Thread: 11/12 Tahoe Weather, Conditions, Stoke, and What's Up Thread... IT'S BAAAAAAAACK!!!

Vets in East Bowl on Round Top 7/17/12.


The season is not over!


34 months and counting.


Let it Snow!

^
Yes, definitely a fun day.
Here is a link to a TR:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...92#post3692592

Reno/Tahoe mags with an affinity for experimental music might wish to peep this on Saturday:

http://www.nevadaart.org/shop/productview?pid=982

More on Spooky's Antarctica Ice Music/Book of Ice project here: http://www.djspooky.com/ plus articles about his trip here: http://www.djspooky.com/articles/cap...well_notes.php

Kind of a trip that he's making a stop in Reno as he's not currently touring and most of his touring takes place in major cities (i.e. LA, NYC) and overseas in Europe.

Dookey, Mrs. Vets and I already have our tickets. Thanks for the heads up.

Hey KW Mags,
Our good friend, and Maggette-in-Training, Tini, is hiking at KW on Saturday, with a bunch of others. She's camping on Friday at Wright's Lake. Me & Cinders will not be with her.

Anything I should warn her about? Anything she should try and check out? Any Intel of interest?

She is short, with dark, reddish hair. If you're not sure, ask her if she'd rather be skiing.

java love!

My buddy put this together.........something to watch during the summer.
http://vimeo.com/46472072

Here's another. I'm bored, and ready for winter.

Anyone seen these models for next season?: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product.../churchill.php

Looks good for Tahoe and REALLY good for southern Sierra touring

I think I'll start a 2000" Eastside stoke thread. Any objections?

2000 inches?

Originally Posted by BGnight

Looks good for Tahoe and REALLY good for southern Sierra touring

Looks neutral for Tahoe and REALLY good for San Gabriel touring. Maybe I should move to Claremont in January and milk the Highway 138 / 2 / 395 touring

If you look close, you can see Vets skiing the patch's!

I lost my go pro on one the the few powder days we had this year, sometime in mid-February. Well, I finally went back and found it. I had remembered that day being pretty fun and here is some footage to prove it!

Nice VailWood stoke. I'm surprised someone else hadn't found your go-pro by this time.

Originally Posted by TahoeBC

If you look close, you can see Vets skiing the patch's!

Holy crap, is he on that little patch on R/T's west shoulder?

Are you on top of Stevens or something?

There is significantly less snow in your photo than there was in Mid-September last year.

that is last Septembers snow. So sad. I miss those days.

Originally Posted by h-atlas

I lost my go pro on one the the few powder days we had this year, sometime in mid-February. Well, I finally went back and found it. I had remembered that day being pretty fun and here is some footage to prove it!

Great stoke! Hurrah for getting your GP back!

BTW, I looked at your "Multisport Juneuary" video and have to call BS. Eating pizza is not a sport.

So I just found out that I may have access to a couple of sleds this winter, located in Truckee / TD. I'm a complete JONG in this department but the idea is intriguing. Doesn't seem like you hear a lot about sled-accessed skiing around the area but I'm probably just not paying attention. Looking for a little intel...

Coupla spots I've heard about:
Jackson Meadows
Whatever the area is called up behind the dump offa 89 South.
I've also seen sleds out Forestdale Road/Divide way.

Originally Posted by TahoeJ

So I just found out that I may have access to a couple of sleds this winter, located in Truckee / TD. I'm a complete JONG in this department but the idea is intriguing. Doesn't seem like you hear a lot about sled-accessed skiing around the area but I'm probably just not paying attention. Looking for a little intel...

pm dhelihiker. he is in the know.

Slowly getting back to activities with my new ACL. The new MSP movie trailer has me beyond stoked for next season.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/07/469...on-agrees.html

Environmental coalition agrees to buy Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort near Truckee
By Hudson Sangree
hsangree@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

Nearly 3,000 acres of Sierra Nevada peaks, meadows and forests atop Donner Summit will be preserved from development under a deal announced Monday.

A coalition of environmental groups said they had reached an agreement to buy the Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort, which became available after would-be developers defaulted on their loans.

It's one of the most high-profile acquisitions to date by land trusts in California that have set out to acquire property slated for development. The real estate crash brought considerable bargains for those conservation groups that still have the money to act.

"I think it's the most significant conservation effort in the recent history of the Sierra Nevada," Perry Norris, head of the Truckee Donner Land Trust, said of Royal Gorge. "It's Donner Summit we're talking about."

