MILAN, Italy — Tahoe’s own Alessandro Barbieri closed out his Olympic debut Friday morning, finishing 10th in the men’s snowboard halfpipe final at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics with a top score of 75.
Riding for Team USA, the 17-year-old entered the final as one of the youngest competitors in the field after advancing through qualifiers earlier in the week with the fourth-best score.
Halfpipe finalists take three runs down the course, with only their highest score counting. Riders are judged on amplitude, difficulty and progression.
Barbieri opened strong on his first run, landing his technical combination but struggling on the landing and posting a 75, briefly sitting in fifth. However, the field quickly surged ahead as multiple riders broke into the 90s.
After slipping on his second run for no score, Barbieri needed a 92 or higher on his final attempt to reach the podium. He linked a switch backside double cork 1260, a frontside triple cork 1440, a frontside double cork 1260 and a backside double cork 1620 — but slipped on the landing and did not record a score.
Japan’s Ryusei Yamada set the early pace with a 92, before teammate Yuto Totsuka delivered a 95 on his second run to secure gold.
The final capped Barbieri’s first Olympic appearance. During Wednesday’s qualifiers, he scored an 88.50 to advance, landing a clean run that included a switch backside 900, a 1440 and multiple 1260s.
Barbieri competes locally with Tahoe Select Snowboard Team and has quickly risen through the international ranks. He made his World Cup debut in 2023 and earned silver in halfpipe at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games, later landing his first World Cup podium at the Calgary Snow Rodeo.
He also made history as the youngest rider — and first American — to land a triple cork 1440 in halfpipe competition.
TAHOE BASIN, Calif. / Nev. – Tahoe’s own Alessandro Barbieri, 17, is making waves on the world stage as he competes in the men’s snowboard halfpipe at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Representing Team USA, Barbieri advanced to the finals after a strong performance in Wednesday’s qualifying round, where he placed fourth overall. The finals are set for Friday, Feb. 13.
In qualifying, each rider takes two runs, with only the higher score counting. Barbieri posted an impressive 88.50 in his first run. Though he fell on his second, his score was enough to secure a spot in the top 12 riders advancing to the finals.
Who is Alessandro Barbieri? Barbieri grew up skiing and snowboarding in the Pacific Northwest and now competes for Tahoe Select Snowboard Team in the USASA Mount Hood Division. He made history as the youngest rider — and first American — to land a triple cork 1440 in halfpipe competition.
He burst onto the international scene with a silver medal at the 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Gangwon, South Korea, and earned his first World Cup podium with a third-place finish at the Calgary Snow Rodeo in February 2025. Most recently, he showcased his signature triple cork in the Snow League in China.
As one of the youngest members of Team USA in Milan Cortina, Barbieri carries the hopes of Tahoe snowboard fans with him into the finals.
What Makes a Halfpipe Run Score? Judges score riders on a 0–100 scale based on amplitude, difficulty, and progression:
Amplitude: How high the rider goes above the pipe and consistency of height.
Difficulty: Number and type of rotations, grabs, and tricks performed, including switch-footed moves.
Progression: How riders connect tricks and push the sport forward.
SIERRA COUNTY, Calif. – In what is the largest land return in the Sierra Nevada and third largest in California, the Washoe Tribe now owns 10,274 acres northeast of Lake Tahoe, announcing the historical and culturally significant acquisition on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
“It’s a full level of healing of historic trauma that is passed down through generations of our people, knowing that we once flourished in these areas,” Washoe Tribe Chairman Serrell Smokey said, recalling the painful history of his people being removed from their ancestral land, stolen allotments and being disallowed to use the land for resources and ceremony. “We’re now able to come back to that and have a place of our own.”
The tribe has called the land the WélmeltiɁ Preserve after the band of Washoe people that once lived there. Having descended from this group, it has a deep personal connection for the chairman, who says the land has been calling them back.
“We are answering that call,” Smokey said. “This land purchase is good medicine for our people.”
Formerly known as Loyalton Ranch, these ecologically significant homelands span from the sagebrush and grassland-laden Great Basin and up to the conifer and aspen-decorated Sierra Nevada. The property also holds culturally important pinyon forests and is abundant with streams and wildlife, including pronghorn, elk, mountain lions and even gray wolves.
It is bordered primarily by public lands managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Acquiring the property triples the tribe’s land holdings.
The chairman expressed the Washoe people’s collective desire to never see the property developed along with goals for restoration and conservation of the land for plants, foods, and medicine, as well as preserving it for future generations.
