The Official 19/20 Tahoe Ski Snowboard Thread. Plus bonus Bootfitting Recs!

[scmartin69]

I am gathering funding to upgrade the Rim Trail to a Monorail to connect all the resorts.
Everyone loves monorails, right?

Cue simpsons clip....

Aw, it's not for you. It's more of a Shelbyville idea.

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[Wobby]

The monorail idea is not new, probably happen before 89 to Tahoe City gets widened. Or just blame the dude in jorts with the way too small bike

Ok lets be real though. Parking in Truckee/Tahoe City, with a monorail access to Squaw and Alpine would be way legit. I would use it every day

[2_1_3]

monorail access to Squaw and Alpine would be way legit.

I don't know where the documents are today, but a UCSB geology group some years back did the mapping to show that a rail line from Truckee to Tahoe City was feasible (geotechnically speaking at least) even with the existing highway.

[mcski]

How far back are you talking?

[Ottime]

You could say the same for Alta/Snowbird and they could not resist joining IKON. If Rose joins IKON watch all the folks from Reno and the Bay Area flock to Rose on days when it’s raining at the base of other North Bay resorts. Better build the biggest resort in Tahoe.

Like Kirkwood for the Vail crowd.

I used to relish having a KW pass, especially in lean or high snow level years. Now theirs are the worst, as every tahoe pass holder flocks to higher elevation. And big winters can be just as bad with road issues. This past winter was pretty ideal. Until it wasn’t.

[2_1_3]

How far back are you talking?

I learned about this in the mid-2000s, it sounded like the study was done in the 1980s/90s? Might have been a few decades earlier in response to the Olympics coming as well? Been meaning to look into this more.

[old goat]

I don't know where the documents are today, but a UCSB geology group some years back did the mapping to show that a rail line from Truckee to Tahoe City was feasible (geotechnically speaking at least) even with the existing highway.

There used to be a railroad there.

[meter-man]

From the Sierra Sun: https://www.sierrasun.com/news/a-rai...ke-of-the-sky/

A railroad led to the Lake of the Sky
News NEWS | September, 6 2005

Gordon Richards
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Truckee’s modern connections to Lake Tahoe are two ribbons of asphalt, Highways 89 and 267. From 1900 to 1943, that connection was two ribbons of steel. The railroad from Truckee to Tahoe City followed the Truckee River Canyon, paralleling present Highway 89 south.Before 1899 Truckee and Tahoe City were connected by a dirt toll road, on which stage coaches and freight wagons rolled through dust, mud and occasionally over snow. Once at Tahoe, steamboats took passengers around the lake in relative luxury, but getting there was the weakest link. Even though the stage was somewhat comfortable and exciting, a railroad had been in demand since the 1870s. Railroads had been operating at South Lake Tahoe for over a decade, hauling logs to the lake where steamers towed log rafts over to Glenbrook on the east shore. From the sawmill, narrow gauge trains hauled the lumber up to Spooner Summit, where V flumes took the lumber down to Carson City. The Bliss family controlled these lumber railroads, but due to the decline of Virginia City mines in the 1890s and the lack of remaining timber at Lake Tahoe, they were looking for other opportunities for their rail system.

The Lake Tahoe Railway & Transportation Co. was formed in 1898. It bought a right-of-way down the Truckee River from the Truckee Lumber Company and took over all of the Bliss family steamers operating on Lake Tahoe.

Building a railroad

Construction began in the spring of 1899, as rails, locomotives, shops and machinery were transported from Glenbrook to Tahoe City. Grading of the line through the fairly level canyon was easy, though a short section between Squaw Creek and Bear Creek caused some concern, requiring five bridges to be built. A 150-foot-long trestle was built over the lake’s edge at Tahoe City to reach the company shops. Since the main rail and steamer operations were to remain at Lake Tahoe, so too did all the main engine houses, repair shops and company offices. Facilities at Truckee consisted of a turntable, a three-stall engine house, water tank, and a wood shed. The passengers used the Truckee Southern Pacific Railroad stations for freight and passenger transfers from the standard gauge to the narrow gauge.It took two years to build the line, as this railroad was very well built, not thrown together like some western shortline railroads were. The Lake Tahoe Railway opened for service on May 1, 1900. Passenger traffic quickly picked up, and the tourist resorts at Tahoe boomed. The route was far more scenic than today, even with all of the logging that had occurred over the past three decades. The views were of willow lined banks, green pools, and foaming waterfalls. There were no houses along the river at that time.

