Tahoe is nothing if not eclectic. On Friday, Gold Medalist Peggy Fleming gave impromptu skating lessons on the Resort at Squaw Creek skating rink, where just hours later San Francisco 49ers greats past and present practiced their hand at curling alongside members of the U.S. National Team. What a place.

Niners' TE Delanie Walker tries his hand at curling.

The team and the Olympians were in town for the 49ers Foundation’s 12th Annual Winter Fest. The foundation funds programs for underserved youth. For more, visit www.49ersfoundation.com

It was a great event, with loads of faces from the Niners past and present. I got to meet former DE Dennis Brown and his 1995 Super Bowl Ring. If you’ve never seen one of those things up close, WOW. Here’s Dennis and his daughter.

Dennis Brown, left

I also spoke with Geep Chryst, the 49ers Quarterback coach. I’ve adopted the University of Nevada, Reno, as my college football team away from home over the past few years and became a big fan of former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who is heading into his second year with the 49ers this fall. Chryst must have answered a million questions about the former Wolfpack standout, and readily admitted he was in “Kap country.” Kaepernick is starting to feel comfortable as a pro after a rookie season that saw him play 20 snaps and go 3/5 throwing, Chryst said.

“We’re really pushing for him to be a starter at some point in this league,” Chryst told me. Alex Smith did go 14-4 last year, though, so don’t expect him take over for the presumptive starter quite yet.

Another highlight of the day was getting to see Fleming, who casually skated around the rink and made time for everyone who wanted to say hi. At 63, she skated better than pretty much everyone on the ice, and at one point stopped to take this little guy for a twirl. Needless to say, he was not sufficiently in awe.

Celebrity was lost on this little guy, who didn't want to pose with Olympic Figure Skating Legend Peggy Fleming.

Also making an appearance at the rink were members of the 49ers cheerleading team, the Gold Rush. They must have been everywhere, because at least half of the photos in my card featured them.

The 49ers Gold Rush cheerleaders found varying degrees of success on skates. Apparently solid-ground dancing is slightly easier than ice dancing.

Next, we curled. In case you’re uninitiated, curling involves pushing a large, smooth rock down an ice rink and landing it on a target at the other end. For the 60-plus crowd out there, think shuffleboard on ice. While the rock glides down the rink, two people with small push brooms clear the ice ahead of it in order to promote better distance and accuracy.

It’s a Canadian sport that, right up until a few hours ago, I assumed required the athletic ability of competent city-league bowler. Not entirely true. Maintaining your balance on ice while competently pushing a large rock with enough distance and accuracy to hit the target is a small feat. Olympic curler John Benton (Let’s stop here. Curling is an Olympic sport. Giggle, then continue, please.) gave us a lesson in how to curl successfully, before not hitting the target and cursing the ice conditions at Squaw Creek. I am informed they do not possess a zamboni.

Here’s Benton demonstrating.

John Benton, Olympian

Here’s, from left, the 49ers’ DT Ricky Jean Francois, TE Nate Byham and Walker taking in the tutorial.

From left, 49ers players Ricky Jean Francois, Nate Byham and Delanie Walker.

Much to my surprise, the NFL guys are actually pretty good curlers. I suppose athleticism translates across sport lines, but Byham and Walker looked pretty fluid out there. Walker was by far the best of the non-curlers.

Nate Byham, professional football player, amateur curler.

Delanie Walker's post-football career?

In all, a great way to spend a Friday. The foundation is in town throughout the weekend, and good luck to them as they continue to fundraise for a good cause.

Biathletes like Glenn Jobe, pictured here, ski 10- to 20-kilometer courses, stopping to shoot (either prone or standing) at the range every 2.5 to 5 kilometers. Missed shots are penalized with extra 150-meter course loops or added time on the clock.

With the lung-bursting cardio of Nordic skiing and the precise, cool-headed aim of marksmanship, biathlon is a clear case of “opposites attract.” Though biathlon’s origins are rooted in Norwegian military training and its fan following is staunchly European, its coming-of-age took place in Tahoe. The discipline was first included in the 1960 Winter Olympic Games, at a range set up at Sugar Pine Point State Park, but the sport never found a permanent home here, not even when Olympic biathlete Glenn Jobe was based at Kirkwood in the early 1980s. But all that changed two years ago.

Finding a Home Range

“The timing was right,” says Jobe, now a Sierraville, California, resident, of the 2009–10 winter season when Northstar-at-Tahoe opened the only permanent biathlon facility on the West Coast. With the 2010 Winter Olympics, Squaw Valley’s 50-year Olympic celebration, and Northstar’s new program, biathlon entered Tahoe’s winter vernacular in a big way. “It was on TV, everybody wanted to try it, and Northstar offered the opportunity,” Jobe says.

But good times with guns are a hard sell to the brass, and with Vail’s acquisition of Northstar the biathlon program was shot down for the 2011–12 season, despite being a popular corporate group outing for the resort’s Ritz-Carlton clients.

However, the sport’s local following found backing in Truckee’s Preston Smart, who committed $25,000 towards moving the biathlon program to Auburn Ski Club’s (ASC) Soda Springs training center this winter. ASC was a partner in the Northstar course but never had the space or means for its own biathlon range. Thanks to Smart’s donation, along with his establishment of the Summit Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to promote and make local biathlon programming financially sustainable, ASC will now make use of the 12 lanes and 7 rifles donated by Northstar.

“We had a viable formula at Northstar, in terms of group and private lessons and open range days, so we’ll implement that over at Auburn Ski Club,” says Julie Young, the former director of the Northstar Cross-Country, Telemark & Snowshoe Center and the director of sports education for the new Summit Foundation. “This is going to be a healthy move for the program,” she adds, citing pluses that include ASC’s reputation as the center of Tahoe’s competitive cross-country community and the new site’s capability—and financial potential—of hosting summer biathlon, in which athletes run or mountain bike instead of ski.

Kids ‘N Guns

Before the course shift to the Soda Springs facility was official, ASC was already expanding its efforts, implementing a new youth program this past summer. Led by Jobe, the program is geared towards juniors up to 19 years old who’d like to pursue biathlon as a serious sport.

An even younger set is taking aim on Tahoe’s North Shore, where Tahoe Cross Country Ski Education Association director Valli Murnane started a laser biathlon program for grades three to five last winter season. Trading bullets for laser beams, the Take Aim on Fitness program, funded by a grant from Teichert Foundation, provides a safe, kid-friendly introduction to biathlon, and includes both indoor safety training and outdoor practice at Tahoe Cross Country’s Tahoe City location, as well as a 10-week indoor introduction at the Boys and Girls Club in Kings Beach. In its first season, 333 children tried the sport. Murnane hopes to expand the resort’s biathlon offerings to adults;  a point-scored system of competition is under consideration.

Building Biathlon Tradition

Local biathletes can test their competitive mettle at the 10th Mountain Division Biathlon Race February 26 at Auburn Ski Club’s Soda Springs course; training clinics will be offered on that Saturday. Overall, the increased level of enthusiasm for the sport in the Sierra bodes well for biathlon in this part of the country.

“It’s really important that we have this winter opportunity here,” says Jobe of the new permanent range at ASC. “We can now build biathlon on the West Coast; there’s enough interest in Mammoth and the Tahoe Basin to make it feasible.” TQ. By Lis Korb.

SOS Outreach students participate in a Learn-to-Ride program at Boreal Mountain Resort.

To many families, winter in Tahoe means ski lessons, season passes and bluebird days together at a favorite resort. But not to all: With rising poverty rates, teenage obesity at an all-time high and more single-parent homes than ever before, not all kids have the means or opportunity to learn a winter sport. Fortunately, there are a number of organizations in the area, old and new, that exist to give children the chance to get on the snow.

For more than 60 years, families in Northern Nevada have headed up Mt. Rose Highway to Sky Tavern, where the Sky Tavern Junior Ski Program teaches local youth to ski and ride in a safe environment that fosters learning, family-oriented fun and a lifelong love of snow sports. Kids as young as four ski every weekend during the eight-week program, and each ski day includes a two-hour lesson from professional ski and snowboard volunteer instructors, followed by an afternoon of freeskiing or riding. The mountain also offers an affordable bus program and season meal passes. To support this volunteer-run program, parents take a two-hour shift each weekend, whether in the ski school, cafeteria, lift lines or parking lot.

The impacts of more recent additions to Tahoe’s list of snow-loving nonprofits are already snowballing into bigger things. Clint Lunde, founder and executive director of SkiDUCK (SKIing and snowboarding for Disabled and Underprivileged Children and older Kids), found his inspiration during the winter of 2008–09, when he took the season off from work with a plan to ski for 100-plus days. Lunde broke his ankle on January 15^th and although he spent the remainder of the season on the couch, it was a blessing in disguise.

“If I hadn’t done that, I might not have been in the mindset of thinking about, what if I couldn’t ski again?, What about those who can’t ski or snowboard?” says Lunde.  “There are a lot of adaptive programs out there, but there’s also another barrier, the finances, for a lot of kids.”

The injury, along with the timeless question of how to combine a personal passion with a lifelong calling, brought Lunde to an epiphany in August 2009. By February 2010, he had several resorts on board, contacts with youth clubs, infrastructure, insurance and the rest, and SkiDUCK held its first event six days later at Squaw Valley USA. That year, four resorts and 130 kids participated for a total of 200 visits. In 2010–11, the program grew fivefold, with 600 kids and 1,000 total visits.

As SkiDUCK evolves, resorts like Squaw make donations of hundreds of snowboards, skis and helmets from the retired rental fleet. Lunde says giving the returning kids their own gear instills “pride of ownership.”

SkiDUCK coordinates with programs like the Boys and Girls Club and Tahoe SAFE Alliance to find children who will benefit from the opportunity of getting out on the snow. Lunde estimates 90 percent of current participants had never been skiing or snowboarding before, and maintains that the immediacy of snow sports distracts from everyday troubles.  “You forget about the regular world, and it brings you in the moment and living right now.”

Add a dash of leadership training and an emphasis on core values and you have SOS Outreach (the name derives from Snowboard Outreach Society), a national organization that recently expanded into Tahoe. The program works with children ages 8 to18 who are underserved or disadvantaged, whether economically, socially or academically. Executive director Arn Menconi founded the organization nearly 18 years ago in Vail, Colorado, while working as a snowboard instructor. “In the early ’90s snowboarders were getting a horrible rap about being punks,” he says. “I thought it would be a nice idea if we tried to do something to give back.”

Today SOS Outreach, which has a presence in 15 states, 45 ski resorts and New Zealand, uses individualized sports like skiing, snowboarding and wilderness excursions year-round to teach its five core values of courage, discipline, integrity, wisdom and compassion. “We’re not just an after school P.E. program,” says Menconi, explaining that an introduction to a sport like skiing or snowboarding can help build self-esteem and turn at-risk youth into mentors and leaders. “We’re trying to give them a positive experience so it prevents them or intervenes from at-risk lifestyles.”

SOS Outreach currently works with 13 mountains in the Tahoe area, and gives underserved or disadvantaged kids from Reno, Carson City, Sacramento, even San Francisco the opportunity to participate. Much like SkiDUCK’s system, SOS Outreach uses local youth agencies and schools to identify those who would most benefit. All lift tickets, instruction and equipment is donated, and each child has a mentor who will be a guide on the snow and off.

Programs like TahoeXC’s free Skiing for Schools provide local third, fourth and fifth-grade students from across the Basin the opportunity to take on-the-snow field trips from January to March. The Winter Discovery Center at the Tahoe City cross-country resort also incorporates an hour of academics into each outing to teach kids about winter ecology and watersheds, seasonal flora and fauna, even weather monitoring. Thanks to the program’s several fundraising full-moon yurt dinners each season, along with the occasional charitable donation, the classroom instructor and equipment are already paid for.

Whether physical, educational or character-building, these programs are making a difference in hundreds, if not thousands, of local children’s lives. “When I go out everyone is saying, we really need this here,” says SOS’s Menconi. “There’s a vibe you always feel from place to place, and Tahoe is just so right. This is an easy way to give them a hand up.” TQ. By Jen Schmidt.

Mancuso cheeses with a silver medal she won in the Super G at the 2011 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships at Garmisch.

Raised on the slopes of Squaw Valley USA, skier Julia Mancuso has three Olympic medals (more than any other American female alpine skier) and a fistful of World Championship and World Cup podium finishes to her name. When not flying down a snow-covered mountain, “Super Jules,” as she is known to her fellow U.S. Ski Team members, family, friends and fans, splits her time between Olympic Valley and Maui.

What are your first memories of skiing?

My very first vivid memory of skiing was with the Mighty Mites at Squaw Valley USA, in a giant snowstorm, and being picked out of the shoulder-deep snow by our coach. I have so many memories of skiing with that program, chasing our coaches around and having lots of fun.
What are your thoughts when you step into the starting gate?