“It’s always been said by former leaders of the Washoe Tribe that the health of the land equals the health of the people,” Smokey said.
The Tribe also plans on restoring traditional cultural practices on the property, and connecting Washoe youth back to the land and their native language through educational opportunities. The Washoe Tribe will also conduct cultural assessments to find cultural sites.
The tribe purchased the $6 million property through its Waší·šiw Land Trust, a Washoe-led nonprofit formed in 2025 to return ancestral lands to the Washoe People. Partners, including the Northern Sierra Partnership, Feather River Land Trust and the California Wildlife Conservation Board raised $6.9 million for this project. Remaining funds after the land purchase are going towards an endowment for the WélmeltiɁ Preserve’s long-term stewardship.
“We really see bringing indigenous stewardship back to the landscape as critical to our overall goals of protecting this place we call home,” Jennifer Norris said, executive director of the California Wildlife Conservation Board, which provided a $5.5 million grant to help with the transaction.
Though it is the first land returned through the Waší·šiw Land Trust, the tribe doesn’t intend for it to be the last.
“This is a small start to healing from generations of historical trauma,” Chairman Smokey said, “and the benefits will go on for many generations to come.”
Furnishing a Tahoe home can get overwhelming fast. Maybe you just bought a place, you’re mid-remodel, or you’re trying to freshen up the vibe inside. Either way, you want quality pieces that feel like Tahoe, and you don’t want to spend weeks hunting or rolling the dice with online purchases.
This month, I’m excited to spotlight Tahoe Home Consignment. Locally owned by Jen Hause, as this month’s South Shore Standout. Jen’s shop has become one of those rare local businesses that solves multiple problems at once: it’s a place to find high-end furnishings, discover local Tahoe artists, and get real guidance if you’re not sure what your space needs.
Tahoe Home Consignment will be celebrating five years in business this May, and Jen made one thing clear right away: this isn’t “typical” consignment. “We are a uniquely curated store with high-end furnishings, both new and consigned,” she said. And because inventory moves quickly, it’s never the same experience twice. “The store changes week to week because we are constantly getting new inventory in,” Jen told me.
That “curated” part shows up immediately when you walk in. The store leans Mountain Modern, but you’ll also find rustic pieces and contemporary options depending on what’s currently on the floor. And yes, if you’re someone who loves recognizable quality brands, you’ll find plenty of them. Jen described their inventory as a mix of high-end consignment pieces from well-known names, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, and West Elm, among others -plus brand-new items she orders in.
Also, a local art destination
One of the coolest parts of Tahoe Home Consignment is that it isn’t just furniture. Jen has intentionally built a shop that supports local creators and gives customers an easy way to bring Tahoe into their home in a more personal way.
“We also work with about 40 local artists,” she said, including local painters, photographers, jewelers, and woodworkers.
Tahoe Home ConsignmentProvided
If you’re looking for a gift, a statement art piece, or something small that still feels special, this place is worth a stop, even if you’re not currently furnishing an entire house. As Jen put it: “Whether you’re looking for furniture for your home, or you’re looking for gifts, or you’re looking for a little splurge piece for yourself, whether it’s jewelry or a piece of art -we have it.”
Online shopping + the “warehouse advantage”
Another thing most people don’t realize: the showroom floor is only part of the story. Tahoe Home Consignment has a beautiful online store and a separate warehouse where inventory is staged and rotated, meaning there’s often more available than what you see in one visit.
“We have a beautiful online store, and we also have a warehouse five minutes away where we store things that are going to be hitting the floor soon. I encourage people to come visit our store in person, and then check us out online.”
That’s a big deal for busy locals, second homeowners, and anyone trying to furnish on a timeline.
“Best of the best” consignment (and they can pick up)
Tahoe Home ConsignmentProvided
For consignors, Jen is clear: they’re selective because they’re protecting the standard customers expect when they walk in. “We are particular in what we accept because we only want it to be the best of the best,” she said.
Most consignment inventory comes from the Tahoe region, but because Tahoe has such a strong second-home community, pieces can also come in from outside the area when owners rotate or redesign their spaces.
The wish list: they shop for you
This is the part that really makes the store feel like a service, not just a retail stop.
If you’re looking for something specific (a certain size, a certain look, a certain function), Tahoe Home Consignment can add you to a wish list and actively keep an eye out, so you’re not stuck endlessly refreshing Facebook Marketplace or hunting across multiple sites.
