my body.

Prestigious snow carvers from around the world will call North Lake Tahoe home February 8-12, 2013 for the region’s first-ever Carve Tahoe competition, with the judging take place February 13, 2013.

The weeklong international snow sculpture contest is specifically geared for spectators who will view firsthand 20-ton blocks of pure snow shaped and carved into breathtaking masterpieces. The competing teams are the best of the best – selected from the event’s top applicants and representing more than 20 countries.

It might have been raining across much of Northern California, but last week’s storm brought snow to Lake Tahoe ski resorts – more than 3.5 feet of the white stuff, making for a great ski weekend.

“You just never know how these storms are going to play out,” said Chief Marketing Officer Andy Chapman of the North Lake Tahoe Chamber/CVB/Resort Association. “But Mother Nature cooperated and we’ve got new snow on the mountains.”

National power Western Nevada College Baseball continues to make more splashes in the NCAA Division I rank. Evan Parker, Mike Umscheid, and Brandon Show have already signed letters of intent to play at 4 year colleges starting in the fall of 2013. This will put the number of WNC Baseball players to move onto higher levels at 95 in just seven seasons.

Value-added skiing and boarding has been passed down to three Lake Tahoe area resorts. Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort season passholders can now enjoy free skiing or riding at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows from opening day until December 21, 2012, as well as from April 15, 2013 until closing day.

Powerful early-season storms combined with the area’s largest and most advanced snowmaking operations have allowed Vail Resorts’ Lake Tahoe mountains – Heavenly Mountain Resort, Northstar California Resort and Kirkwood Mountain Resort – to open early with 111 acres. Heavenly and Northstar will open on Wednesday, Nov. 14 with a combined seven lifts and eight trails, totaling 51 acres.

With Lake Tahoe area ski lifts just days away from turning for the first time this ski and ride season, it is not too early to start planning holiday vacations, especially with the wide variety of holiday activities and great vacation packages Heavenly Mountain Resort, Northstar California and Kirkwood Mountain Resort are offering.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday announced the designation of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad McKeen Motor Car #70 based in Carson City as one of 27 national historic landmarks.
Calling the McKeen Motor Car #70, Virginia & Truckee Railway Motor Car #22, "the best surviving example of the first commercially viable application of internal combustion power in a self-propelled railroad car" the designation possess exceptional value and quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States, Salazar said.