The summit has long been a gateway to Northern California, with the routes of Native Americans, emigrant wagon trains, the transcontinental railroad and Interstate 80 crossing the mountains, he said. The community of Serene Lakes, where many Sacramentans own vacation homes, is nestled in the midst of Royal Gorge.

"We came awfully close to losing this landscape," Norris said.

In 2005, Bay Area developers bought the property for a reported $35 million from Royal Gorge co-founder John Slouber. The resort, opened in 1971, introduced downhill-style ski amenities to cross-country skiers and billed itself as the largest cross-country ski resort in North America.

The developers, Kirk Syme and cousins Todd and Mark Foster, proposed building 950 condos and single-family houses on the summit. Their plan raised a howl of opposition from conservation groups and local residents, including owners at Serene Lakes.

The plan ultimately fizzled. The developers defaulted on a $16.7 million loan from Armed Forces Bank in June 2011, and a judge placed the property in receivership.

The receiver, Douglas Wilson Cos. of San Diego, recently agreed to sell the 3,000 privately held acres of the ski resort to conservation groups Truckee Donner Land Trust, The Trust for Public Land and the Northern Sierra Partnership.

The purchase price: $11.25 million.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get the last well-known piece of the Sierra at what is really a very good price," said Tom Mooers, head of Sierra Watch, a group that fought the proposed development and has helped broker purchases of other large properties.

Now the groups have until December, when escrow closes, to raise the funds.

Leaders expressed confidence in their ability to put together the purchase price and then some. They're aiming to raise $13.5 million to cover needed upgrades, including trail improvements and forest maintenance. They intend to keep the ski area open under management by the nearby Sugar Bowl resort.

Already, said Norris, the buyers have secured a $1 million pledge from Northern Sierra Partnership, which includes The Nature Conservancy and other conservation groups as members. Several donors have pledged $250,000 each, he said.

Serene Lakes Property Owners Association President Ken Hall said residents have raised $1.4 million, and pledged $3 million, to keep the quiet of their community, which forbids power boats.

"I've never seen the community respond so positively and enthusiastically to a fundraising drive," Norris said.

The Truckee Donner Land Trust was one of the groups involved in the $23.5 million purchase in 2007 of the Waddle Ranch. The 1,500-acre property in the Martis Valley, south of Truckee, had been slated for hundreds of homes, a shopping center and golf course before conservationists bought it and preserved it as public open space.

It's a model of conservation that has taken off in the past three decades as the number of national, state and local groups buying and protecting land has proliferated.

There are about 1,700 such groups nationwide, according to the Land Trust Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based group that conducts its National Land Trust Census every five years. Together, those groups had preserved about 47 million acres by the end of 2010. California had the most land trusts with 197, the group said.

Darla Guenzler, executive director of the California Council of Land Trusts, puts the current number of active land trusts here at 120. The groups, which range from local farmland trusts to mountain and coastal preservation groups, have protected about 3 million acres, sometimes using funds from voter-approved ballot measures.

"Acquisitions have been down during the recession," due to fundraising losses, Guenzler said, but there "are still some going forward."

The Royal Gorge agreement and Tahoe-area purchases are among the "charismatic" efforts that draw attention to the cause, she said. "A lot of people vacation there."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/07/469...#storylink=cpy

First off, let me say that I am not a member of Snowlands Network, but I like some of what they do. If you want more info, contact Baahhb over on T-Tips. He is on the board or something.

http://yubanet.com/regional/Op-Ed-Sn...p#.UCGhwqDYFD0

By: Snowlands Network

August 7, 2012 - This summer both the Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU), and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) are revising their management plans for the Lake Tahoe Basin. This presents a unique opportunity for you to speak up and make your opinion count. The plans are intended to guide forest management for at least the next 15 years.

Forest management plans contain direction on how the Forest Service will manage the forest: what lands will be open to what uses and how the Forest Service will manage fuels reduction, developed facilities and public access. The TRPA plan contains general guidelines for the Lake Tahoe area, including defined objectives in a number of areas including air quality, water quality, noise and recreation.

Snowlands Network is advocating a number of improvements to each plan. Both plans fail to adequately address winter recreation issues.

The Forest Service fails to understand the importance of backcountry skiing and snowshoeing to forest users, as well as to local economies.

Thus, it is important that YOU tell the Forest Service that these issues – and winter travel management – are important to you. Somewhat incredibly, the Forest Service visitor tracking system fails to recognize either backcountry skiing or snowshoeing as separately significant activities, lumping them either with "cross-country skiing" or "other non-motorized use."