In Jen’s words, “They don’t have to be constantly searching; we can search for them.” She explained that once someone is on the wish list, her team keeps watch for the right fit and reaches out when something matches whether that means finding it through consignment or bringing it in through a special order.
Interior decorating help (including in-home)
If you’ve got the vision but can’t quite pull it together or you’re starting from scratch, Jen and her team also provide interior decorating services.
“Customers can have a free consultation with us,” she said, “and then we can come out to the house and actually help them in their space.”
That can look like shopping consignment, ordering new, blending in existing pieces, or even rearranging what you already own. “If they want to use their existing pieces and just need help rearranging, we can help with that too,” Jen added.
And honestly, that’s what makes Tahoe Home Consignment such a standout: they meet you wherever you are in the process, from “I need one perfect dining table” to “I just bought a house and have no idea where to start.”
Go check out Tahoe Home Consignment
If you haven’t been in yet, I’d recommend swinging by in person. You might walk out with the piece you didn’t even know you were looking for and if you’re on a mission, Jen and her team can help you find exactly what fits.
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Lake Tahoe Community College’s Fire Academy has been reaccredited by California State Fire Training, reaffirming its status as the only Accredited Regional Training Program (ARTP) serving the Lake Tahoe Basin and surrounding communities.
Originally accredited in February 2009, the LTCC Fire Academy was re-accredited in 2015, 2021, and again following its most recent five-year review cycle. Since its initial accreditation, the Academy has graduated 19 classes of firefighter cadets, many of whom now serve in agencies throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond.
State Fire Training reaccreditation occurs every five years and requires programs to demonstrate rigorous compliance with curriculum standards, instructor qualifications, facilities, and equipment requirements established by the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
As the only ARTP in the Lake Tahoe region, LTCC’s Fire Academy was originally developed in response to workforce needs identified by local fire agencies seeking a reliable, regionally based training pipeline. While many students relocate to South Lake Tahoe to attend the Academy, the program’s core mission has been to prepare firefighters to serve the Tahoe Basin and surrounding communities.
The nearest alternative accredited programs are nearly 100 miles away and require travel across mountain passes or out of state. By offering Fire Fighter 1 certification locally, LTCC helps meet ongoing staffing demands, reduces barriers to entry for regional residents, and strengthens the long-term capacity of area fire agencies.
“This reaccreditation affirms the strength of the Fire Academy and the essential role it plays in preparing the region’s first responders,” said LTCC Director of Forestry, Fire & Public Safety, Carlie Murphy. “Providing high-quality, accredited fire training locally ensures that residents of the Tahoe Basin have access to career pathways that directly serve and protect our communities.”
The most significant achievement of this accreditation cycle was LTCC’s substantial investment in updated equipment and the continued development of its instructor cadre. These enhancements ensure full compliance with State Fire Training standards while positioning the program for future growth and expanded course offerings.
Looking ahead, the College will further expand its public safety training capacity with the upcoming groundbreaking of the Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Complex, scheduled for late May. The state-of-the-art facility, expected to open in 2027, will significantly enhance hands-on training environments for fire, emergency medical, and other public safety disciplines.
“The Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Complex represents a transformative investment in the safety and resilience of our region,” said Superintendent/President Jeff DeFranco. “It will allow us to expand programming, support local agencies with advanced training resources, and ensure LTCC graduates are prepared to meet the evolving demands of the fire service.”
LTCC’s Fire Academy offers comprehensive Fire Fighter 1 certification training aligned with California State Fire Training standards, preparing students for careers in municipal, state, and federal fire agencies. Graduates leave the program with the certifications and hands-on experience necessary to compete for entry-level firefighter positions throughout California and beyond.
As wildfire mitigation and emergency preparedness remain top priorities across the Sierra Nevada, LTCC’s continued accreditation—and its investment in expanded training infrastructure—ensure that the Lake Tahoe region maintains a strong pipeline of highly trained, state-certified professionals ready to serve.
For more information about the LTCC Fire Academy and enrollment opportunities, visit www.ltcc.edu or call (530) 541-4660.
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Chris Bennett, one of three Democratic candidates for California’s newly drawn 3rd district, sat down for an interview with the Tahoe Daily Tribune. Bennett is the newest face of the candidates, running against Congressman Ami Bera, an incumbent in District 3 and Heidi Hall, who has spent three decades in public service.