I try to clear my mind and think of having fun! I perform best when I just let it flow. That’s where preparation plays such a huge part: The more prepared I am, the more relaxed I feel when I leave the starting gate.
How does it feel to be up on the Olympic winner’s podium?

It’s like standing in front of the world with the world smiling back at you. It’s knowing that you did your very best. It’s pride that you represent the USA, and pride to represent all your loved ones and everyone that has ever touched a moment of your life.
How do you describe Tahoe to your friends and colleagues around the world?

I start with that it’s the best place in the world to ski. Then, to be more specific, that it’s always sunny when it’s not snowing. That Lake Tahoe is the most beautiful lake in the world, the water is calming, and the people are the friendliest, bringing the true California vibe from the beach to the mountains.

How do you relax?

I like to paint or I might watch a movie on my computer or go the beach, but being busy and on the move is most relaxing to me.

Where do you keep your tiara?

I have many tiaras. I try to never be without one, so I hide them in random places.

Why did you decide to launch a lingerie business?

I race in lucky underwear so I felt the need to spread the love; now everyone can have their own lucky undies!

How are you prepping for the upcoming ski season?

We trained in New Zealand and Chile this summer, and other than the skiing, I spend lots of time in the gym (Mancuso opened Performance JM fitness center in Truckee in March) and riding my bike. I am feeling really strong so I am very excited to get into racing.

Any thoughts on the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014?

We have a race there this season, so I will get to check it out. I love the Olympic atmosphere, so it will be exciting and interesting
to see how that all pans out.

What do you think about the Winter Olympics possibly returning to Tahoe in 2022?

Growing up in Olympic Valley brought me so much pride. Learning about all the history and seeing the old pictures was so inspiring. It would be so great to actually get to live the Olympics, experience it firsthand right here at home. It might also mean a comeback for me: I will be 38—that’s not too old, right? By Susan D. Rock. TQ

Daron Rahlves stays active in the summer in order to be dominant in the winter.

Four-time Olympian, most decorated American male downhill and Super G skier and winner of the legendary Hahnenkamm, Sugar Bowl Ambassador and Truckee resident Daron Rahlves still hits it hard every winter. But the secret of his success is the off-season: “The more you do in summer, the less you’re going to be sore and get hurt in the winter,” says the 38-year-old.

Fluffy, manmade snow covers Heavenly Mountain Resort

Despite the sparse natural snow, Tahoe’s two Vail-owned resorts are pumping up their snowmaking muscle for Christmas week. We rode both of them on Friday, and have ridden three more resorts since.

Northstar California

Northstar is rolling out the white carpet to skiers and snowboarders in time for the holidays. Vail’s Sierra Nevada jewel is doubling up other resorts in terms of vertical feet open at 2,280 from top to bottom to go along with Northstar’s new Zephyr Lodge and backside lift, the Promised Land.

Director of Operations John Loomis, credits an exemplary snowmaking crew for the 25-plus open trails as well as owner Vail, who committed to pay for the resources it takes to blow snow for weeks on end. Some Tahoe resort officials say snowmaking costs—diesel fuel, water, electricity and manpower—can run into the tens of thousands nightly.

As far as the snow, it’s slightly better on the front of the mountain than the back, and I’d recommend you get your turns in early as the good stuff could be scraped by later in the day. That said, Northstar is more equipped to handle a full day of skiing than about anywhere else on the North Shore, with runs off Tahoe Zephyr Express providing a variety of beginner and advanced-intermediate terrain.  Advanced terrain is open on the backside in Burnout, which is firm but very carvable.

Northstar’s snowmaking strategy is to build from the center of the mountain on up, ensuring skiable access to the Village at Northstar from the mountain and plenty of variety for skiers and riders, Loomis says. Another priority centers on Northstar’s most famous soon to be resident—Shaun White—and his 22’ superpipe, which resort officials expect to have ready by Christmas.

—Kyle Magin reporting.

Heavenly

Old Man Winter’s been stingy so far, but Old Man Heavenly’s creating enough Christmas snow to keep Santa, his reindeer and all his elves happy, too. When I went sliding there 0n Friday, December 16, the wind was blowing hard out of the northeast and the gondola at Stateline was on wind-hold. So I drove up Kingsbury Grade to the Stagecoach, 7480 feet elevation, and two lift rides later found myself carving freshies.

Or what passes for freshies, anyway, when the snow’s machine-made. The layer of untracked, however, spread over the surprising soft-pack of Big Dipper run was tantalizingly close. Heavenly has the region’s most powerful snowmaking system, and that combined with its high-elevations and the many sub-freezing nights we’ve had, has created miles of spot-less runs.

There was serious fluff on Comet trail and good corduroy on Stagecoach in the morning. The top of Dipper and Comet chairlifts peaked into the sun above a cloud cap, which lit-up the frosted trees coated mostly by snow guns, but also from last week’s brief natural snowfall—about 4 inches deep in the trees—sad it’s not 4 feet.

The weather forecasts are for high pressure to block storms through year’s end, then winter is supposed to finally get started. But if you want to do some Christmas carving in the meantime, Heavenly’s Nevada-side ain’t chopped liver. Because of the long-traverses between the resort’s two sides, you presently can’t ski between the two. California might be the better choice for lower-intermediates, Nevada for upper. Both sides have their traffic chokepoints when things get crowded, but the California-side is probably worse, at least until more runs open. ***

—Chaco Mohler reporting

Diamond Peak

If the crowds get over-whelming at Tahoe’s big resorts this Christmas week, the little gem above Incline Village might be the answer. Diamond Peak has top-to-bottom skiing open on its classic Crystal Ridge run, as well as a good lower-intermediate run and first-timer terrain.

Way back in the ‘70s, Diamond Peak was the first resort to install snowmaking at Tahoe, so it’s long known the importance of getting a large volume down on the slopes early. Crystal Ridge trail doesn’t have a rock showing, with enough snow on it to last through Christmas, predicts Brad Wilson, Diamond Peak’s new G.M.

“We’re planning to have another 4 runs open by Christmas week,” says Wilson. Diamond Peak increased their snowmaking capacity 35 percent over the summer, with enough power to likely open another run off the high-speed Crystal Express chair—the chair where advanced skiers and riders will want to hang. Crystal Ridge heads straight toward Lake Tahoe, well-groomed if a hint crunchy on Friday due to its southern exposure. On the right day and time, however, this run can deliver perfect corn snow. Lakeview lift is the choice for lower-intermediates, and Schoolhouse is an ideal first-timer chair.

—CM

Alpine Meadows

I rode Alpine Meadows for the first chair both Friday and Saturday, and the terrain the mountain does have open is impressively well-covered. By the end of last week, Alpine snowmakers opened almost 1,000 vertical feet of skiing, spinning the Roundhouse, Hot Wheels and Meadow chairlifts. The snow was best in the shade on Friday down Weasel and under Hot Wheels, and the grooming on the runs down from Roundhouse kept the snow in clean, corduroy lines, though it held firm early in the morning and may be best to wait on.

Dave “Rasta” Thatcher, the mountain’s maintenance manager, made it a priority for snowmakers to get coverage on a variety of interconnected terrain. Alpine has the most impressive park riding I’ve seen on the North Shore, and there’s also room for the beginner ski teams.

The next challenge for the snowmakers—who need a mix of dry and cold conditions to continue to make quality snow—is to get coverage on the runs leading down from Summit Chair, Thatcher says. From the looks of the dry terrain that high on the mountain, it’s a tall task, but doable, Thatcher says.

Alpine may not have enough open terrain fill a whole day for you, but the skiing that’s there is as good as you’ll find along the North Shore.

—KM

Sugar Bowl

Another real option for a morning of carving or flying fun this holiday season is Sugar Bowl, which has open both terrain features and great advanced and intermediate skiing off it’s Mt. Lincoln summit.

On Monday, 12/19, the east wind blew and the upper reaches of Lincoln had spots of rocks on the trails. If the wind calms down, which it should, Sugar Bowl should be able to add to its snow depths to these high, exposed runs prior to Christmas.

For the time being, bring your rock skis for Lincoln. There’s better coverage on the lower terrain off Jermone Hill chair, and over a traverse to Judah’s terrain features—looking good!

If the resort can keep good coverage on Lincoln, this is good early season warm-up run, either down Lakeview and Hellman’s Chute to the wide-open G.S. of the lower run. Hit it early in the day over Christmas week, as this trail is best served uncrowded.

—CM

Mt. Rose

High and dry, conditions at Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe couldn’t be better given Ma Nature’s lack of help.  Excellent man-made snow exists on the runs off the top of Northwest Magnum, giving the mountain a variety of terrain for those looking for a challenge. Its shielded, north-facing slopes are holding the blown snow quite well, and the grooming is great on the wide boulevards off of Ponderosa and Galena chairs.

While the terrain is still slightly limited (it’s open top-to-bottom, but you won’t go off-piste or down the chutes quite yet), Mt. Rose officials aimed to cater to the beginning skiers and riders who populate the slopes over the Christmas holiday, says Kayla Anderson, who works in public relations at the Nevada mountain.

With four of  seven lifts open, Rose didn’t crowd terribly on Sunday, the opening weekend of the holiday season. If snowmakers can open some more advanced terrain and the temperatures don’t warm up too much, Rose is one of the best bets on the North Shore.

—KM

Snowmaking statistics: Resorts provided snowmaking stats to TQ late last week:

Alpine Meadows

Vertical Feet Open: 944 (including terrain park)

Snomaking on 38.1 of 117 acres Alpine makes snow on.

Boreal

Vertical Feet Open: 500 (including two terrain parks)

Percentage of mountain open: 17

Gallons of manmade snow: 32 million (Boreal record)

Diamond Peak

Vertical Feet Open: 1840

Percentage of mountain open: 33

Heavenly

Vertical feet open: 2,400

Percentage of mountain open: 18

Kirkwood

Vertical Feet Open: 840

Percentage of mountain open: 4.5

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe

Vertical Feet Open: 1,440

Percentage of mountain open: 10

Northstar California

Vertical feet open: 2,280

Percentage of mountain open: 25

Squaw Valley

Vertical feet open: 1,350

Percentage of mountain open: 20 percent

Sugar Bowl

Vertical feet open: 1,500

Ray Roman tees off at the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.

Where can you see Michael Jordan going one-on-one against Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, or New Jersey Devils all-star goalie Martin Brodeur trying to fend off the Boston Celtics great Ray Allen? Where can you find New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan giving pointers to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers? And where does one of the greatest baseball rotations reunite off-court? Nowhere other than at the annual American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, teeing up this year July 12 to 17.

This unique golf tournament began 22 years ago with the idea of bringing together professional athletes and actors to compete in a serious stroke play tournament. Rather than facing off in another “pro-am” style format, these players would have a chance to put their game to the test for a $600,000 cash purse in a three-day event where all of their shots counted. Since that first event in 1989, won by former Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien, the American Century has become celebrity golf’s major championship. Players bring their families and enjoy not only the competition but also the camaraderie.

The tournament has become a fan favorite as well. Spectator galleries are afforded an “up close and personal” experience with some of the biggest names in pro sports and entertainment; celebrities like Ray Romano, Jack Wagner and former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle return yearly. While the 78 competitors get serious during the tournament, practice rounds allow onlookers to collect autographs and photographs with the stars.

Spectators soon discover that some of these athletes and celebs—such as Mario Lemieux, John Elway, three-time American Century winner Billy Joe Tolliver and six-time champion Rick Rhodes—can really play golf. At the same time, Charles Barkley, Kevin Nealon and ESPN commentator Lou Holtz can make even the average golfer suddenly feel better about his or her own game. The three-day outing is scored using a Stableford system, which awards points for each par, birdie and eagle scored, while penalizing for bogies and others.

The American Century is about more than just golf, however. The event has raised more than $3 million for many South Shore charities over the last two decades. And the athletes take away something from their time in Tahoe as well. This may be best evidenced by the generosity shown by NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley. After the tragic Angora Fire destroyed more than 200 homes just weeks before the 2007 championship, Barkley hosted a dinner for the firefighters and fire victims. The next year, he gave $100,000 to the Tahoe Emergency Fire Fund. Barkley returns to the Angora area annually to check up on reconstruction and continues to donate generously to local causes.

For one week of the year, tournament participants make Tahoe their home, which is why so many individuals covet an invitation, then return year after year. For spectators, it’s a fun way to see a more human side of their favorite sports pros and celebrities. From the rollicking scene on the beach next to the 18th green to the casual atmosphere along the fairways to the perfect summer weather, the American Century Championship is a showcase that truly allows Tahoe—and its fleeting stars—to shine. By Doug Saunders. TQ

Now 64 years old, Western States 100 founder Gordon Ainsleigh leads the pack at race mile 13.

To those age-group athletes fretting that their best years are behind them, think again. The good news: If you’ve been hammering the roads, trails, slopes and waterways for most of your adult life, you’ve probably lost only a little of your overall fitness.