Serving the tourists

During the summer tourist season, the first train left Truckee at 7 a.m., connecting with the eastbound Overland Limited from San Francisco. The second train left at 8 a.m., picking up the late sleeping passengers from Truckee and making several stops at the various camps and resorts along the river. The third train left Truckee at 8 p.m., waiting for the local passenger train that Southern Pacific Railroad ran from Sacramento to Reno. Return trips in the evening took passengers back after a day at the fabulous scenic Lake Tahoe.Many wealthy and important passengers were carried on the rails. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, movie stars Tom Mix and Buster Keaton rode the short line. Buster Keaton was in a film that featured the Lake Tahoe Railway, with cabins and railside sets being built by Truckee workmen.

Inbound freight traffic was limited to supplies and materials for the Tahoe resorts. Outbound traffic consisted of logs from Squaw Valley and the upper Truckee River Canyon destined for the Truckee Lumber Company. Fir cordwood was transported to Truckee, then loaded onto Southern Pacific for shipment to the Floriston paper mill. A branch built by the Truckee Lumber Co. went up into Ward Canyon.From 1900 to 1917, the line carried up to 40 containers a day of commercially caught Lake Tahoe trout. The daily trains also carried the mail for all of the Lake Tahoe region.

The initial rolling stock consisted of two wood burning locomotives and 60 cars that were barged over from Glenbrook. A few new passenger cars were added, but additional used locomotives were not added until 1904 and 1906. Many of the new acquisitions were from the South Pacific Coast Railroad that ran from San Jose to Santa Cruz.

The Bliss family business

The Bliss family spent half a million dollars on the construction of the railroad. They declared dividends on the privately held stock for the first six years. After that it was paying its way but not turning much of a profit. There was not enough freight traffic to make it the gold mine that cutting lumber for the silver mines of Virginia City had been. After 1909, the Truckee Lumber Company ceased its logging operations, and freight revenues dropped off dramatically.

The Blisses built their own resort hotel in 1901 at Tahoe City. The Tahoe Tavern was the resort of the upper class, overshadowing all other resorts at the Tahoe. Passengers were dropped off right at the side entrance of the hotel. Another branch line went out onto the Tavern Pier to load passengers directly onto the lake steamers.Generally, winter closed the line in the early days as passenger traffic was almost non-existent.

One incident in 1903 underscored the dangers of winter operations. After leaving Truckee at 3 p.m. one day, the passenger train wasn’t heard from by noon the next day. Grave fears were expressed as the river was high, the snow on the ground was heavy and another storm was brewing. It was known that 12 people from below were on board including two ladies. Search parties on skis were sent from both ends to find the missing rain. It was found several hours later, halfway between Tahoe City and Truckee, stuck in a snowdrift while the blizzard raged outside. After shoveling for over a day the train was freed. Another ski train was stuck in a heavy snowstorm for 24 hours until snowplows could free it in 1928.

A losing battle

The three-foot narrow gauge railroad certainly had its drawbacks. The freight had to be transferred by hand to and from the standard gauge Southern Pacific. Heavy loads had to carried on more cars, and the wide loads of steamer equipment had to be loaded carefully. Passenger trains were not interchangeable, so equipment could not be shared. By 1925, the rail line was losing the battle to automobile traffic that could now drive over the Sierra easily on the improved Lincoln Highway. The road was being paved up the mountain and new bridges such as the Donner Summit Bridge were being planned to speed up auto and truck traffic. The U.S. 40 designation was in the near future, and the Blisses knew they couldn’t afford to keep running the money losing independent short line.

In 1925 the line was leased to the Southern Pacific, while the Tavern was leased to the Fleishacker family of San Francisco. In 1926 the rails were changed to standard gauge and the Southern Pacific ran three to four through trains a day, including Pullman service. The Bliss family kept the steamers on the lake.

A large balloon track was built near the Tahoe Tavern to facilitate turning the trains around. Other than the track widening, the rail route of 1900 stayed exactly the same through the Truckee River Canyon. The lease was converted to a sale, for a shiny silver dollar, and reportedly a bottle of whiskey in 1927.

Traffic didn’t pick up to sustain the line past 1941. After the outbreak of World War II, the line was abandoned and in 1943 the rails were taken up.