Bennett introduces himself as a disabled Army veteran, a graduate of West Point, a former tech worker and cyber officer. One of his major platform points is to refuse money from corporate PACs and lobbyists.
“I am running on the idea of people first, progressive politics and meeting everyone’s needs as opposed to allowing billionaires to exist. Congress is the decisive point of our democracy right now. They have the power of the purse, they can impeach, they can pass laws, they also have investigative authority,” said Bennett. “And it felt to me, like I’m sure a lot of people have been feeling, like our representatives don’t really answer to us. They just answer to giant corporations and billionaires in foreign countries.”
Bennett says that what motivated him to enter politics was seeing the slide towards fascism in the country. “It’s about death by a thousand cuts.” He says that when he saw people getting “black bagged off the streets,” particularly student activists protesting the conflict in Gaza, he decided to take action by entering politics.
In particular, he took an interest in running for Congress in the newly drawn CA-03, which contains rural areas and veterans that were previously in the 6th district.
“Our representatives tend to take rural areas for granted. People everywhere deserve to have access to their representative frequently,” said Bennett. In the South Lake Tahoe area, Bennett said he already had heard from those who wanted to fix the roads, protect the environment and were worried about fires and the impact it had on housing.
“After we deal with fascism, I believe climate change is our next biggest threat. We need to conserve as much of our land as we can, rather than trying to make up for it after we’ve destroyed it,” he said. Bennett expressed an interest in a public homeowners insurance policy funded by top polluters.
Bennett also spoke to his support for single-payer universal healthcare, Medicare For All and support for rural hospitals, especially critical access hospitals. “This should not be a for-profit industry,” he asserted, and added that he was interested in speaking to those who were served by the Tahoe Forest Healthcare System, which is a critical access hospital.
Bennett said many of his platforms he was running on were linked to defending democracy. “I swore an oath to defending democracy and the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And while I have grown a lot in my views of American foreign policy, I am still proud of my service. And I want people to feel good that they served, not to deal with PTSD and moral injuries because we were doing war crimes in foreign countries.”
That’s one of the reasons Bennett says he is not interested in taking AIPAC or corporate money. “We should not be sending our money to foreign countries to hurt people, especially in violation of international humanitarian law, when we could be using that money to help people here,” he said. “We need to get big money out of politics, and that includes not allowing foreign countries to influence our internal affairs.”
Bennett also said he would abolish ICE. “I support creating humane immigration systems, increasing freedom of movement for people and creating a system of restitution for everyone who’s been harmed by ICE terror.”
Other platforms that Bennett said he wanted to stay authentic to were enshrining LGBTQ+ rights, affordable housing and groceries, civil service jobs and livable wages, reproductive justice, democratic reforms and walkable cities.
“I’m running as a Democrat, but in many ways, I almost feel more like an independent,” said Bennett. “I want everyone to know that no matter what political party you’re in, I want you to have your basic needs met. I want you to be able to live in peace and prosperity, I want kids to feel hope for the future, and I want seniors to be able to rest after a job well done. We need a new generation of leaders who actually cares about humanity and puts people before profits. That’s where I’m coming from.”
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Heidi Hall, Nevada County supervisor and Democrat with three decades in public service, had announced her decision to run for Congress in April of last year—before Proposition 50 redrew the district lines.
Now, in the new CA-03, Hall is still going strong in her home district, despite challenges from incumbent Congressmen Ami Bera. “Bera is taking me on, since I chose to run here first,” said Hall.
Hall is chair of the Nevada County Board of Supervisors, was a program manager at the California State Department of Water Resources and worked for the Environmental Protection Agency.
She said her primary reason that she chose to run for Congress was because, “This district, both the old and the new one, is my home. I want to stand up for my community, and it is clear to me that more needs to be done in politics.”
Previously, Hall was challenging Republican Kevin Kiley. Since Proposition 50 and Bera joining the race, she is now challenging another incumbent.
“Proposition 50 was intended to create new blue seats, but it was not intended to provide a place for incumbents to do district shopping. Neither candidate has lived here or worked here the way that I have.”
Hall bills herself as a more progressive voice than Bera. She previously flipped a red seat when she became a supervisor and cited her experience in rural areas as a strength of hers. “I am persistent and not afraid to get things done. I see a path to victory through rural areas where I have experience and through suburban and urban areas where people want more than they have been getting.”
On the campaign trail, she says that a key issue has been the economy, where she wants to institute a wealth tax, support unions and living wages, create affordable housing and remove tariffs. She also cited healthcare as a major topic, stating her support for Medicare for All, protecting reproductive health rights, LGBTQ+ rights, as well as supporting rural hospitals and their reimbursement rates.