Take solace in local race results—in cross-country skiing, quinquagenarians regularly trounce athletes half their age. In ultra-marathons, athletes seem to be just getting warmed up in their 40s (the average age of a Western States 100 runner is about 45). Rock climbers are summiting even into retirement age, as evidenced by a local 60-something ski coach who is reputed to have recently completed a sport climb rated 5.13c. Outside of Tahoe, many climbers into their sixth and even seventh decades are climbing close to the limits of the sport.

Now for the bad news: Can you say “wind sprints?” In addition to honing nutrition and core strength, you’re going to have to trade a few of your cherished endorphin-fests for shorter, power-heavy workouts each week to goose your fasttwitch fibers, the key to maintaining and gaining athleticism as you mellow.

Strength training 

“If masters athletes want bigger gains in their performance, intensity is key,” says Joe Dengler, a Truckee-based physical therapist and personal trainer, and producer of a new strengthtraining DVD for masters cross-country skiers.

Beyond the age of 40, explains Dengler, our bodies cannibalize fast-twitch muscle fiber—the reason you don’t see many 40-year-olds winning sprint-distance events. And though you may not think you have a need for speed, you rely on fast-twitch muscles for short, powerful efforts, such as hopping through breakable crust, pulling through the crux of a strenuous climb or spinning your granny gear up a deviously steep pitch of singletrack. Dengler advises all athletes to train fast-twitch fibers, but especially masters athletes since their inventory is in constant demand—and decay. Though changing out a training regimen might create short-term pain, the long-term gains are enormous: Athletes of all ages can increase power and speed, and literally stall the aging process. How? By utilizing plyometrics, speed intervals and weight training. We’re talking as intense as P90X workouts, but customized to your sport.

Slowing Down and Supplementing 

Plyometrics (exercise training for muscle elastic strength) and speed represent powerful medicine, but their downside is a potential show-stopper: injuries. Dr. Andrew Pasternak, a Reno-based family practitioner and co-founder of Silver Sage Sports Performance, sees a lot of masters endurance athletes in his practice, often runners, cyclists and cross-country skiers. He cautions them about overtraining.

“As you get older, recovery takes longer,” says Pasternak. “Getting the most out of a high-intensity workout requires an athlete to be well-rested ahead of time. You don’t tend to get faster with more training; you get faster with recovery.”

“For devoted athletes, resting takes more discipline than training,” Dengler says. Fortunately, rest isn’t synonymous with repose. “Active rest—walking, going out for an easy ride or run—is better than taking a full day off,” he says.

To avoid injuries, Pasternak recommends supplementing in-season training with yoga or Pilates in order to develop core strength and to keep overuse problems at bay. Both he and Dengler are also proponents of protein— lots of it. Dengler recommends 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day for masters athletes (see sidebar). Pasternak advocates a balanced diet, heavy on fruits and vegetables, and recommends supplements such as CoQ10, and omega 3/6/9 fatty acids.

What about the host of performance enhancing drugs that are widely available from anti-aging specialists and can, to a degree, turn back the clock on the symptoms of senescence? The Doper Next Door is a new tell-all book by 45-yearold middle-of-the-pack cyclist Andrew Tilin chronicling his dalliances with testosterone. Long story short: It works. “I know there are athletes who are taking testosterone and growth hormones,” says Pasternak. “At some level, they do help performance. People feel better, and they recover faster. But I’m still a little hesitant on some of the safety data. My bias is to advise getting enough sleep and recovering well.”

So there you have it: intensity, specificity, rest, nutrition and good sleep.

At the end of the day, vigorous activity and active recovery is your ticket to increased athleticism as you age— whether you’re a veteran athlete wanting to notch it up, or if you’re on the cusp of launching a career as a marathoner. Your mantra? Go fast. Not too much. And have fun. By Brad Rassler. TQ

Indian Paintbrush

Summer is when plants and animals go about the business of reproduction. To that end, they employ a dazzling array of communication techniques, appealing to all of our (and hopefully potential mates’) senses in the process. Here is a sampler of the summer’s great communicators.

Songs and sounds 

Territorial vocalizations attract mates and ward off potential competitors, but those performances aren’t restricted to birds and amphibians. For example, most readers have heard the rattling trill of Douglas squirrels in the forest or the incessant chirping of a ground squirrel or chipmunk. Sometimes these are warning calls, but more often they are directed at one another. Studies have demonstrated that squirrels can recognize their relatives by their unique territorial trills. Even the smallest rodents let their songs be heard.

Not all animal sounds are vocal. Consider the night-piercing stridulations of katydids, made by rubbing the bases of their front wings together. Many of our common birds make nonvocal territorial sounds as well. During the twilight hours and early morning, Wilson’s snipe can be heard displaying over wetlands like the Upper Truckee, Taylor Creek or Martis Creek marshes. The snipe repeatedly climbs high and dives back down, air winnowing through its flared tail in a sound often mistaken for a boreal owl. Also heard during twilight, male common nighthawks occasionally make a “booming” sound quite different from their nasal “peent” calls. This boom is also created by feathers during a dive, and is reminiscent of a bullfrog.

Color and pattern 

Color and pattern are perhaps the most appealing of the forms of communication for us, visual creatures that we are. At the basest level, they help animals recognize members of their own species. When pronounced, as in very bright breedingplumaged birds, they express vigor and genetic desirability. The classic example of this sexual selection is the peacock, but closer to home we have, for example, the white, orange and brilliant blue of the male lazuli bunting. Look for lazuli buntings singing in high-elevation meadows and chaparral in mid-summer; the top of Ward Canyon and the road to Relay Peak are easy places to find them.

Color and pattern are also important for communicating with pollinators. Many insects, most notably bees, cannot see red. Thus, red flowers typically are pollinated by hummingbirds, and therefore possess a shape that suits their feeding style. Scarlet gilia, Indian paintbrush and crimson columbine are great examples. The closely related alpine columbine has much longer spurs that cannot be reached by the bills of hummingbirds. Instead, this flower is whitish, fragrant and produces nighttime nectar to attract the longer tongues of white-lined sphinx moths. Flowers that prefer pollination by bees keep their color palette toward the violet (and even ultraviolet) end of the spectrum, and commonly employ visual landing strips to help orient the bees properly.

Fragrance and flavors 

As suggested above, plants can use fragrance and flavors to attract pollinators. Hummingbirds are not swayed by scent, but nectar is something they clearly relish. Odors will attract most other insects, however, and many fragrances pinpoint certain pollinator predilections. Butterflies tend toward subtler scents, while bees prefer a robust, sweet aroma. Many of our strongest smelling flowers are pollinated by moths, flies or even beetles. Corn lily is visited by a great variety of insects, including many longhorned beetles, though the pollen is reported to be toxic to most insects. A spectacular mothpollinated flower is the two- to eight-foot tall Washington lily, which can be found among chaparral slopes and pine forests in July and August. Once successful pollination has resulted in fruit, many plants use fragrance, flavor and bright colors to attract animals to fertilize and disperse their seeds across the landscape, berries being the most popular vessel. Many of the more conspicuous fruits ripen in late summer, when thimbleberries make a tasty trailside diversion in moist forest understories throughout Tahoe. By Will Richardson. TQ

The ranch boss fire pit from Cowboy Cauldron can be easily installed in any backyard setting.

There’s something about a fire that draws a crowd: An outdoor fire pit or fireplace provides warmth on brisk Tahoe summer nights and adds a focal point for al fresco gatherings.

“We see an outdoor fire feature in almost every new home that gets constructed,” says Tom Just of Truckee’s Mountain Home Center.

“People love the idea,” adds Tom Bork of Stateline’s Sunbasin Landscape & Nursery. “It’s a place to sit around, get warm and have a cocktail.”

Both types of fire features are very popular around the Basin. “I would say it’s about a 50-50 fire pit to fireplace ratio,” says Chris Ingram, of Lake Tahoe Specialty Stove & Fireplace in Kings Beach, though he personally prefers fire pits. “Everyone sits around it,” Ingram says. “Plus, they have more of a wow factor.”

Gas versus wood 

When it comes to choosing between wood-burning products and gas, “more and more people go for gas,” says Just. “I have both and I use my gas fire pit ten-to-one over the wood-burning fire pit. It’s way more convenient—you turn it on, have a fire, shut it off. There’s no soot, no ashes and no embers in the air.”

Fireplaces are also more likely to be gas. “You don’t need a chimney,” Just says. “The byproducts of combustion just vent out the front. There’s more versatility in where they can be installed.”

Should a homeowner prefer a wood-burning fire feature, it may be necessary to get a permit or a specially certified product. Homeowners also need to be more cautious—especially during wildfire season—to avoid sending sparks into the forest; those who rent out their homes should educate tenants on how to properly light up and put out the fire.

Heavy gauge steel products are also advisable, as they won’t rust out like cheaper brands. One such product is the Cowboy Cauldron. Based out of Salt Lake City, these suspended, woodburning fire pits double as grills. With sizes available from the 30-inch diameter urban cowboy to the 41-inch diameter ranch boss, these cauldrons are made of thick-pressed steel, designed to radiate heat in all directions and the perfect fiery ornament for a Midwest or Western-themed home.

Outdoor Art 

Fire is no longer solely about warmth. Just carries a full range of metal log sculptures for fire pits. The sculptures may be realistic, abstract or feature more decorative elements like pinecones.

Likewise, Ingram has begun working with a company called Cast Creations. “It’s real custom,” he says. “They take an actual round from a tree and make a mold of it. Say when you’re building a house, you have to take down a tree in the middle of the patio for code clearances. You can actually take that stump, and they make a fire pit out of it. It’s perfect for Tahoe.”

Another option is a fire pit table. Because it’s not fixed into place, the table can be moved around or put away. “You have heat right where you are sitting,” says Just. “It’s very popular.”

Fire features can be designed in any style, from rustic to contemporary. Whatever the design, experts recommend locating it on a patio close to the house—which allows it to feel like an extension of indoor living space, as well as being easier to connect the gas line— and blending it with the landscape.

“Make it look natural and make sure there’s enough room for people to sit,” says Bork, who has incorporated boulders and wrapping rock walls as seating in his designs.

Then grab wine, marshmallows and settle in to enjoy the evening at your outdoor hearth and haven. By Alison Bender. TQ

Malcolm Tibbetts' Galactic Journey

One end of the square-knot sculpture Martin’s Dream is primarily ebony; the other side, bird’s-eye maple. “There’s a mix of colors in the center of the knot,” says South Lake Tahoe artist Malcolm Tibbetts. “That’s where the strength is.”

Tibbetts is a segmented wood turner. He cuts hundreds or thousands of small, perfectly angled wedges of wood—mainly dense hardwoods like mesquite, purpleheart, holly and curly maple, though he’s careful to never use endangered species— and glues them into rings, which are stacked, then turned and shaped on a lathe, becoming bowls, vessels and sculptures. The colors are all natural—no stains or dyes—and Tibbetts finishes pieces with several coats of sanding sealer to fill in the wood pores and at least four coats of a tung oil/urethane mixture.

The medium has fascinated the artist since about age four, when he used to spend time at his grandfather’s workshop (“He could build or fix anything,” says Tibbetts) in northern New Hampshire. “It was the basis of my background,” he says. “I can brag that I’ve been a woodworker for 55 years.”

After a stint in the military, Tibbetts moved west, securing a job as a ski patroller at Heavenly Mountain Resort, where he eventually became vice president of operations. On the side, he developed his woodworking skills, first by crafting furniture for his South Shore home, then by creating sculptures. Though he doesn’t like the term “self taught” (“There’s no such thing,” he asserts. “There are too many resources to be absorbed.”), Tibbetts developed his own techniques as he delved into turning, specifically segmented wood turning, which he says is more complex but allows for more species of wood and designs.

In 2001, Tibbetts retired from Heavenly after a 30-plus year career. He’d already found some success exhibiting his sculptures and decided to pursue the craft fulltime. Coincidentally, just a month after making that decision, he was contacted by Linden Publishing, which commissioned him to write the book The Art of Segmented Woodturning. “It’s become almost a bible now,” Tibbetts says. “That really opened the door for me and elevated my name in the wood turning world.”

Tibbetts begins with a concept. Martin’s Dream, for example, commemorated the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. A recent piece, a large looping form that features a red bus and a blue bus, was inspired in part by listening to nursery rhymes with his two-year-old grandson. “This applies to our political situation right now,” he says. “Everyone’s going in circles and not going anywhere.” The piece is titled The Wheels on the Bus. Other works have conveyed environmental, anti-war and even hunger awareness messages.