Today much of the route is the route of the sewer export line from Tahoe to the Tahoe Truckee Sanitation Agency sewer plant in Martis Valley. The bike path from Tahoe City to Squaw Valley is also on the old grade. In our celebration of Truckee Railroad Days, the short line to Lake Tahoe is an important chapter.

Gordon Richards is the research historian for the Truckee Donner Historical Society. Comments and history information are always welcome. Please visit the Truckee Donner Historical Society Web site at http://truckeehistory.tripod.com. The e-mail address is tdhs@inreach.com. You may leave a message at 582-0893. Past articles by Gordon Richards are available at sierrasun.com in the archives.

I love Truckee's rich history, intertwined with the railroads and the opening of the West. Cool stuff.

[CC_skier]

I mean a monorail would obviously be a good solution to traffic congestion but it’d have to come with some forces to make people give up their cars. Americans LOVE driving by themselves, study after study shows that when it comes down to it, most people ultimately choose their car over shared transit. You’d need something like a toll on every road into the Tahoe basin to make it feasible


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[CC_skier]

All the businesses moving to reno are just doing the same thing patagonia did years ago: selling to the upright citizens brigade in california while secretly taking advantage of freedom eagle state tax rates. Duh. It's the next salt lake city. And then follows the perceived demand for housing and all the other inflated bullshit that goes with unbridled development.

Personally I can't wait until the entire basin is connected by chairlifts because that means some rick fucks at vail will make more money, while salivating real estate agents here explain to you why it's a good idea. We can probably hook up with one wasatch and mammoth at some point.

#progress

Don’t worry, all those brand new developments starting at $1200 for a one bedroom will bring prices down. Oh and those same developments will surely be enough to address the homeless crisis.



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[CC_skier]

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[CC_skier]

From the Sierra Sun: https://www.sierrasun.com/news/a-rai...ke-of-the-sky/



I love Truckee's rich history, intertwined with the railroads and the opening of the West. Cool stuff.

Tahoe Beneath the Surface is a good read on the history of Tahoe, albeit a much less charmed and more realistic historic account. Truckee had a pretty robust Chinatown after the railroad was finished on account of the large labor force recently losing their employment and having nowhere else to go. Then, Truckee govt came up with what came to be known as the “Truckee Method” to force out their Chinese population. White Truckee residents razed Chinese owned businesses, and any whites who did business with Chinese were boycotted. Here’s an article from KUNR talking about this.

https://www.kunr.org/post/anti-chine...evada#stream/0



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[2_1_3]

There used to be a railroad there.

I think the idea of the mapping effort was to show that a 'modern' rail line could work. Bring back the V&T!

The original rail had some good ski years during their operations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_T...tation_Company

[hercule33]

Like Kirkwood for the Vail crowd.

I used to relish having a KW pass, especially in lean or high snow level years. Now theirs are the worst, as every tahoe pass holder flocks to higher elevation. And big winters can be just as bad with road issues. This past winter was pretty ideal. Until it wasn’t.

Ditto. It might be even worse for North Lake. At least in South Lake Heavenly has a bit of high elevation terrain. Yeah it’s not as steep as the Wood but it’s plenty steep for intermediates. Definitely more than the upper mountain at Squaw.

[Ottime]

I don't live in SF, but... if I did...

I would be stoked to grab a 5PM train out of the city, arrival in Truckee at 10PM, walk to my in town condo, and then grab the morning monorail to Squaw or train service back to Sugarbowl.

Kids love public transportation at least. But if one could avoid all the road traffic to/from Tahoe, I think they would appreciate a train ride to the resorts. Just make sure there is room for my 3 pair of skis.

I mean a monorail would obviously be a good solution to traffic congestion but it’d have to come with some forces to make people give up their cars. Americans LOVE driving by themselves, study after study shows that when it comes down to it, most people ultimately choose their car over shared transit. You’d need something like a toll on every road into the Tahoe basin to make it feasible


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[TheK12]

I don't live in SF, but... if I did...

I would be stoked to grab a 5PM train out of the city, arrival in Truckee at 10PM, walk to my in town condo, and then grab the morning monorail to Squaw or train service back to Sugarbowl.

Kids love public transportation at least. But if one could avoid all the road traffic to/from Tahoe, I think they would appreciate a train ride to the resorts. Just make sure there is room for my 3 pair of skis.

