Ahead of me, Tom Telluride boogied more expertly and enthusiastically, "shaking my assets," he bragged out loud. He had been righteously shaking them since the mid-seventies when we both first moved to Lake Tahoe. It all seems so long ago.

Those were the days before snowboards, cell phones, and SUV's, websites, and the X generation humping on MTV. Back then, Tom and I dated girls who did homework, and we skied a ton. Palisades Tahoe's KT-22, the Headwall, and the Bear Pen bar were our favorite hangs.

Cushing, the founder of Palisades Tahoe, was known as an innovator in the development of the ski industry in America. 

The continuous snowfall of March and April this year left organizers with the challenge of picking a date for the crossing based on when the snow might melt. The crossing had originally been scheduled for late April, based on previous season's dates. However, at the end of April, the entire lower mountain area was still snowbound (much to skiers' delight) and the event was pushed back for the first of what would become several times.

Today, even as thunderstorms loom, Palisades Tahoe staffers are prepping for the long anticipated event.

While purists may put spring skiing behind the adrenaline rush of deep snow, nothing captures the free fall thrills of snow sports as the exhilaration of corn. Simply speaking, corn snow makes ordinary skiers or snowboarders into gods.

In fact, even the gods agree.

"I'll take corn snow over three feet of the driest powder any day," says Todd Kelly, a former US Ski Team member and veteran World Cup downhiller. "It's like turning on butter. You can ski anything you want."

After weeks of waiting following the Olympics, while Mancuso continued her racing circuit in Europe and beyond, Palisades Tahoe threw a huge celebration Saturday at the Olympic Plaza in Palisades Tahoe to honor the skier who calls Palisades Tahoe home.

As hundreds looked on, Palisades Tahoe Ski Corp. President Nancy Wendt presented Mancuso with a 'lifetime season pass', and then announced the official naming of a Palisades Tahoe ski run as "Julia's Gold".

Dutton's love led him to a vast knowledge of the backcountry surrounding the Tahoe Basin. As a result, in 1976, Billy helped establish Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue (TNSR).

"Bill was our strongest skier. I was always sure to be with the likes of him when we teamed up on searches," says Doug Read, another original and current member of TNSR. Read recounts the time when Dutton herringboned eight miles up and out of a canyon near Diamond Crossing carrying a hurt and near death woman on his back. They both returned to safety and recovery.

The 32-year-old has earned 12 World Cup victories, a Super-G World Championship gold medal in 2001, two medals at the 2005 World Championships, and over two dozen second and third-place podiums. The "Sugar Ambassador of Skiing" ended his World Cup career recently in Are, Sweden on the podium by placing second in the Super-G behind teammate Bode Miller.

"The race originated by chance," recalled the late Norm Simmons. Simmons was a Palisades Tahoe ski patrolman and groomer who moved to Palisades Tahoe in 1966 after a short stint with the Houston Oilers of the old American Football League. Simmons won the Chinese Downhill four times; he perfected the "ski-to-die" technique" before it became a marketing tool and economic boost to the modern ski industry.

Called White Wolf, the 460-acre parcel he secured in 1989 lies between Alpine Meadows and Palisades Tahoe. It includes 75 acres within the Palisades Tahoe Ski Corp boundaries. Since 1990 Squaw has rented the land from Caldwell. In November 2000, after a decade of legal haggling with his neighbors, Caldwell obtained a conditional use permit to install a ski lift on his land from the Placer County Planning Commission. The permit stipulated that:
--Only 25 skiers could use the lift per day.
--Caldwell could not sell tickets.
--There can be no access from the Palisades Tahoe ridge.

"The coaches called me right as she crossed the finish line," said Mancuso's former coach Mark 'Sully' Sullivan. "I looked around for someone to tell, but no one was awake yet."

Sullivan, who coached Mancuso through years in Palisades Tahoe's Mighty Mite program, was the center of attention at Palisades Tahoe. "I must have done ten interviews today," he said. "They all want to know about Julia."

"I am so excited for her," said the elated coach. "This has been her dream."