These wood masterpieces are remarkably complex. One sculpture, Galactic Journey, is a series of six interlocked curving rings, each of which comprises 180 smaller rings (180 signifying a complete turnaround). Each smaller ring is made of 12 segments, representing the 12 ages of the Zodiac. There are 2,160 wood pieces in each large ring (representing the 2,160 years in a Zodiac “age”) and a grand total of 12,960 wood wedges, the number of years it takes for the Earth’s axis to align perfectly with the center of the Milky Way.

“All the fun stuff is in the concept and design,” Tibbetts says of his craft. “The actual creating—the cutting of pieces and the gluing—that’s the work portion; you can’t wait to finish so you can move on to the next.”

Tibbetts has also produced six DVDs and taught workshops around the world. A member of the American Association of Wood Turners, Tibbetts formed a chapter that specializes in segmented wood turning and plans to hold a symposium on the South Shore in November 2012. By Alison Bender. TQ

“The biggest convenience is not having to drive from Reno,” says Lake Tahoe Air founder Mike Zeid, who operates the company’s two nine-seat turbo-prop planes on a charter license from the FAA. If there is demand, Zeid hopes to obtain commuter certification and expand to larger aircraft; that, however, is dependent upon the Lake Tahoe Airport upgrading its facilities to FAA commuter standards.

South Lake Tahoe has previously offered commercial air service via operators such as Allegiant Air and Golden West Airlines, but sustained success has proven to be a challenge. “Airlines came and went, but none of them stayed,” says Zeid, who headed up the 1970s-era Ram Air, which served Tahoe, but shuttered operations by the end of that decade.

Tahoe businesses also stand to gain from commercial flights, with the potential of increased visitor traffic. “Air service locally is a very convenient portal for visitors and residents to South Lake Tahoe.” says Carol Chaplin, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.

Zeid and Chaplin remain optimistic about long-term local air service, and several Stateline casinos have already expressed support for the new carrier. “This is just the right time for an airline,” says Zeid, underscoring the fact that a decade has passed since Tahoe has seen commercial flights. Chaplin adds, “The successful operator will be patient and grow the business as awareness and demand grows.” By Dave Zook. TQ

In addition to search and rescue operations, the U.S. Coast Guard, based in Tahoe City, provides education about and compliance with boating safety laws.

Thirty years ago, a Lake Tahoe boating fatality stunned the West Shore’s tight-knit community so much so that the tragic details remain vividly alive in old-timers’ memories—and serve as a stiff reminder of the dangers of irresponsible watercraft operation.

“It’s a horrible story,” says Bev Bedard, who was the director of the North Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce at the time. “Bobby Everson was like the town’s son.” Everson had worked in marketing at Homewood and Alpine Meadows ski resorts, and came up with the idea of holding a winter festival to keep skiers on the slopes later in the season. The first SnowFest! was held in 1982, in memory of Everson. Changes in boating safety took longer to accomplish.

After viewing Tahoe City’s Fourth of July fireworks by boat in 1981, Everson and his girlfriend moored their sailboat in a buoy field south of Sunnyside for the night. “Sometime after midnight, a powerful boat full of college kids came up over the back end of Bobby’s boat and cut it in half,” Bedard says. Everson was killed instantly and his girlfriend suffered disabling brain damage.

The U.S. Coast Guard was called to the scene. “The boat was in bad enough shape that they couldn’t see anyone initially. The girl was below in the cabin unconscious and lying in water. Everson was already dead,” says Scott Baumgardner, who retired from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office in 2004 after 22 years as a boating safety officer. The Coast Guard pursued the hit-and-run suspects and, unable to find them, returned to the scene, discovering Everson and his girlfriend in the wreckage.

Those involved in causing the collision were eventually found and investigated for hit-and-run and manslaughter, but the case didn’t make it past a preliminary hearing, says Baumgardner. There were no blood tests to prove drunkenness, nor could the actual boat operator be identified. There was a technicality of whether or not the moored sailboat was required to have white lights around the entire boat. Baumgardner was one of the divers who found proof on The Lake’s bottom that the red and green navigation light was used.

“Their defense said that they came about and went back to Everson’s boat, saw a collision but didn’t see any people,” Baumgardner said, adding that their case was strengthened because the Coast Guard had done the same thing.

Since then, boating laws have been amended to help law enforcement prosecute accidents such as Everson’s. A person involved in a boating accident can now be charged with vessel manslaughter, which requires a lesser degree of negligence for conviction. Statutes regarding drinking and driving a boat are stiffer, too, affecting a person’s driving record. Boating law enforcement can also now hand suspected drunk drivers over to the California Highway Patrol to be taken for blood alcohol content testing, Baumgardner says.

Operation Dry Water, launched in 2009 in Nevada, is a concerted effort each summer to catch those boating under the influence. “Getting drunken boaters off the water is one of our top boating safety priorities,” says David Pfiffner, Nevada’s boating law administrator.

Boating education has increased as well. “As far as boating safety goes, the biggest concern is ignorance,” says Jerry Gilmore, public education officer for the North Lake Tahoe Coast Guard Auxiliary. Nevada now requires anyone born after January 1, 1983, to complete a boating safety course in order to operate a watercraft on Lake Tahoe. In California, boaters are encouraged, but not required, to take an online boating safety course. The North Lake Tahoe Coast Guard Auxiliary also offers classroom courses, which include tips for safety on Lake Tahoe.

Boating safety education and law enforcement have made great strides since Everson’s accident in 1981; however, the danger of boating is not minimized. “Boating is not driving your car, especially at night; it’s a lot more respon- sibility,” Baumgardner says. Boaters driving fast cannot see what’s ahead in the dark—be it a log or another boat. During his 22 years of patrolling Placer County’s 43 percent of Lake Tahoe’s 193 square miles of water, Baumgardner says he worked to educate boaters about safety, operating rules and suggested equipment, but also to enforce safe speeds (“I gave a number of speeding tickets over the years because people were going lickety-split,” he says) and issue citations for noise violations and drunken boating. Baumgardner’s suggestions for safe boating on Lake Tahoe: Take a boating safety course, make sure you have the right equipment and life jackets on board, and slow down. By Tanya Canino. TQ

Sherpettes founder Jeni Lammerding (right) and Heather Kenison offering their porter services at Desolation's Lake Aloha in 2009.

Jeni Lammerding is overloaded. She’s halfway into the 7.5-mile trek to Desolation Wilderness’s Lake Schmidell, and the 40-pound, worn canvas backpack she’s carrying is downright cumbersome, its contents bulging and dangling from jerry-rigged bungee cords. They’re an unlikely pair—the externalframe pack having been manufactured before she was born—but Lammerding isn’t shouldering this load for herself. She’s a Sherpette, and the pack belongs to a 75-yearold client, one severely in need of a gear upgrade.

With long, golden hair and a tan straight out of Baywatch, the 31-yearold Lammerding is a far cry from the Nepalese guides that inspired her company’s name. Born and raised in Sacramento, she grew up vacationing at her family’s West Shore cabin, backpacking deep into the Sierra with her father. Hiking has always been a passion: She circled the Tahoe Rim Trail in a summer, completed 100 miles of the John Muir trail and explored countless routes while living in Tahoe for four years. She and Truckee psychologist Kate Spurry Parkhill cofounded the Sherpettes in 2008, and Lammerding’s hobby quickly gained a higher purpose.

They conceived the Sherpettes quite simply: women helping women access the backcountry. It’s a no-frills service; they carry in your gear, then pack it out. Lammerding carries a first-aid kit, is CPR certified and will obtain any necessary wilderness permits, but clients are essentially on their own. Sherpettes have ranged in age from 23 to 31, and their clients from 52 to 75.

“It’s a good way to go deeper in the backcountry, to really feel the effects of being out in nature by spending the night,” Lammerding says. “The relationships we’ve built with other women have been beautiful.”

Though the business remains for and by women at its core, Lammerding is open to helping families and people with disabilities reach their destinations. Desolation Wilderness, primarily accessed from South Shore’s Emerald Bay, is the Sherpettes’ main territory, yet Lammerding, a high school Spanish teacher now living in Auburn, will expand into other Northern California reaches if there is demand. TQ

Butterflies are attracted to a garden for water, nectar from flowers and a place to lay eggs.

For most of us, gardens are for aesthetic pleasure. Active wildlife in the garden adds interest (though not all animals are beneficial). As we plant and retool our gardens for greater conservation and utility, here are some ways to keep in mind our beautiful and helpful wild neighbors.

Birds 

Birds, almost universally, add beauty and fun. Their songs and habits are charming and many birds help gardeners by eating some of our most annoying pests.

Water and food are the commodities birds most desire; if these are abundant birds will return year after year. Glazed ceramic saucers make easy birdbaths. Over the years, I have collected rocks with depressions that I place where irrigation will fill their basins; the birds drink from even the very shallow ones. A drip emitter can be used to keep baths full. Leaving a small area of sand and fine gravel and a little bare soil near the birdbath gives the birds a source of grit for their crops and a place to scratch for worms and insects.

To ensure against mosquitoes in birdbaths, it is smart to add a mosquito dunk or a few granules of B.t.i. (Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis: B.t.i is a bacterium that only attacks mosquito and fungus gnat larva). We would be responsible citizens to spread granules of B.t.i. wherever there might be standing water around our homes, especially after such a wet winter.

Native flowers and berries are the best attractants for birds and should be used whenever possible, but there are also many well-behaved and easy-to-grow ornamentals. I cultivate a riotous patch of sunflowers just for the birds: The flocks of finches that blast from them when I walk past is unbelievable. It looks like the birds get every seed but my sunflowers return every year. Most birdfeeders work fine; the finch feeder socks can be inspiring for the sheer mass of birds they attract. I counted more than 20 on one sock last summer. Suet feeders provide high energy in spring and fall. My favorite birdseed is black oil sunflower seed because little is wasted (and I’ve planted those in my sunflower garden as well).

There are dozens of showy flowering perennials with tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds, our seasonal visitors from the south. Bee balm, catmint (especially Siberian), columbine, red-hot poker and penstemons are easily grown and are always attractive to birds and butterflies alike. Summer color like fuchsia and impatiens are often visited as well.

Along with the sunflowers, these perennials and annual wildflowers produce edible seeds that birds will appreciate: asters, California poppies, candytuft, coreopsis, bachelor’s buttons, dame’s rocket, foxglove, ornamental grasses, sagebrush, scabiosa, stock, rabbit brush, thyme and wallflower. Many trees and shrubs that produce desirable fruit also provide nesting sites. Tough trees and shrubs for informal hedging and habitat include chokecherry, birdcherry, chokeberry and serviceberry, which are all in the rose family and offer edible berries plus stunning fall colors. Wild and rugosa roses have nutritious hips. Slow-growing western and fast-growing European mountain ash never fail to attract robins late in the season. Cranberry viburnum berries are eaten through the winter. Sergeant crabapples usually keep their fruit over winter for the earliest spring visitors to eat when they arrive before snows abate. Other hardy woody plants that feed birds include Russian olive, hawthorne, elderberry, currants, blueberries, thimbleberries, sumac, manzanita, cotoneaster, snowberry and honeysuckle. Alder, birch and of course pine, fir, cedar and juniper all provide seeds, while willow, aspen, cottonwood and oak shelter many species of insects.

Pesticides harm birds. While commercial farms use more total poison, homeowners use up to ten times more pesticides and herbicides per acre than farmers. If you want to attract birds into your garden, use either organic fertilizers and natural pest controls or none at all. If you have outdoor cats, avoid attracting birds. It is a cat’s nature to kill anything that moves and many of our most attractive bird species can fall easy prey. Cats in a garden can be a tremendous help with mice, voles and rabbits— if only we could teach them to leave birds alone.

Butterflies 

The appeal of butterflies in the garden is similar to birds: They are like flowers with wings. Butterflies are attracted to a garden for water, nectar from flowers and for places to lay eggs (which hatch into caterpillars, eat plants and feed birds). Butterflies are very specific about which plants they’ll lay their eggs on. The monarch butterfly, for example, must have milkweed (Asclepias spp.) for its larva to feed on. A few caterpillars around don’t do much damage with the exception of tent caterpillars and cabbage worms, which are easily controlled with B.t.k. (another variety of the same species of bacillus that only infects lepidopteran larva). One tomato hornworm, which eats a lot, can ruin an entire tomato plant, but it transforms into the fascinating hummingbird/sphinx moth, so I remove them but never kill them. Plants that attract egg-laying butterflies are: aster, birch, chokecherry, common sunflower, cottonwood, hollyhock, mallow, milkweed, oak, Queen Anne’s lace, snapdragon and willow.

Adult butterflies take up their minerals with water from moist soil like you’ll find at the edge of a mud-puddle or bog. I have seen butterflies on almost every flowering annual, perennial and shrub in my garden and in the nursery, but some of their favorites are milkweed, black-eyed Susan, goldenrod, lilac, phlox, scabiosa and butterfly bush.