Definitely! I'm with you on this. I would gladly take a 5hr train to Truckee get off at the train station, pop in to one of the bars for a quick drink or two then head home for the night. It would almost be better in the summer where I could just jump on with my bike and an overnight bag - weekend in Truckee, no car needed!

[gimpy]

the new state of jefferson will have ample public transportation.
if the orange man wins re-election, i think many will jump on board the state of jefferson or similar concept. the feds need us way more then we need them. cali is 5th largest world economy n would do just fine.

yeah i know..........but........ a guy can dream

[old goat]

the new state of jefferson will have ample public transportation.
if the orange man wins re-election, i think many will jump on board the state of jefferson or similar concept. the feds need us way more then we need them. cali is 5th largest world economy n would do just fine.

yeah i know..........but........ a guy can dream

The people who are pushing State of Jefferson are Trumptards. No public transportation there, only pickups.

[TahoeJ]

The people who are pushing State of Jefferson are Trumptards. No public transportation there, only pickups.

This.

Anyway, I do think it would make a ton of sense to put in a large parking lot in Truckee over by the Chevron station near Coldstream - there's enough land out there - and then have ski buses going to the resorts. There's enough room on 89 (and 267) to add a single lane for buses only and the direction / lanes could shift during big winter weekends. Being more realistic here, while a monorail sounds nice, I think this could actually be achieved. If it meant not sitting in traffic and getting dropped off right in front at Squaw / Alpine, I would definitely make use of it and I'm sure I'm not alone.

[2clue]

I’d be the first on it, the traffic to Truckee from Squaw is the worst. If there is a bus that drops me off right at the front with its own lane to skip out traffic. Count me in.

[lepistoir]

Has anybuddy come up with a map showing where the border runs between State of Jefferson and Ecotopia?

As for transport, just to say this again: A 3pm express train from the bay (with WiFi so everybuddy can be "productive" and give their employers the full value of the labor they purchased). One stop in Sac. Drop off in Truckee and continue to Reno for the non-skiing partiers. Come back on Sunday afternoon. What's key is that it ties in to a dense mass transit system and lots of taxis (Uber is a taxi, FYI) to get to your lodging and the resorts. Priority bus lanes and no more than 15-minutes between buses at peak times. If you could actually shift the culture, you could make North-South lines that connect the whole lake and main attractions while taking cars off the road. But that's a nice dream isn't it, when we still are more willing to build parking garages than housing for the homeless or workers?

[gimpy]

state of jefferson borders are practically the same as ecotopia if not identical as i understand it. trumptards?!? i guess u guys know different proponents of it then i do. most vocal state of jeff folk i know are weed growers and/or live behind the emerald/redwood curtain.

ok now back to the fairytale public transpo discussion........... they should put tolls over echo and donner charging for entry to the basin/truckee, similar to bridges in the bay where you only pay one direction. also, fares done on a sliding scale depending on time of year. $5 off-peak, $25-50 during holidays.

[CC_skier]

The people who are pushing State of Jefferson are Trumptards. No public transportation there, only pickups.

I get gimpy's sentiment though. CA efforts to cut traffic congestion and emissions are being seriously hampered by the feds, aka Trump. He only likes states rights when it suits whatever fleeting thought happens to be in his mind at any particular second.

I think the shift in culture is a fair thought re: having a rail line to Tahoe, like what I said a few posts back. It sounds like a lot of people here at least would be happy with an option to get to Tahoe. I'd also say that most people here usually have a pretty good plan about what they're going to do when they get to Tahoe (i.e. they know where they're going to ski before they get there). I think where the general population gets cold feet using public transit is the idea of being "stuck" somewhere without a car. More people thank you'd realize are absolutely paralyzed by the thought of leaving their car 4, 5 hours away for a weekend. It leaves little room for spontaneity and you'd have to plan out your trip pretty well ahead of time. Obviously, I think it'd be great if more people actually planned their trips prior to embarking. I don't have high hopes, though, that most people are willing to have the capacity for that level of thinking/planning

[gone2alpine]

Have you been out there lately? That land is rapidly being covered by elevenbillionteen townhouses...not to mention funneling all of that traffic from Truckee into that area would be a bigger traffic nightmare than the mousehole.

This.

Anyway, I do think it would make a ton of sense to put in a large parking lot in Truckee over by the Chevron station near Coldstream - there's enough land out there -

[kidwoo]

I'd fully support a rail line following this route