Comments to the Forest Service may be emailed to:

comments-pacificsouthwest-ltbmu@fs.fed.us

Include "Draft Land Management Plan" in the subject line of your email.

Comments may also be mailed to:

Draft Land Management Plan
LTBMU
35 College Drive
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

What to write:

In your own words, making your comments as personal as possible, include:

Give your name and address.

Explain that you are commenting on the Draft Revised Land and Resource Management Plan.

Explain your interest in the plan revision as it relates to winter recreation.

Explain that the LTBMU is covered with snow for five months a year, that winter recreation is a major part of the Basin's use, and winter recreation contributes greatly to the local economy. Therefore the Draft Revised Plan must include winter recreation planning.

Explain that the Forest Service process for measuring recreation visitor use is flawed because it does not separately look at backcountry skiing and snowshoeing as winter sports.

Explain that the Forest Service must include the effects of snowmobile use in any analysis that looks at air and water quality.

Explain that the use of snowmobiles is incompatible with clean and quiet winter recreation. Without winter recreation management snowmobiles will continue to displace non-motorized winter recreationist.

Below you will find additional information about both the Forest Service Plan, the TRPA Plan and Snowlands Networks' position on Wilderness designation.

The Forest Service is holding public meetings in July in the Lake Tahoe area. Snowlands and other groups are asking the Forest Service to hold additional meetings in Reno and the greater San Francisco Bay area. See the following website for more information about the Forest Plan.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/ltbmu/la...ement/planning

See www.trpa.org for information on the TRPA planning process.

Forest Service Plan

Snowlands Network advocates that the Forest Service undertake winter travel management in the plan. Snowmobile usage in the Tahoe Basin is permitted everywhere – even cross-country – except where closed by Forest Order or on federally-designated Wilderness. Due to this non-management, and the fact that most skiers and snowshoers do not want to recreate in areas polluted with snowmobile exhaust and snowmobile noise, areas in the Tahoe Basin are being "taken over" by snowmobiles and made unsuitable for clean and quiet winter recreation. This trend will continue until the Forest Service acts to manage winter recreation. Winter is not a forgotten season in Tahoe, it is an important season and the Forest Service needs to stop ignoring winter in its management plan revision!

Specifically, Snowlands urges the Forest Service (i) to conduct winter travel management planning, (ii) to ban snowmobiles in areas heavily used by skiers and snowshoers, (iii) to improve access to clean and quiet winter forest lands, and (iv) to end its discriminatory treatment of winter lands – snowmobiles should NOT be allowed on lands designated in the plan as non-motorized!

TRPA Plan

Snowlands advocates that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency adopt more realistic and meaningful thresholds for noise, air quality and water quality, that address the extreme amounts of pollution produced by snowmobiles. According to a 2002 EPA study, snowmobiles are the most highly-polluting recreational vehicle in common use, emitting one hundred times the amount of pollution emitted by automobiles. The discrepancy increases each year, as automobiles continue to be subject to increasing restrictions while snowmobile emissions are left largely unchecked. In 2002 the EPA mandated a modest reduction in snowmobile emission standards but snowmobiles continue to emit a hundred times the pollution emitted by a modern automobile. Be mindful of this the next time you encounter snowmobile exhaust; their carbon monoxide output is dangerous to your health! Snowlands Network advocates that TRPA ban the most highly-polluting snowmobiles from the Tahoe basin, in order to protect Lake Tahoe's clarity, in much the same way that TRPA prohibited 2-stroke jetskis.

Wilderness Lands

Snowlands advocates Wilderness designation where appropriate; such designation forecloses mountain biking, which can be consistent with other clean and quiet uses. Winter travel management, treating snowmobiles comparable to other forms of motorized recreation, is the appropriate answer to the snowmobile problem.

Whether you like Snowlands or not, this is obviously something that concerns everyone on this thread. This is a pretty standard comment solicitation period and they do listen. I have seen many positive results from large outpourings of input. Speak up and repost to your networks

Originally Posted by telemike

First off, let me say that I am not a member of Snowlands Network, but I like some of what they do. If you want more info, contact Baahhb over on T-Tips. He is on the board or something.

http://yubanet.com/regional/Op-Ed-Sn...p#.UCGhwqDYFD0

By: Snowlands Network

August 7, 2012 - This summer both the Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU), and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) are revising their management plans for the Lake Tahoe Basin. This presents a unique opportunity for you to speak up and make your opinion count. The plans are intended to guide forest management for at least the next 15 years.