Bees 

I must take this opportunity to remind gardeners of the importance of bees. Most people are aware that the European honeybee plays a key role in fruit production worldwide. Honeybees and bumblebees are the two most well known of the bee species that we see and both are important pollinators for fruit and vegetable production. What many people do not know is that there are over a thousand species of bees in California alone and many of these are also extremely beneficial.

Many of the same flowers that attract birds and butterflies are also attractive to bees; the greater the diversity of flowers, the happier the bees are while gathering nectar and pollen. By Eric Larusson. TQ

Chef Julia Walter sources fresh ingredients for creative California cuisine.

12 questions for Julia Walter, Executive chef, River Ranch Lodge & Restaurant

Born and raised in Danville, a small town in central Kentucky, Julia Walter is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University’s School of Culinary Arts in Charlotte, South Carolina. Former chef de cuisine at Truckee’s Moody’s Bistro, Walter has presided over the kitchen at River Ranch Lodge & Restaurant since 2007.

What’s your earliest culinary memory? 

I grew up watching my mother and grandmother cook Southern comfort food. I can remember being fascinated from a young age and just watching and asking questions for hours!

What brought you to Tahoe? 

Originally, I moved here with a few of my friends from college. We came out to ski. I was in Tahoe City for four years and then decided to go to culinary school. After a few years on the East Coast, I moved back with my husband, Etienne.

How would you categorize River Ranch’s food? 

Creative and comforting California cuisine—our menu appeals to a broad range of people. We have a new, extensive café menu as well. A lot of times you will find a bit of my Southern flair in our nightly specials.

What inspires your menus? 

The seasons in many ways—both seasonal ingredients and our customers’ appetites, which vary from winter to summer.

Favorite ingredients? 

Citrus of any kind—oranges, lemons, limes—and any hot chili pepper. How do you source ingredients? I do a lot of shopping around to find local and seasonal produce whenever possible. Most of our fish comes from Kanaloa Seafood.

What’s in your home fridge right now? 

Lots of cheese, butter, milk and leftovers. I actually do a lot of cooking at home on my nights off.

Might we see you at one of the local farmers markets again this summer? 

I will definitely be in Tahoe City this summer on Thursday mornings, shopping, talking with local farmers and planning my Thursday night farmers market specials. You may also find me at the Truckee market on Tuesdays.

Do you get out to the patio for a burger and beer? 

Not as often as I would like!

Have you floated the Truckee to River Ranch? 

Lots of times, but only once since I’ve been the chef at the River Ranch.

Favorite Tahoe activity? 

Summer is my favorite season so I enjoy hiking, biking and just being outdoors.

Top Tahoe spot? 

The beautiful beaches on Tahoe’s East Shore. By Susan D. Rock. TQ 

Diners enjoy the Wild Goose Restaurant

The Wild Goose has a secret it would like to spill: You need no longer be a card-carrying member of the Tahoe Mountain Club to dine at the North Shore lakefront restaurant.

Built on the site of the former Sunsets restaurant in Tahoe Vista, Tahoe Mountain Resorts (the organization for the collective communities at the Village at Northstar, Northstar Highlands, Old Greenwood and Gray’s Crossing) launched the Wild Goose in 2003, turning it into a private supper club three years later for its property owners and their guests.

Named not for the bird, but for the luxury runabout that plied Tahoe’s waters in the 1920s, the restaurant’s interior evokes a nautical ambiance with sleek wood, leather and stainless steel finishes. Picture windows fill the 80-seat restaurant with lake and mountain vistas, which are also reflected in strategically placed mirrors. The deck seats another 50 diners and there are 20 spots at the bar; a private dining room upstairs can accommodate 40. The LEED-certified restaurant incorporates stainless steel from repurposed cars, ships and industrial scrap for sinks, backsplashes, freezers, carts, kitchen and bar equipment; wall panels and backsplashes are made from milk jugs while recycled ceramic and windshield glass tiles decorate floors, countertops and walls.

Executive chef Jason Di Guilio heads up the kitchen at the seasonal restaurant (in winter, the culinary team, which includes chef de cuisine Joe Casey and pastry chef Melinda Dorn, shifts operations to Tahoe Mountain Resort’s slopeside Schaffer’s Camp at Northstar-at-Tahoe). A native of Pleasanton, Di Guilio owned a restaurant in Quincy before relocating to Mammoth Mountain as the chef at the mid-mountain Parallax, later moving to the nearby, newly opened Westin Monache.

Di Guilio calls the Wild Goose’s menu, “progressive New American.” “I don’t like to be locked to a certain part of the world,” he says. “New American gives us the freedom to cook what we want without being tied to a certain region or ingredients.”

That means diners can expect to find dishes with European, Asian and Mediterranean influences, such as starters like mussels à la plancha, made with garlic, red bell pepper, jalepeño and herb butter. Main courses include seared dayboat sea scallops with pomme puree, Szechwan pepper sauce and peanuts; an oven-roasted chicken dish is served with a warm panzanella salad, fried artichoke, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano and aged balsamic vinegar. For a sweet finish, desserts like a lemongrass crème brûlée with kaffir lime cookies await.

Menu offerings focus on local and regional ingredients. “Trucks leave here at 3 a.m. three to four days a week for the Sacramento Valley to pick up ingredients,” says Di Guilio. He has recently garnered a particular interest in sustainably raised and harvested seafood, which may land catches like California albacore tuna, Alaskan halibut, California dungeness crab, California black cod, white sturgeon and Alaskan salmon on the menu as well.

“I gravitated toward sustainably raised seafood for both environmental and health reasons,” he says. “That means buying what’s in season, not over-fished or caught by dredging the bottom of the ocean or containing mercury. I’m trying to do my part.”

The restaurant’s wide-ranging wine list includes about 340 selections, from Spanish albariño to zinfandel from the El Dorado foothills. Beverage manager Pat Hedderman, who can assist with spot-on pairings, many available by the halfbottle and glass, has a great nose for lesser known, terrific value wines.

Now who wouldn’t be wild about all that? By Susan D. Rock. TQ

Kate Dietrich and Kevin Davis married at Lake Tahoe's Thunderbird Lodge.

Tahoe’s luxury bridal market is in the midst of a comingof- age trajectory: Brides and grooms from all over the country, and in many cases, abroad, are deploying their precious resources, fulfilling life-long wedding fantasies— Tahoe style.

Luxury is best described for the Tahoe bridal couple as a sensual experience embracing every nuance of a wedding— sight, taste and smell, but most important of all, capturing the heart.

For different couples that notion may play out in different ways: It might be the luxury of secluded Tahoe nuptials tucked into a forested estate along the shore; the luxury of a classic five-star ballroom ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe; the luxury of arriving via horseback through a grassy meadow carpeted with mule’s ear at a barn perfumed with the wafting aromas of a farm-to-table experience. A breeze whistles through pines. Crisp air softly kisses cheeks. A meal nourishes the soul. Laughter is punctuated by a Steller’s jay or lapping claps of crystal water.

While Tahoe, to many, may still be thought of as whitepaper- wedding-bells-and-blue-carnations-in-24-hour-chapels, there is in fact a small but growing sophisticated group of top-tier wedding professionals who can go toe-to-toe with the best from San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Their talents are helping make the Big Blue one of the hottest current choices for a wedding celebration.

This coming-of-age moment in Tahoe’s luxury bridal market is the natural, perfectly inevitable culmination of the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in our region over the past 15 years. Tahoe has always been a place of outdoor experiences and emotional imprinting: angling for rainbow trout, navigating lake swell sprays, hiking lupine meadows, skiing sugared champagne traverses, warming fingers with richly brewed cocoa, hearing sleigh bells jingle. For well over a century, Tahoe has meant family, friends, love and special, unforgettable moments in our lives.

Today’s upscale Tahoe wedding might include anything from ultrasuede jacketed Chameleon chairs to the latest and greatest in cottage cozy or beach chic lounge furniture; dance floors come in any imaginable size and finish—from round to white to gold to monogrammed—with uber-grande crystal chandeliers hanging from sugar pine boughs. It may mean entertainment like the hottest groover local garage bands and international headliners, as well as the very finest in every imaginable food and beverage experience. Today’s Tahoe bride doesn’t even need to travel to Beverly Hills or New York City to purchase her dream gown. She can book her consultation right in the ‘hood.

The bride and groom looking for a truly unique wedding celebration, steeped in more than a century of history and tradition, can get everything they need right here at 6,000-plus feet above sea level: locations, rentals, photography, videography and cinematography, catering, entertainment and couture, all of it managed by a select club of professionals ready to make wedding dreams come true on a day that can only be defined as, well—Lake Tahoe. By Scott Corridan. TQ

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) speaks at the Lake Tahoe Forum in 2011.

A native of San Francisco, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) was elected to the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors in 1969 and served two and a half terms as president of the board. She became mayor of San Francisco in November 1978 following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk and was subsequently elected to two four-year terms. Elected to U.S. Congress in 1992, Senator Feinstein has long been a vocal advocate for The Lake, returning to the region every summer since 1997 for the Tahoe Summit.

How far back does your connection with Tahoe go? 

As a youngster I visited Tahoe virtually every summer. For two summers I was a camper at Talawanda camp for girls, and I was able to take pack trips into the backcountry and really see the beauty that surrounds this great lake.

What are your fondest memories of times at Lake Tahoe? 

My fondest memory is bicycling around The Lake at the age of 16. I remember we left Tahoe City, biked to Emerald Bay and spent the night at the campgrounds. I also remember my bike didn’t have brakes! Luckily, that was in the days when there were fewer cars.

How optimistic are you that we can return The Lake to its legendary clarity? What are the top obstacles to do so? 

We face many challenges, foremost among them pollution and sedimentation. But there is some good news. In the past decade, we have seen improvements as a result of the erosion control work around the Basin. Last year, scientists found an average clarity of 68.1 feet, and scientists say the rate of decline in Tahoe’s clarity has halted.

Where does protecting Lake Tahoe rank in your understandably long list of priorities to state and country? 

Protecting Lake Tahoe is an important part of my legislative legacy. It is truly the crown jewel of the Sierra and an important environmental and recreation destination for Californians. I want to make sure Lake Tahoe’s beauty can be enjoyed for many generations to come.

The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, which you co-sponsored in 2000, has meant hundreds of millions of dollars for Tahoe’s protection and preservation. A bill to extend that by ten years is before Congress. How difficult is it to convince your colleagues of the importance of continuing that funding, especially in these tough economic times? 

Lake Tahoe’s Environmental Improvement Program, or EIP, is private agencies and groups to leverage investments with the goals of improving water clarity and reducing the threat of wildfire. To my knowledge, it is the only large environmental restoration program to do so. This type of investment helps continue the restoration work without the same level of federal funding. I am very concerned about the federal deficit and I agree that we should invest in only the most essential projects. We will also need to see a significant effort by the private sector. I want to commend Art Chapman on creating the Tahoe Fund, which will raise philanthropic funding for on the- ground projects. I encourage every business owner, homeowner and tourist to consider donating to the Tahoe Fund. If you care about saving The Lake, it’s an excellent way to put private dollars in action.

Can you comment on how senators from both parties have worked together for Tahoe’s protection and restoration? 

Lake Tahoe’s restoration has always been very much a bipartisan effort. In 1997, President Clinton and Vice President Gore attended the Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum and signed an executive order creating the EIP. In 1999, I introduced the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act with Senators Reid, Boxer and Bryan, which was signed into law in 2000. Later, in 2003, Senator John Ensign was instrumental in securing a dedicated funding source for Lake Tahoe, and this year I introduced the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2011, cosponsored by Senators Reid, Boxer and Ensign. Senator Heller sponsored the bill in the House last year, and I hope he will sign on again this year.

What are the possible consequences if Nevada withdraws from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency? 

I have serious concerns about Nevada’s potential withdrawal. There could be several unintended consequences including increased cost for Nevadans to create and maintain a new state agency. It could also endanger the investments already made by the public and private sectors. Times are tough, but I don’t believe withdrawing is the solution.

What can we expect from this year’s Lake Tahoe Summit? 

We are still planning the Tahoe Summit, but you can expect discussion about the future of Lake Tahoe, especially the need to prioritize future funding on the most important initiatives. I encourage local residents and homeowners to attend the Summit and be part of this critical discussion.

Favorite Tahoe spot? 

Emerald Bay, especially the Tea House (Fannette Island). The vision I have of this elderly woman rowing out there every day to have tea—there’s nothing like it anywhere in the world. By Susan D. Rock. TQ.

Shooting stars in the nigh sky.

T.S. Eliot’s character, Prufrock, measured out his life in coffee spoons. I’ve been measuring mine in meteor showers.

My husband and I waited for last summer’s Perseids’ rain of fire ensconced on lawn chairs outside our home in the foothills of the Sierra. As we searched the sky for the first wondrous flashes, I thought back to earlier meteor displays I have witnessed.

