The Spanish flu hit the young railroad town particularly hard during the snowy winter of 1918-19 In the Iliad, the ancient Greek poet Homer describes the god Apollo bringing the plague to an unsuspecting town in the following manner: Like night he came and sat beyond...
Each summer, thousands of eager hikers flock to Desolation Wilderness, focused on reaching the area’s sparkling lakes and granite peaks. But along one of the most popular trails into the wilderness, they stumble upon an unexpectedly rich part of Tahoe’s history—a bubbling spring and a...
Squaw Valley’s 70-year tradition of skiing excellence can be traced back to the influence of one man. Yet, in the resort’s pantheon of all-time greats, the originator who set the foundation while bringing fame, prestige and world-class skiing to the newly christened slopes—and attracting others of...
In 1978, a designer named Chuck Barfoot built himself a snowboard. He had already been working with his friend Tom Sims on some different shapes, and the latest rendition—made of fiberglass and foam—needed some field testing....
In the early 1990s, acclaimed cinematographer and former pro skier Tom Day found himself captivated by the brimming talent of a young snowboarder named Noah Salasnek. But it was a seemingly benign aspect of his riding that clued Day into his elite abilities....
When Spider Sabich and Claudine Longet first met at a celebrity ski race event in Bear Valley, California, they both carried their respective worlds in the palms of their hands. Sabich was a lauded professional skier from a small town just outside of Lake Tahoe, regarded...
When Leland Stanford hoisted a silver-plated hammer above his head in a remote patch of uninhabited Utah, the world awaited his strike. The American West was only recently connected to the rest of the nation by telegraphic wires, and ceremony organizers had contrived to put one...
Golden eras in sports are fleeting. They emerge when a combination of unlikely factors align—health, talent and the mysterious chemistry of team sports. And they fall apart just as fast. That mysterious alchemy unique to athletics came together in Tahoe City in the late 1970s, when...
For 75 years, Paradise Flat on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe was a summer home for descendants of spice magnate August Schilling, financier J.P. Morgan and the Pennoyers, who were successful dry goods merchants from Oakland. But on rare occasions, the family would visit when...
Perhaps more than anyone, Kit Carson witnessed the dawn of the American West. The unassuming man of small stature was not only at hand for the most seminal moments in the early days of the West, he played a pivotal role in its assimilation into the...