In 1969, I was walking along the base of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley with a couple of climbing buddies when we ran into Galen Rowell. I was new to the sport and not up on my Yosemite climbing history, and thus had never heard...
On a morning when Truckee is blanketed in snow, the inside of Good Anya Plant Shop is lush and inviting, a multitude of well-loved plants radiating their positive energy onto anyone who walks through the door....
Even the burliest, most steadfast powder aficionado can be forgiven for seeking respite from snow come late spring and early summer, especially after a brutalizing winter. Sometimes we want to mountain bike, or recline at the beach, or play golf. Sometimes the feet just ache...
Summer 2023 marked the end of a long run for a beloved member of our region’s cultural fabric. McAvoy Layne appeared in his final Chautauquan performances as Mark Twain in venues where he’s entertained thousands over the decades, retiring from the stage on September 30...
Only while skiing Sun Valley Resort’s Bald Mountain was Jeanne Smith Gaida able to feel the spirit of a man who had cast a long shadow on her life....
The story of how Wayne Poulsen developed Olympic Valley in company with—and then without—Alex Cushing is well documented. There is no need to repeat it here. What is far less known—even among ski historians—is the embryonic influence of Martin Arrouge, the man responsible for introducing...
Steve McKinney was one of the best all-around athletes in Tahoe history. Given the long line of exceptional athletes who have called this region home—dating back to the skiing pioneers of the mid-nineteenth century—that is saying a lot. ...
Nick Russell is a dude of paradoxes. He’s youthful in appearance and athletically slim, but rocks a grizzled old man’s beard. He could be labeled a stalwart Backcountry Bob, but has core pipe and park credentials. He globe-trots to far-flung mountain ranges, but is most...
Sitting inside a brightly lit real estate office on a sweltering summer afternoon in early August, Norm Nicholls is searching for the right words....
There are ways to take the measure of a man. The years in his life; the life in his years. Two thousand one hundred twenty-five feet is as good a measure as any when it comes to Norman L. Sayler....