My first encounter was as a scrawny nine-year-old, thrust into the hands of camp counselors. One night, these intrepid souls marched about 20 prepubescent girls up a dark Tahoe trail for a closer look at the heavens. (As I recall, The Lake in daylight held far more interest than clambering around boulders in the dark.) At the appointed time, our guides produced from their knapsacks tin cans, whose bottoms had been pierced with nail holes, that supposedly approximated the constellations.

There may have been a resemblance. What I recall is that this was the night art and science clashed in the same small person. Flashlights upended in the cans created configurations that, according to our counselors, looked like Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper. To me, they looked like nail holes.

”I see it!” my campmates shouted, while I, frustrated, saw nothing. I saw the passion of stars. As a child, I also witnessed the Perseid meteor shower from my grandmother’s cottage on the Ottawa River in Canada. Fortunately for my growth as a writer, she simply let me enjoy the show, no constellation identification necessary.

Years later, the desire to share the annual astral miracle prompted me to awaken my son late one night. While his younger sisters slept, the two of us lay on a picnic table and stared into the night sky. When he threatened to fall asleep, unimpressed by what the heavens had to offer, I prodded him. To be 12 is to be already out of reach, as untouchable as a falling star. That night I quit foisting miracles on others, which for them never materialized.

How desire confuses love!

In the late l980s, I share an Arizona sky with a friend who has retreated to the desert, gone in search of the artist she once was, her work haunted by heartache. The beauty of the harsh landscape, the broad expanse of sky beyond sky, suits her. Lying on great granite boulders, cloaked by desert blackness, we stare into the heavens and speak of shared wounds. Together, we wonder at loss. And know the solace of stars. Do cows watch stars? To ask that question is to be that distraught nineyear- old, not yet knowing that illumination is the work of poets, the universe the canvas of memory. To imagine placid bovines regarding the skies, warm breath punctuating the night, is to enter the realm of imagination. This August, in the company of my supernova, I gaze once again into the darkness. Fifty years later and I still cannot locate Cassiopeia. My husband is patient. His scholarly explanations devolve into child-like discourse. “You see the W?”

I do not see the W. Instead I see what looks like a kite with a tail. Could that be it? He bends light in an effort to make me see.

Some information is not retained. Ah, but meteor as memory, that flames bright. Those shooting stars from childhood, from my child’s childhood, all of them are linked, interwoven in a moment’s passing, grains of sand that flicker and die. Dust in a shaft of light.

I am better for these gathered nights, back pressed against cold ground, hard rock. I am richer. The wealth of the universe, marked by incandescent asteroids, is mine to hold— however briefly in fact. In memory, I retain it all: each gem of conversation, tilt of heart revealed those summer nights. Each loved one, kissed by falling stars. By Judie Rae. TQ

LUNA Chix riders pause on the Sawtooth Trail, above the Truckee River

It seems that cyclists—no matter who they are, where they live or what kind of bikes they ride—will always find a way to get together and pedal. This pair of Tahoe bike clubs brings plenty of two-wheeled fun, while also contributing to their local communities.

Slow Rolling on South Shore 

Chief roller Mark Cutright is pretty clear about the Slow Rollers mission statement: It’s a group for folks who like to ride their bicycles and have a good time. This party on wheels welcomes folks on all sorts of cycles—recumbent bikes, tall bikes, mountain bikes, road bikes—but the most popular Slow Roller pick is the beach cruiser.

Cutright, previously a member of Carson City’s beach cruising club, the Pedestrian Killers, founded the South Lake Tahoe organization about eight years ago. Slow Rollers counts a dozen active members and an unlimited number of participants who show up at events. But rather than gathering weekly, the group puts most of its time and energy into a few key rides, like this year’s Spirit Parade, a five-mile costumed cruise in May that celebrated the Amgen Tour coming to Tahoe.

The Slow Rollers Poker Run is the club’s annual June fundraiser to benefit the Bikes for Children program, which provides bicycles for low-income children in the South Lake Tahoe area. Cyclists stop at five different locations where they pick up poker cards for the chance of a winning hand and Pabst Blue Ribbon (one of the group’s main sponsors) swag at the après barbecue. Interested in riding with this light-hearted, fun-loving group? Visit www.slowrollers.net for more information.

In gear with North Shore Gals 

If you’re looking for the ladies in North Lake Tahoe, there’s a good chance you will find them in the saddle. The Tahoe LUNA Chix is one of 27 teams nationwide sponsored by LUNA Bar, the nutrition bar for women. The LUNA Chix mission is to empower and encourage women through mountain biking, road cycling and outdoor sports while raising money for the Breast Cancer Fund (BCF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing cancer by eliminating exposure to carcinogens.

The Tahoe LUNA Chix offer a rigorous April through September schedule of ladies-only group rides, races and skills clinics for all ability levels. At the core of the group is the Tahoe LUNA team, eight women ranging in age from 18 to nearly 70. In contrast to the Slow Rollers’ PBRs, riders fuel up on LUNA products like energy bars and chews that are provided at every event.

Signature events for the LUNA Chix include a women’s only triathlon clinic in June at West End Beach on Donner Lake. The annual clinic, which focuses on swim starts, transitions, nutrition on the bike and getting through the run, is geared toward helping women compete in their first (or 50th) Donner Lake Triathlon, held this year on July 17, or the Lake Tahoe Triathlon, on August 27.

The Tahoe LUNA team will also be hosting a ladies race night to benefit the BCF at Northstar-at-Tahoe on July 7; cost is $15 to enter.

For more information or to ride with the Tahoe LUNA Chix, visit www.teamlunachix. com/tahoe_mountain_bike. By Wendy Lautner. TQ

A boat sails across Lake Tahoe

It’s afternoon and the powerboats begin their stuttering retreats back to buoys and trailers. What once was inviting glass for wakeboards and water skis is now darkening, beginning to move and churn as the breeze picks up. Cat’spaws and zephyrs touch the water’s surface tentatively, then move swiftly down and across the water toward the North Shore. Welcome to summer sailing on Lake Tahoe.

Sailboats have plied Tahoe’s waters since the 1860s, though back in that era of emerging steam power, it was all work and no play for most vessels cruising The Lake. The Iron Duke, a 60-foot schooner, delivered hay bales—and sometimes passengers— on its route that criss-crossed Tahoe’s shores. It would take another century for recreational sailing to take hold here at 6,250 feet above sea level.

Nowadays, both old salts and new enjoy getting out on Tahoe’s waters. They share the fun, friendships and occasional frustrations of life on The Lake.

Winds of change 

Even the Big Blue’s most experienced sailors call her winds tricky, fluky and unpredictable. “Tahoe has the mountains mixing up all this air,” explains Nick Pullen, former Canadian National Laser champion and Tahoe transplant since 1997. “It’s causing the winds to shift and also to change in velocity, so it could be swell and gusts on one side and the other you’re in a lull. To be a good sailor in Lake Tahoe you have to be extremely sensitive. Good sailors look upwind and they’re constantly assessing what kind of breeze is coming.”

Jerry Starkey, rear commodore of the Windjammer Yacht Club, offers a similar assessment. “You can be sailing side by side or in close proximity to another boat that’s going the complete opposite direction,” he says. “The winds are very, very tricky on The Lake, to say the least. It’s not like, say, down in the Caribbean where you have a predominantly onedirectional wind.”

Tahoe’s skippers begin to better understand The Lake’s variable breezes as they gain experience. Sometimes they can even use the strange patterns to their advantage.

Now and again, longtime local Jim Courcier, co-owner and co-captain of Tahoe Sailing Charters’ Tahoe Cruz, will come across customers who have sailed in other areas of the world.

“They’ll come up at 1:30, 1:45 p.m. to check in with my wife [for the 2:30 p.m. sail] and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to cancel because we’re sailors and there’s obviously no wind out there.’ My wife will say, ‘The winds come up at 2:30 in Tahoe on the West Shore. It’s not 2:30 yet.’”

He adds, “I wish I had a dollar for every time [in the early afternoon] there are absolutely no signs of wind and it’s total glass on The Lake—then 2:15, 2:20 p.m. you see these little zephyrs coming in along the West Shore. By 2:30 p.m., bam, the wind’s in, the boat’s heeling over and we’re cruising.”

The Lake’s most seasoned enthusiasts usually know where to find just the right combination of wind and waves. According to Dan Hauserman, a 50-year local and sailing committee chair of the Tahoe City–based Tahoe Yacht Club (TYC), the North Shore has the best of both worlds because the prevailing southwest winds travel all the way across The Lake to the northeast corner.

“There’s big wind and big waves in Incline, so between Tahoe City and the state line is the best because you get the steady breeze but you don’t get the giant waves,” he says. “I like big waves on the ocean but Tahoe’s waves are very abrupt. It’s not fun when you’re getting pounded to death.”

Going is fast and fun on a laser 

Although Hauserman races his Melges 24 all over the country these days, small boats sparked his passion for sailing in the eighth grade, and he eventually became one of the three founders of the Tahoe Laser Fleet in the late 1970s.

“Originally, it was not part of the Tahoe Yacht Club,” says Hauserman. “In the early days, we used to run it on our own. We had a friend who had a ski boat, someone else who had buckets full of concrete. We made our own marks, we set our own courses, and we did it all ourselves, with our own boats and flags and whistles and everything else.”

As the fleet grew, Hauserman realized that it would benefit from an affiliation with the yacht club; when he joined the TYC 20 years ago, the sailors merged with the larger organization. The Tahoe Laser Fleet—around 20 vessels—still race every Monday during the summer at 6 p.m.; drop-ins are welcome for a $25 fee.

Lasers are unique because they are a class boat built to a specific standard, and therefore more or less identical, so racers compete on a level playing field with even the biggest of fish. Pullen, once an Olympic hopeful, still enjoys the sport and the Monday night races.

“You don’t have to qualify—anyone can go,” he says. “There aren’t too many sports where you’re on the same start line as Olympic-level athletes, and sometimes you beat them because they make a mistake or the wind changes. That’s the neat thing about sailboat racing; you can line up against some of the best people in the world and occasionally beat them.”

In Tahoe, that same big fish will welcome and encourage you as a newcomer, teach you how to rig your vessel before the race and go to dinner with you afterward.

“The Tahoe Laser Fleet is one of the most successful and enduring Laser fleets in the country,” says Pullen. “I raced Lasers in Halifax, but in Halifax they think Lasers are a kids’ class. I came to Tahoe and I found a whole fleet of guys that were older than me and were still getting out there Monday nights and mixing it up and having a great time. I was welcomed and just had a good time from day one. It’s very organic, and a very friendly community.”

The fleet is so close-knit that it finishes up the season every year with a championship and weekend campout at Stampede Reservoir, with 20 to 30 sailors, kids, spouses and a great party.

Tahoe Yacht Club’s biggest race of the year is the Trans- Tahoe Regatta, a 33-mile distance race that basically covers the entire north half of The Lake. The 48th annual regatta takes place July 8 to 10 this summer.

Learning to sail with the Windjammers 

While it seems that even experienced sailors find The Lake challenging to master, transplants who have been landlocked for a lifetime discover that Tahoe is an excellent teacher. Recent sailing converts from Colorado, Ralph and Terri Thomas picked up the sport five years ago. Terri’s instruction started with a women’s sailing clinic offered by South Lake Tahoe’s Windjammer Yacht Club (WYC); Ralph immediately wanted to learn too.

“Our new acquaintances said that the one way to really learn how to sail is racing,” says Terri. “All the race boats are looking for crew, so Ralph got on a race boat and crewed the first summer. The next year he was having so much fun with it, he said, ‘You gotta learn, you gotta get into it.’”

Annual membership for the WYC runs $150 per boat the first year and $100 each subsequent year, and grants each of its (currently) 73 members reciprocal privileges at yacht clubs anywhere in the world. “There are people who join so they have that privilege,” says Starkey. “It’s a pretty nice thing to be able to go [enjoy] the San Francisco or Tiburon yacht clubs.”

In June, the Windjammers host the Southern Crossing, a 23-mile race that draws boats from as far away as the Pacific Coast. With a spinnaker division and a non-spinnaker division, there’s a place for both racing and cruising boats. During the summer, at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, the club also hosts beer can races, an informal, relaxed style of racing perfect for inexperienced sailors looking to learn.

Other outings 

A hybrid race, the National Ski Sail Championships take place each spring and include a Laser race one day and a ski race at Squaw Valley USA the next. Hauserman has been a participant for 20 years.

“Quite a few people from the Bay Area come up for that one,” he says. “You’ll get a really good sailor that doesn’t know how to ski, or a really good skier that doesn’t know how to sail. It’s all sort of interesting how it comes together.” Although, he adds, “the locals tend to do well.”

Though Tahoe’s racing culture is alive and well, Starkey prefers cruising and camping overnight on his Catalina 25, which he purchased for $200 last year and saved from a life of dormancy in the back of a rental property. He loves anchoring offshore for the Fourth of July or the outdoor concert series on the South Shore, and counts Emerald Bay, Whiskey Cove and Sugar Pine Point, all West Shore anchorages, among his favorites.

