Shawn Estes was on a much-needed sabbatical. It was the summer of 2010, and for the first time since he started throwing a baseball on fields in Minden, Nevada, the 37-year-old major league pitcher was not on a team. No games on the schedule. No injury-riddled...
When Elena Hight speaks about optimizing her mindset, how activism and professional snowboarding have converged in her life or any other topic pertaining to her esteemed career, the 32-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident oozes both a casual tone and a depth of experience. With so...
It’s a sunny, warm afternoon at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, but it’s been so sunny and warm lately that the snow has turned to concrete. Nobody without obsidian edges is having much fun. Well, except one person. ...
Many an athlete has represented the Lake Tahoe region over the years on the grandest winter sports stage of all: the Olympic Winter Games. After the most recent iteration in Beijing, JC Schoonmaker can add his name to that lengthy list. But while a significant...
Jamie Anderson didn’t win 19 X Games medals and two Olympic golds without extraordinary talent. But the South Lake Tahoe snowboarder’s skill in staying chill—that is, the ability to maintain Zen at the world’s most tightly wound, high-stakes athletic events—is what sets her apart from...
Claire Hewitt-Demeyer had just unloaded a chairlift when she got the call. On this particular Friday afternoon in February 2021, the South Lake Tahoe snowboarder was taking advantage of the lifts at Kirkwood to get as many runs in as possible, rather than venturing out to...
Bryce Bennett is not your average ski racer. Most conspicuously, at 6-foot-7, the North Lake Tahoe native towers over most of his U.S. teammates and World Cup competitors alike. He readily admits to enjoying summer over winter (better fishing weather, for one). And he is...
With nearly 200 World Cup starts under his belt, highlighted by two downhill victories, four podiums and 37 top-10 finishes, Travis Ganong could hang up his racing skis today and proudly reflect on a long, successful career at the pinnacle of his sport....
From young phenom to big-mountain veteran, Tahoe talent Michelle Parker has found success by following her heart...
Still fit and climbing rocks at age 78, Hermann Goellner in his prime was among a rare breed of freestyle skiing greats, performing fearless inverted tricks well before they became the norm...