A major part of her progressive stance is pushing back on the current administration and holding them accountable. She stated she would abolish ICE, repeal Kristi Noem, and reform the Supreme Court. “The current state of things demands bold vision and bold action.”
Hall is endorsed by former South Lake Tahoe councilmember John Friedrich. As far as local issues to Tahoe, she said she sees similarities between Nevada County and the basin. “We depend on our outdoor recreation economy, we love our public lands—I would lay down my life to protect our lands,” said Hall. “We want someone in Congress who would protect these gorgeous ecological assets.”
Hall cited her experience in advocating against the sale of public lands, as well as her advocacy for increased staffing for USFS and BLM.
She also acknowledged the need for funding for wildfire mitigation. “So many of us live in the WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) and we put so much work into mitigation. We put work into home hardening and vegetation management and that should translate to savings for our insurance as well,” she said, referencing her testimonies on behalf of rural counties impacted by wildfires.
On the global level, Hall is responsive to her constituents’ concerns over the conflict in Palestine, which is why she has called for an end to the genocide in Gaza, to stop the transfer of arms to Israel and to fund aid to Gaza. She says she has also been appalled at what’s been happening given her background in international relations.
She has refused to take corporate PAC or AIPAC money for her campaign. “I think it’s important to not be beholden to corporations, and we are relying on people power.” She said they have 4,000 donors and an average contribution of $57. “We are relying on people power.”
Hall also noted that she was concerned about Bera’s acceptance of PAC money, especially from pro-Israel donors and from pharmaceutical companies. “He has the expertise to do something great in the 14 years he’s been in Congress, but I feel he has been compromised by the money he takes,” said Hall.
As the primary race continues, Hall feels confident about her position. “This is a blue seat, and we have the opportunity to choose the kind of Democrat we want to represent us,” she said. “And I’m bold. I’ve been here. I’m a fighter.”
Hall’s platform and further information on her campaign can be found on her website at https://www.heidihall.com/
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Last Thursday, Representative Kevin Kiley announced he was not planning on running in District 3 (CA-03) after Proposition 50 redrew district lines for this electoral race. Congressman Ami Bera, who joined the race in part to combat Kiley’s seat, said he was still interested in running in the district and spoke with the Tribune on the issues he felt were relevant to the area.
Bera has represented CA-06 and has been in Congress since 2013. When asked by the Tribune if he would consider running in CA-06, which Kiley may run in, Bera said he wasn’t planning on it.
“About 50% of my old district is in CA-03, but 50% of my old district is in CA-06 too. I think it’d be tough for Kiley to win because he’s not well-known there and it’s a competitive primary. But I’m not focused on that district—I’m focused on CA-03,” said Bera.
Bera told the Tribune that one of his primary interests running in the district is the challenges with rural healthcare. When he last came to Tahoe, he spoke with Barton Hospital and the Tahoe Forest Healthcare System.
“I’m interested in understanding the unique challenges that rural hospitals face,” said Bera. He also asserted that he had voted to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies and was looking towards universal coverage. “I think it’s something people are ready for. It doesn’t require more money, it requires using resources in a smarter way.”
Bera also expressed an interest in learning more about costs around fire insurance as a major issue he has heard on the campaign trail. He also said he’d heard challenges around utilities bills and affordability in the area, along with the unique challenges of Tahoe being situated close to the state line.
To that end, Bera expressed regret that Representative Mark Amodei had announced his retirement, but said he was interested in collaboration with representatives and reaching across the aisle. “You can’t be a successful member of Congress if you go it alone,” said Bera.
In response to some of the bolder responses of the Democrats he’s running against, Bera said, “When you’re a member of Congress, you need to represent all members of your district. Changes to foreign policy, immigration reform—that’s not happening with one party alone.”
Bera did agree that this was the current moment to reign in ICE and referenced that he had voted to hold them accountable recently. He also hoped more Republicans would join them in holding them accountable, as he felt it was an issue that did not split across party lines.
“I appreciate the aggressiveness from Hall and Bennett, but I’m the only one who’s voted to impeach Donald Trump twice,” said Bera, referencing his incumbency in Congress and involvement in efforts to impeach the president. He also said he believed that they would have likely grounds to impeach him again.
