Tahoetopia

Tahoe City Library

(Originally published 1/3/06) Each Wednesday evening the library is open until 7 p.m., and the 11 free computers get plenty of use. I walked over to the area and could hear a variety of languages being spoken. Apparently ski area employees from around the world come in to check for and send emails.

Saga of the Tahoe Queen

On board were 82 people out to enjoy a festive party and dinner. Skies were mostly clear, but the wind was howling. Veteran skipper, Dave Clark, had confidence in his ship, and the white-capped waves did not appear too dangerous.

New Year '06 Begins in the Dark

Power was out along the West Shore, in Tahoe City, and along the North Shore eastward to Tahoe Vista for over 30 hours through New Year's Eve. The outage happened at just before noon on December 31st and continued through the evening hours of January 1st, leaving residents, businesses and visitors scrambling for information, food, heat and gas and changing New Year's Eve plans.

Freeheeling Skiing: An Unparallel Approach

Most Tahoe resorts didn't even allow them on their slopes until the mid-1980s. The almost surf-like form, with one foot forward and the trailing ski carving, attracted a cult-like following quite foreign to the smug, hip set at alpine resorts.

How wrong we critics were.

Freeheel (Telemark and Randonee) Skiing

Storm Closes Resorts, Highways; Flood Concerns Rising

Two local ski resorts, Alpine Meadows and Palisades Tahoe, were forced to close all mountain operations today due to the conditions as rain continued to drench the already saturated snowpack. Officials around the Northern California and Northern Nevada area are watching as river gauges and flooding concerns rise.

Let's Not Lose our Mojo

Mojo is a slang word for an object with magical power to ward off evil spirits. General Motors has lost its mojo. So has Hollywood-including the new multi-million dollar King Kong movie that is currently languishing at the box-office. Most of the major airlines are mojoless today, and Governor Schwarzenegger seems to have misplaced his of late.

Pineapple Express: Weather at Tahoe

It is useful to separate the facts from the hyperbole to understand what is really going on, both meteorologically and hydrologically.

The December 2005 Weather

Book: Ski to Die--The Bill Johnson Story

Author, Jennifer Woodlief, pulls no punches about Johnson's meteoric rise to international fame and the reasons for his self-destructive descent. Woodlief could have written an inspirational saga. But her story is full of grit and harsh personal sequences, an un-flinching and historically rich rendering of a ski champion's troubled career.

A Christmas Wish by RWE

To win the respect of intelligent persons
and the affection of children.

To earn the approbation of honest citizens
and endure the betrayal of false friends.

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.

To have played and laughed with enthusiasm
and sung with exultation.

The Tedium of Christmas Letters

My mother, in a slightly mocking tone, would read out loud the pages of single-space sentences recounting the Dalgren’s past year of accumulating successes.

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