“With gas prices now, sailing is the easiest, cheapest form of recreation on The Lake,” says Starkey. “We do raft-ups, overnighters; you get four or five boats tied up together, it’s always a good party.”

“I like sailing in general,” says Hauserman. “I really like it on Tahoe, for the obvious reasons. It’s just so beautiful. In the middle of July and August, it’s like a bathtub out there. Ski boats and Cobalts and powerboats, they’re all out bobbing around and making big waves all over the place and making noise, and then the wind kicks up at about 3 in the afternoon and the powerboaters sort of all just evaporate. The sailors come out and you almost have The Lake to yourself. It’s peaceful and beautiful. I don’t think there’s any place I’d rather be than sailing a boat on Tahoe in July and August in the afternoon.”

“I love the challenge,” says Pullen. “I think I became a better sailor coming to Tahoe, because I had always had ocean experience, big burly waves, big wind, steady breeze. I learned how to get my head out of the boat and flip around and become more sensitive to the changes in the wind.”

“We didn’t even know about sailing when we moved here; we were from Colorado and hadn’t ever thought about it,” says Terri Thomas. “This is something we can do as we get older, we can do together and we can meet people at the same time.” Now the couple own two boats, race every month of the year and are learning to sail on the ocean.

“Sailing in Tahoe, it’s just gorgeous,” says Pullen. “You’re in this beautiful mountain environment and the water is clean and crystal clear and it’s really special. There’s nowhere like it in the world, there really isn’t. I’ve been around a lot—sailed all throughout Europe, world championships. Every time I go out on Tahoe, I’m just in awe.” By Jen Schmidt. TQ

This photograph of Jake Obexer aboard the 1939 Gar Wood Miss Tahoe is believed to have been taken during World War II, when collecting used and discarded tires was a common wartime effort.

Five generations and more than 100 years separate Jakob Obexer—who emigrated from Austria in 1906 at age 20—from Jacob Fields, a seven-year-old now running around the marina that his great-great-grandfather established.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I do not feel blessed to be part of a family that is so rich and deeply rooted in Tahoe’s history,” says Sarah Obexer-Fields, Jacob’s mother and current owner of the Homewood-based Obexer’s Boat Company.

Jakob Obexer, known as Jake or J.P., traveled from his home of Bozen, Austria, to New York on the Philadelphia; he worked his way across the country to San Francisco by waiting tables. Rumor has it that he first viewed Lake Tahoe in May 1908, when he assisted with a large catered gala (though, he was quickly fired when he engaged the staff in a game of dice using sugar cubes). His infatuation had begun, however, and he became determined to move to this beautiful spot.

“He was a commuter from the Bay Area to Tahoe for many years,” says Jesse Siess Hadley, executive director of the Tahoe Maritime Museum, who researched Obexer using www.ancestry. org. “The 1910 and 1920 census shows him in San Francisco and Berkeley.”

During that time, Obexer spent summers at The Lake. In a report by local historian Carol Van Etten, Obexer worked in the commercial fishing business, but was frequently arrested for infractions. After multiple run-ins with the law, Obexer gave the judge a deposit and told him to just withdraw the fine for every subsequent citation. He began working in the petroleum industry, becoming a distributor for the Standard Oil Company of California (thus earning the nickname “Mr. Red Crown”). Barrels of oil were dropped off in Tahoe City; Obexer would load them onto his boat, Pickle, taking them around The Lake to his clientele. One such customer was the infamous Walter Scott Hobart, Jr. (who supposedly had a ravenous appetite for food, drink and women). Hobart’s summer compound in Homewood happened to be just two parcels from a family named Williamson, whose daughter, Norma, Obexer began courting. They were married in 1916 and welcomed a son, Herb, in 1921.

“In 1922, he purchased his Homewood property,” says Hadley, adding that Obexer became Homewood’s first postmaster as well, a career his daughter-inlaw would later take over. Here, Obexer launched his boat business, becoming the local rep for the Gar Wood Boat Company in 1928. Clients included Arthur K. Bourne, heir of the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, and John Brockway Metcalf, who owned Tahoe Tavern Heights. Obexer bought his own Gar Wood, Miss Tahoe, in 1939; the boat can still be seen at the Tahoe Maritime Museum.

In 1931, a fire destroyed part of the entrepreneur’s marine pier when his runabout exploded upon ignition (one of many close calls). The smooth talking Austrian approached the president of Standard Oil Company, which had participated in the pier’s construction, and explained that it was the company’s portion that had burned. “He was a great saleperson and a great storyteller,” Hadley says. “He was larger than life to a lot of people.” Obexer successfully convinced Standard to pay for the reconstruction.

He also established a new commercial building, to include the post office, grocery, meat market, soda fountain, beauty shop and several upstairs apartments.

Obexer’s son Herb returned to help his father run the business following a stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Herb married his sweetheart, Edna, a former Navy nurse, and they welcomed their son Jakey in 1948.

During the 1950s, Obexer and Herb grew the business, becoming dealers for Higgins and Mercury boats, increasing storage capacity and constructing a marine chandlery. It was smooth sailing until 1975, when Jakey died in a boatyard accident, leaving his wife, Penne, and six-month-old daughter, Sarah. Less than a year later, Jakob Obexer died at the age of 89, his wife following just two years later.

Despite the tragedies of the 1970s, Obexer’s Boat Company remained in the family. Herb died in 1985, leaving Edna to run the business. Sarah joined Edna, her grandmother, at the helm following college. Edna passed in 2007, leaving behind Sarah, her husband, Keith, and their two small boys, Jacob and Kaleb.

“I have some big shoes to fill,” Sarah says. “I can only hope that our children grow up with respect for the hard work the last four generations have put into our family business. If they choose to do something else as adults, my husband and I are understanding. Deep in our hearts,” she adds, “we hope it will be playing with boats and helping to carry the business on to another 100 years.” By Alison Bender. TQ

Lucy is a 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible

Lucy is a 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible, lovingly restored by Ken Clark and his wife, Tempe, and shown for the past 16 years during Reno-Sparks’ Hot August Nights. “When I show that car, I become 18 again,” the 70-year-old says. “The thumbs up, the applause from spectators—you just feel good.”

Hot August Nights is a city-wide celebration of the cars and rock ‘n roll of the 1950s and ’60s. Events—from car cruises to music to a sock hop and a prom—effectively turn the town into a showcase of decades past.

“There are live bands everywhere you go, food and craft vendors, activities for all ages and the most gorgeous cars you’ve ever seen,” says marketing manager Nicole Maddox. “Each participating property adds their own flair to the parties they throw. That’s the cool thing about Hot August Nights—each person will have a different experience each year, depending on what properties and activities they participate in.”

“It’s a great event,” agrees Ben McDonald, communications manager of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA). “Hot August Nights has a huge impact on the community. There are thousands of people who participate and thousands of people who come into town to see the cars.”

Hot August Nights was founded in 1986. The first year, with 30 volunteers and a budget of $65,000, organizers brought the Righteous Brothers, Wolfman Jack and Jan & Dean to Reno, but the most successful event by far was the car parade. Today, 6,000 classic cars cruise into town, drawing some 350,000 attendees, about 75 percent of which come from out of the area. The event, including the entertainment, is free for spectators; money raised—through raffle cars, specialty license plates and exhibitor donations—benefits the Hot August Nights Foundation, which was established to help local at-risk children through education.

Volunteers, like Clark and his wife, who have worked at the show for the past ten years, are the organization’s heartbeat. “It’s one big party,” Clark says, adding that he has even scheduled surgery around the event. “When it’s over, I probably go through a month of withdrawal.” As a volunteer, he says, “We not only represent Hot August Nights, we represent this whole community and the businesses of the area—we become community ambassadors.”

Despite the tremendous success and public involvement, the show has hit some speed bumps along the way. Last year, the Hot August Nights board of directors, unbeknownst to local government and tourism officials, created a new venue in Long Beach, California, for the first week of August—the traditional time slot for the Reno event. The decision led to an outcry from many who worried that the move signified the organization’s attempt to phase out of Reno, driving away the cars, parties and tourism dollars. The board eventually canceled the Long Beach show, citing a lack of entries and sponsorships, and CEO Bruce Walter resigned.

“We do not foresee any negative effects,” says Maddox of the controversy. “The recent announcements made in regards to Long Beach have solidified our commitment to this community and we feel that we will gain even more support moving forward.”

“RSCVA couldn’t be happier that Hot August Nights has no intentions of leaving the city,” McDonald adds. “We look forward to a long continued partnership with the organization.”

Next year, the event will return to its traditional spot at the first week of August. As for this year, come the second week of August, baby boomers and car enthusiasts of all ages will be out in high gear, celebrating the event’s silver anniversary with parties, music and, of course, those perfectly polished vintage vehicles.

“I love and live for this event,” says Clark. “On most days, it’s elbow-to-elbow people—it’s the best party on the planet.” By Alison Bender. TQ

Since launching Manzanita at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe in 2009, Des Jardins gets to the Truckee restaurant about once a month. “The biggest challenge is the distance, not being able to check in every day,” she says. Executive chef Ruben Garcia oversees the kitchen on a day-to-day basis.

What keeps Des Jardins otherwise occupied elsewhere? Her Hayes Valley restaurant Jardinière is still one of San Francisco’s top booked spots after more than a decade (and a regular on San Francisco Chronicle’s Top 100 list); she is also chef/co-owner of Mijita Cocina Mexicana in the Ferry Building and chef/ partner at the Public House at AT&T Park.

Her culinary talents have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, Food & Wine magazine and Esquire; she bested Mario Batali on the Food Network’s Iron Chef series and, at press time, was about to go toque-to-toque on Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters.

For Manzanita’s menu Des Jardins took the French-inspired California cuisine for which she is best known, and tweaked it for the restaurant’s high-elevation location, at Northstar- at-Tahoe’s mid-mountain location. “I call it Traci’s mountain food,” Des Jardins says. “Rustic and hearty, but with a touch of city sophistication.”

Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Manzanita’s menus change with the seasons. “We use a lot of the same purveyors as at Jardinière, with as much local product—organic and sustainably grown—as we can throw in,” says Des Jardins.

Breakfast is your standard hearty mountain fare; early in the day you’ll find pancakes, waffles and eggs, including TDJ’s Poached Eggs served on a toasted English muffin with Bloomsdale spinach and sriracha hollandaise.

Lunch means the wood-fired oven is baking thin-crust pizzas, which might be topped with Boccalone salumi and Niçoise olives. There are also sandwiches: The Cubano comes with roasted pork, ham, Swiss, pickles and Dijon mustard, and the pulled chicken sandwich stacks bacon, roasted mushrooms and Gruyère on housemade ciabatta bread.

Dinner is where Manzanita’s menu really shines. Don’t miss TDJ’s warm bread salad with baby artichokes and marinated Bellwether Farms crescenza cheese. You might also find an appetizer of diver scallops with sweet pea purée, pancetta and fingerling potato crisps. A main course favorite is the winebraised short ribs with horseradish potato puree and herb salad. Desserts provide a classic sweet finish to a memorable meal with selections such as crème brûlée, toffee bread pudding, mocha pot de crème.

Two separate glass wine rooms store both reds and whites from the wide-ranging list at proper temperature. More than 25 selections are offered by the glass; half-glass pours permit a greater variety of pairing options, with which sommelier Jessica Norris can assist.

Manzanita, whose sophisticated décor draws from an earthy palette of stone, wood and leather, seats 94 in the dining room, plus 71 at the bar and lounge, and can accommodate another 125 on the seasonal terrace. The open kitchen, visible from all vantage points in the restaurant, offers close-to-the-action seating at a counter made from cherry hardwood. A chef’s table, honed from a reclaimed slab of maple, is flanked by wine storage and illuminated with hanging lamps.

With all that eye candy inside and sweeping Sierra views outside, perhaps the greatest challenge is staying focused on the menu and the meal. The good news is you can linger over it all. By Susan D. Rock. TQ

Wine dinners at the Camp Lodge start with hors d'oeuvres followed by a multi-course meal.

The most popular spot at Martis Camp might well be MC’s Original Soda Fountain, tucked inside the family barn.

With an old-fashioned motto of “good eats and fountain treats,” kids dig it for the shakes, malts, floats, sodas, razzles, sundaes, splis (made with Tahoe Creamery Ice Cream) and pies. Parents love it because they can feed the entire family a tasty, even healthy, breakfast, lunch or dinner in a casual and comfortable setting, before the big sweet payoff.

