We, along with the rest of the ski world, are saddened and sorry to hear of the death of one of skiing’s most vibrant, talented, and devoted athletes. His blog is a testament to the fact that he died doing what he loved. After watching his movies for years and finally moving to Lake Tahoe in 2001, I met Shane in 2003 at the Truckee Sports Exchange where I used to work a few years back. He came in and kept bringing used kids beat up snowboards to the counter. He then proceeded to tell us about all the experiments he was working on in ski designs and ski base jumping and how he was using the kids snowboards as test planks and as skis that he would not mind losing over a 400ft cliff jump when he had to pop his skis off in order to throw his chute. Obviously, we were simply in awe and were totally pumped to hear his stories. Now, ironically, that is one of the reasons for his passing. Tahoe Mountain Sports expresses our condolences to his wife and daughter and wishes them the best. Rest in peace Shane, you will be missed and remebered by many.

I went for a tour up to Angora peak yesterday, first time to this area and I was very impressed with the cool terrain. We found very variable snow conditions with everything from wintery pow to breakable crust to nice corn. We were a day late for most of the pow and early in the corn cycle, but it was still a great day. There arn’t too many pictures due to battery issues with my camera, but I think there are enough to give you an idea.

Nick on the Way Down

Looking Back Up

Variable was the word of the day.

 All in all a great day in the mountains. The snow wasnt perfect, and we diddn’t bag any big lines, but the weather was perfect and it was fun to explore some new terrain.

For years I have been dreaming of snowkiting on the beach right outside the store but the conditions never seem to line up right because you need the perfect combination of snow to stick to the beach and the wind to not blow the snow off the beach. Well, I finally got my chance this past weekend (March 8, 2009), and Danielle of Danielle Hankinson Photography was there to catch me doing it. Flying my Ozone Frenzy 9m, and wearing my Ozone Harness I was able to rip it up on the shores of Lake Tahoe and get some sweet pics to prove it. Check em out!

Filmed by Kevin, skier is me!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZq8oCP57OE&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1040849622979&f=1&a=1&e=0&feature=player_embedded

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4kgKaC7-E&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1040849622979&f=1&a=1&e=0&feature=player_embedded

Dawn patrol to Incline Peak this morning. 2 laps and about 2.5 hours car to car. Couple of pics and videos below. You can’t see them, but don has the 7tm tour bindings on some Karhu skis, Kevin with the BD 01s on his skinny Atomics, and me with the Megawatt.

Incline Peak Pow Patrol Part 1 – Don

Incline Peak Pow Patrol Part 2 – Kevin

Kings Beach Webcam 3.3.09

Sunday night and Monday were very wet here in the Tahoe area, but then sometime last night the temperature dropped and we woke up to a winter wonderland! We have at least 8-10″ of fresh here at the shop in downtown Kings Beach and Squaw is reporting a storm total of 42″ and its still supposed to snow for another 24 hours! With all this new snow, the Sierra Avalanche Center has the danger rating at high, so the safe bet for tomorrow will be resorts with lower angle terrain that is sheltered from the wind. I-80 is currently closed, so anyone not already in the basin can look forward to a long and snowy drive. Needless to say, when the weather breaks the skiing is going to be amazing! Check back in a few days for pictures and POV video footage.

Went out to Martis about 9:30am this morning to get the goods before the rain rolled in. Pre-storm kiting is always the best up here. Used the Ozone Frenzy 9m to cruise it and kick it, the Megawatts to stay on top of the soft snow, and the Cloudveil RPK to keep me dry. Wind kind of died around noonish, so we packed it up. Lots of snow on the way, should be a killer week!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6A7Zul-oiE

The recent warm storms may have killed a little of the base down low, but they have been filling in the upper mountain lines nicely. Friday was a sweet wind buff day and the Chimney opened or the first time this season! With several big storms in the forecast this is the time to coem up to Tahoe the skiing has been great and only getting better!