Forest management plans contain direction on how the Forest Service will manage the forest: what lands will be open to what uses and how the Forest Service will manage fuels reduction, developed facilities and public access. The TRPA plan contains general guidelines for the Lake Tahoe area, including defined objectives in a number of areas including air quality, water quality, noise and recreation.

Snowlands Network is advocating a number of improvements to each plan. Both plans fail to adequately address winter recreation issues.

The Forest Service fails to understand the importance of backcountry skiing and snowshoeing to forest users, as well as to local economies.

Thus, it is important that YOU tell the Forest Service that these issues – and winter travel management – are important to you. Somewhat incredibly, the Forest Service visitor tracking system fails to recognize either backcountry skiing or snowshoeing as separately significant activities, lumping them either with "cross-country skiing" or "other non-motorized use."

Comments to the Forest Service may be emailed to:

comments-pacificsouthwest-ltbmu@fs.fed.us

Include "Draft Land Management Plan" in the subject line of your email.

Comments may also be mailed to:

Draft Land Management Plan
LTBMU
35 College Drive
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

What to write:

In your own words, making your comments as personal as possible, include:

Give your name and address.

Explain that you are commenting on the Draft Revised Land and Resource Management Plan.

Explain your interest in the plan revision as it relates to winter recreation.

Explain that the LTBMU is covered with snow for five months a year, that winter recreation is a major part of the Basin's use, and winter recreation contributes greatly to the local economy. Therefore the Draft Revised Plan must include winter recreation planning.

Explain that the Forest Service process for measuring recreation visitor use is flawed because it does not separately look at backcountry skiing and snowshoeing as winter sports.

Explain that the Forest Service must include the effects of snowmobile use in any analysis that looks at air and water quality.

Explain that the use of snowmobiles is incompatible with clean and quiet winter recreation. Without winter recreation management snowmobiles will continue to displace non-motorized winter recreationist.

Below you will find additional information about both the Forest Service Plan, the TRPA Plan and Snowlands Networks' position on Wilderness designation.

The Forest Service is holding public meetings in July in the Lake Tahoe area. Snowlands and other groups are asking the Forest Service to hold additional meetings in Reno and the greater San Francisco Bay area. See the following website for more information about the Forest Plan.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/ltbmu/la...ement/planning

See www.trpa.org for information on the TRPA planning process.

Forest Service Plan

Snowlands Network advocates that the Forest Service undertake winter travel management in the plan. Snowmobile usage in the Tahoe Basin is permitted everywhere – even cross-country – except where closed by Forest Order or on federally-designated Wilderness. Due to this non-management, and the fact that most skiers and snowshoers do not want to recreate in areas polluted with snowmobile exhaust and snowmobile noise, areas in the Tahoe Basin are being "taken over" by snowmobiles and made unsuitable for clean and quiet winter recreation. This trend will continue until the Forest Service acts to manage winter recreation. Winter is not a forgotten season in Tahoe, it is an important season and the Forest Service needs to stop ignoring winter in its management plan revision!

Specifically, Snowlands urges the Forest Service (i) to conduct winter travel management planning, (ii) to ban snowmobiles in areas heavily used by skiers and snowshoers, (iii) to improve access to clean and quiet winter forest lands, and (iv) to end its discriminatory treatment of winter lands – snowmobiles should NOT be allowed on lands designated in the plan as non-motorized!

TRPA Plan

Snowlands advocates that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency adopt more realistic and meaningful thresholds for noise, air quality and water quality, that address the extreme amounts of pollution produced by snowmobiles. According to a 2002 EPA study, snowmobiles are the most highly-polluting recreational vehicle in common use, emitting one hundred times the amount of pollution emitted by automobiles. The discrepancy increases each year, as automobiles continue to be subject to increasing restrictions while snowmobile emissions are left largely unchecked. In 2002 the EPA mandated a modest reduction in snowmobile emission standards but snowmobiles continue to emit a hundred times the pollution emitted by a modern automobile. Be mindful of this the next time you encounter snowmobile exhaust; their carbon monoxide output is dangerous to your health! Snowlands Network advocates that TRPA ban the most highly-polluting snowmobiles from the Tahoe basin, in order to protect Lake Tahoe's clarity, in much the same way that TRPA prohibited 2-stroke jetskis.

Wilderness Lands

Snowlands advocates Wilderness designation where appropriate; such designation forecloses mountain biking, which can be consistent with other clean and quiet uses. Winter travel management, treating snowmobiles comparable to other forms of motorized recreation, is the appropriate answer to the snowmobile problem.