“We originally built tat kitchen to service the pool,” says Martis Camp general manager Mark Johnson. “But people love the social engagement of coming in for a meal. And everyone is in their appropriate element of comfort. Kids can play after they eat, adults can linger at the bar. It’s easy to come and go.” At the peak of the Christmas/New Year holiday this past year, the Soda Fountain was serving upwards of 130 dinners a night, says Johnson. And that’s not just the all-natural, free-range burgers, dogs and chicken fingers. The something-for-everyone lineup also includes various cuts of beef, rack of lamb and king salmon to satisfy adult palettes.

If the Soda Fountain focuses on fun and family, the mountain warming hut, located at the Martis Camp Express lift, is all about the snow. There, during ski season, members slide off Northstar California’s slopes for lunch hot off the grill—Wagyu burgers, kosher brats and free-range chicken breasts.

And often what they order isn’t even on the menu. Grill man Wualdo Nava, who’s been at Martis Camp since May 2009, frequently cooks up something special for his clients, perhaps a recipe handed down from his grandmother.

“Members love his authentic Mexican dishes,” says Martis Camp director of food and beverage Michael McPhie. “They often order without even asking what it is that day.” The warming hut and eatery, for now a temporary yurt structure, will eventually be incorporated into the Martis Camp Mountain Clubhouse, a permanent building devoted to all things winter, slated to start construction this summer.

Those in search of a finer dining experience will likely head for the Camp Lodge, debuting this July. There, executive chef Mike Davis and chef de cuisine Roberth Sundell will collaborate with McPhie to produce exceptional seasonal menus.

“Menu writing is a group effort,” says McPhie. “We feel that the three of us can create something better than any one individual alone. We are inspired by small artisan local farms seasonally and source unique products elsewhere; we strive for all-natural, organic products whose flavor is not adulterated by chemicals, hormones or poor feeding methods. Seafood is wild and troll-caught when possible and never farm-raised. Meats are grass fed and allowed to roam freely, not caged or inhumanely treated. Our goal is to seek out smaller producers dedicated to preserving the tradition of handson production of a sustainable product that shows great respect for the environment.”

The Camp Lodge will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner to members and their guests, who might be headed for the golf course or sitting down to a multi-course meal. No Egg McMuffins for breakfast here: Dungeness crab Almaviva means poached eggs over artichoke hearts with béarnaise sauce in a puffy pastry ring topped with fresh tomato sauce. At lunch, the BLT gets an upgrade with rare yellowfin tuna steak, smoked chili aioli and Nueske bacon.

While the dinner menu was still in the works at press time, some members might opt instead to start with dessert after gazing upon the white chocolate key lime tart: a pecan shortbread shell coated with white chocolate and topped with key lime curd, fresh fruit, apricot glaze and meringue, finished with raspberry sauce. A fully stocked wine cellar, fine china and stemware, intimate dining space options and knowledgeable servers are all complemented by those sweeping Sierra views.

Extremely popular with members, Friday night wine dinners— which move this summer to the East Patio at the Camp Lodge—feature multi-course meals paired with pourings from wineries from Keenan to Kistler. The weekly July through September event gives the Martis Camp culinary staff a chance to really show off their talents.

“We want our members to feel special,” says Johnson. Indeed, from simple to sophisticated, no culinary desire goes unfulfilled at Martis Camp. By Susan D. Rock.  TQ

Martis Camp members have direct access to Northstar California's Lookout Mountain—and beyond.

Northstar-at-Tahoe’s Lookout Mountain is a “best” for multiple reasons. It’s undoubtedly the “Best Ski Resort Improvement” in Tahoe this century. Now featuring steep and varied terrain served by a speedy lift, the Lookout expansion added teeth to Northstar’s otherwise intermediate fare, as well as enough vert for even the deepest Tahoe powder days.

Although it opened in 2001, the Martis Camp Express lift (formerly called Lookout Mountain Express) was almost doubled in length in 2008, opening up marvelous new terrain and creating a new Martis Camp base area where residents ejoy what has to be Tahoe’s “Best Ski Resort Connection.” Two seasons out, it’s scheduled to get even better with the planned opening of the slopeside Martis Camp Mountain Clubhouse.

Martis Camp Express is a big league lift, transporting skiers and riders 1,722 feet in only six mnutes—more vertical rise than Heavenly’s Gunbarrel or Alpine Meadows’ Summit lift, and only 78 feet short of Squaw Valley USA’s KT-22. It’s also an efficient entrance to the resort, with easy, intermediate access to the main Northstar slopes and a return either via poma lift or down the Lookout Bypass, which meanders through the forest and lands you halfway down the new-ish intermediate Washoe Trail and its entertaining fall lines between treed islands back down to the base at Martis Camp Express.

On the other side of the difficulty spectrum is Lookout’s Stampede run, the steepest at Northstar at 311⁄2 degrees, which is often amazingly groomed by winched snowcats. Stampede is one of the  steepest, longest groomers you’ll ever ski. Its “wow factor” is enhanced by a reveal entrance, pointing straight out over the Martis plains, 2,000 feet below, before careening over to its “don’t slip!” drop-away.
There are plenty of long runs around Northstar—particularly its Backside offerings—but nothing can set fire to the thighs of the young and super-fit like Lookout. If you’re a non-stoppersuper-
fitter, this speedy lift can deliver the equivalent of skiing down Mt. Everest in two and half hours (17 runs and over 29,000 feet vertical). And if you decide to tackle Lookout’s challenge, you (as well as us mere mortals), will be very glad that the chairs here have footrests. By Chaco Mohler. TQ

The Martis Fund helps protect the area's open space.

Rarely does deverlopment lead to conservation. But such is the case with the Martis Fund, established in 2006 by DMB/Highlands Group (developers of Martis Camp), Sierra Watch and the Mountain Area Preservation Foundation with the goal of preserving several thousand acres of biologically and culturally rich meadow, forest and mountain lands.

Martic Valley is the largest mountain meadow and functional wetland in the eastern Sierra between the Mono Basin and Sierra Valley. To preserve and protect this environmental treasure, a one percent transfer fee is levied on all Martis Camp real estate transations, with those proceeds used to pursue the Martis Fund’s threefold objectives: conservation of open space, promotion of habitat and forest management and restoration, and support of workforce housing in the Martis Valley and greater Placer County region.

Through 2010, the Martis Fund had generated more tan $3 million from transfer fees alone, according to board member Nick Hackstock of Highlands Management Group. Martis Camp has also provided an additional $2 million in advance conveyance fees to the organization.

To further its mission, the Martis Fund works with local organizations including the Truckee Donner Land Trust, Truckee River Watershed Council and the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation. “ur initial approach has been to seek out local nonprofit groups that are doing good work on the ground and try to find a way to support them,” says Martis Fund president and Sierra Wtch board member David Welch. “In effect, we’re tapping into the specific knowledge of local people who are passionate about one aspect or another, like the environment or housing, and trying to leverage those efforts by providing financial support.”

One of the organization’s largest accomplishments to date has been the contribution of $3.53 million toward the Truckee Donner Land Trust’s $23 million purchase of Waddle Ranch in 2007. Now open to the public, the 1,462-acre preserve is a large piece of the open-space corridor in Martis Valley and will eventually include miles of new hiking and biking trails.

Workforce housing is also an objective of the Martis Fund.

“We’ve done studies and engaged the Urban Land Institute to convene a meeting and review some of the alternatives for our region,” says Welch. “It’s an effort that’s still in progress.”

Beneficiaries may include individuals such as school district and publis safety employees. Welch adds, “We might be able to provide them with a better chance for owning a ome and staying in the area.” By Jen Schmidt. TQ.

Contractor Jim Morrison, who built the first home in Martis Camp (shown here), uses large sliding glass doors to connect the inside with the outdoors.

“Martis Camp is a playground for design,” says interior designer Catherine Macfee, who owns Tahoe City’s Rubicon Collection. Indeed, accounting for the bulk of the regiona’s new constructin, the planned community, with its accomodating design requirements, is turning into a showcase for the area’s builders, designers and craftsmen to highlight the latest trends and most unique expressinas of their given industries.

“We’re inventing new techniques out there, distressing woods and combining colors,” says Bill Kelly of Kelly Brothers Painting in Truckee. Kelly, who has completed a dozen houses plus the green stain of the Camp Lodge and the vivid custom red of the Family Barn, says that most homes are gravitating toward warm, inviting hues.

“The colors are really generated from the environment,” he says. “There’s a lot of natural and earth tones, as well as greens and blues.” And, though all of the homes are new construction, he notes that many still desire that “old home” feel. “We’re taking essentially raw lumber and antiquing it to look like 100-year-old wood,” Kelly says. He adds that many clients are also requesting decorative finishes, such as glazing or using multiple coats of paint.

“We’ll use three, four, five different colors and layer them over top of each other to create this look that gives a lot of depth and uniqueness.” Due to demand, Kelly Brothers uses only certified green products and techniques.

Kevin Hanna, president of Greenwood Homes in Incline Village, has four custom homes under construction at Martis Camp: one with Steamboat Springs–based Kelly & Stone Architects and three with Arizona-based Swaback Partners. “Old Tahoe was the cliché,” he says. “Now, we’re embracing more of a modern mountain feel.” Some of the trends he’s seeing are the use of reclaimed woods (“it gives the home a more grounded, cabin-style look”) and the inclusion of outdoor living spaces, such as sitting areas and barbecues.

Mark Osberg, of Estate Landscape & Irrigation in Kings Beach, has also noticed the desire for outside living. “This means spacious patios with fire pits, and sometimes a spa,” he says. His recommended material is interlocking pavers, due to their durability, ease of maintenance and choice of colors and styles. Another trend Osberg has noticed is that people want landscaping that is “very natural with simple beauty and style.” He’s seeing low-volume drip irrigation for plantings, and promotes wireless sprinkler controllers that are based on mini–onsite weather stations, drastically reducing water consumption.

Still other homes are quite literally integrating indoor and outdoor spaces. Truckee-based Jim Morrison Construction, which has completed 12 projects in Martis Camp (including the Park Pavilion and the first home to be built in the community), with another 13 in process or slotted to begin construction soon, employs large sliding doors—up to 10 feet tall and 17 feet long—that retract into a pocket in the wall. “It’s unique and functional,” says project manager Eben Schreiber. “We’re doing it in probably 90 percent of our homes.”

Schreiber adds that the company is also seeing much more home automation. “Everything runs off of an iPhone or iPad,” he says. “It’s become so user-friendly. You can control the TV, stereo, heat, alarm; you can set up the whole house so that the coffeemaker starts at 6 a.m. on Saturdays.”

Outdoor living and modern conveniences aren’t the only factor influencing home design. “Lake Tahoe is a unique area,” says Brian Spanier of Hunter Metal Forge & Iron Works in Kings Beach. “Because of fault lines and the snow loads of high elevations, most every house has structural steel, whether it’s hidden or part of an architectural element.” Spanier, who did the steelwork for three of the 2011 TQ Mountain Home Award winners, notes that one trend he’s seeing is to leave the metal exposed.

“One of the reasons I like exposed steel is because it’s a natural product,” he says. “It’s 80 percent recycled and 100 percent recyclable. In its natural state, it has a lot of colors that match other materials.” Spanier says that his company also creates hand-forged ornamental work, from railings and doors to lighting and fixtures. He asserts that, while steel contributes to a “mountain contemporary” look, the metal will always look good. “I believe it’s timeless,” he says.

“Timeless” is a word that describes the latest project for interior designer Macfee, who has worked on both classic Tahoe lodges and mountain modern homes. “We are very excited to be adding yet another classic aesthetic of architecture not yet seen at Martis Camp that we are calling ‘Tyrolean Chalet’,” she says. “It’s inspired from the traditional alpine architecture of the French, Swiss and German Alps.” The home draws on many elements of European alpine architecture such as carved beams, hand-trowled stucco, organic rock work, large overhangs and custom-carved doors. “The interiors are going to play off the detailed woodworking with off-white plastered walls, hand-carved cabinets, rich patina antiques and clean, simple finishes,” Macfee says. “Timelessness is the key term, as the family is designing this for their children’s children.”

Woodworker Fred Quinterno of Quinterno’s Furniture in Nevada City is familiar with this desire to create heirloom treasures. Beyond designing custom cabinetry and furnishings, he’s noticing a trend toward pivoting entry door systems. “They are unique because of their design and functionality,” he says. “They are large, heavy doors that pivot in or out with very little effort.” Indoors, he says, many rooms are separated by barn door–style sliders.

Quinterno is currently building a wine wall at another Martis Camp home. “This is an item that seems to be gaining popularity,” he says. “A wine wall is a totally visible wine cellar displayed in the living area of your home.” It is fully self-contained with modified thermal pane glass to regulate the temperature. “The best part is that you don’t have to sit in a 55 degree cellar when having a glass of Latour if you want to enjoy your collection.” He adds, “For those of us who have chosen a career at this level, it is all about vision and challenge. Martis Camp has given us both of those things, and I believe it shows in the homes that are being built there.” By Alison Bender. TQ