But on the more local level, Bera said, “My role in the federal government might be to find funding through grants or to connect relevant parties. We’ve seen success with leveraging hundreds of millions of dollars in Sacramento and I would bring that same approach to other areas of the district.”
Bera’s current campaign has $741,093 in total receipts and $7,800 owed by the Bera for Congress committee.
Bera is an active member of Congress and is holding more virtual town halls to meet with constituents while still in Congress. His platform and information can be found on https://bera.house.gov/
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – On Tuesday, city council met to receive a presentation on the Sugar Pine Village tenant selection process and discuss the AI policy on consent agenda, the tourism improvement district report, the Tahoe Valley Area Plan amendment. The council also heard from public comment on continued local concerns on ICE.
You can read about the VHR ordinance and city manager Joe Irvin’s acceptance of the key to the city in their own stories.
Councilmember Scott Robbins was present on Zoom.
Public comment
Tom Milham, commander of Post 795, invited the public to the American Legion’s St. Patrick’s Dinner on March 17th from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. where there will be live music. Tickets are $20 each.
Melissa Soderston again brought up to city council that there was growing concern from people around the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.) On Monday, NorCal Resist volunteers reported that a DHS vehicle was present in town in the morning and departed towards Pollock Pines the same day. No operations were confirmed.
Julie Lowe, on behalf of South Tahoe Indivisible, read out a resolution that they hoped city council would adopt, saying that the symbolism mattered a lot right now. The resolution included a recognition of immigrant contributions to Tahoe’s community and a commitment to SB 54, which prevents state and local law enforcement from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement agencies.
While there was support from some attendees, others spoke out against it.
Longtime city council attendee John Messina said, “Why rock the boat? I don’t think any of these people appreciate you bringing attention to them being here illegally and I don’t think the city should focus on that.” Erick Asbury said, “We don’t need this beautiful area becoming a haven for criminals.”
Sugar Pine Village Tenant Selection
Several partners working on Sugar Pine Village came to speak at the presentation, including Saint Joseph’s Community Land Trust, Related California and the John Stewart Company.
As it currently stands, Sugar Pine Village houses 128 families and 219 individual residents, with 106 units occupied by South Lake Tahoe households. 20 households are previously unsheltered families from South Lake Tahoe.
Of the 936 applications received for Phase 1A and 2A, 634 applications were South Tahoe residents. The local preference policies will be applying to the Phase 2B applications, but even previous applications seem to typically pull in local applicants.
During public comment, Messina and Asbury levelled more criticisms at Sugar Pine Village. Messina said that it was supposed to be workforce housing, while Asbury doubted that Sugar Pine Village residents were from the area.
Stacey Ballard spoke out and said that as a disabled person, she was appreciative of Sugar Pine Village and that it provided a place for seniors and disabled people to live. “I’m grateful that 80% of the people living here are people from our town, it’s our own community,” said Ballard, but also said how difficult it was to qualify and go through the “red tape.”
Consent agenda
Councilmember Robbins pulled item 3, the artificial intelligence policy, on the consent agenda to make a suggestion on it. The AI policy will apply to city employees, elected officials and contractors, but the fire department and police department have their own policies. Robbins suggested that they include language regarding citations that AI creates. These citations, Robbins said, are often hallucinated and should also be double checked.
Tourism Improvement District report
The South Lake Tahoe Tourism Improvement District presented their annual report, noting that they budgeted $3,145,345 in 2026, which is flat to the fiscal year budget from 2025. A little over 76% of their budget goes to marketing and promotions.
During their presentation, they shouted out that they won the 2025 eTourism summit award for best data-driven marketing strategy, rolled out Rules to Lake By and supported several events such as the Lake Tahoe Documentary Film Fest, the Ski Run and Meyers farmers markets and Tahoe Brewfest.
Some during public comment expressed concern about international tourism and tourism in general dropping. Jessica Grime represented the Tahoe Chamber and expressed the support for the transient occupancy tax (TOT) and other support that the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority provided to the city and its businesses.
Councilmember David Jinkens expressed interest in further outreach to businesses around the city, as well as to tourists.
Tahoe Valley Area Plan Amendment
Councilmember Heather Horgan recused herself from the item due to her proximity to the project.
Staff presented on an amendment to the Tahoe Valley Area Plan (TVAP), which would add the South Y Industrial Tract to the TVAP. Staff believed this would encourage appropriate commercial growth and reduce barriers to development.
According to their timeline, these amendments will be presented to other stakeholders including the Washoe Tribue, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the planning commission and other committees in March. The final adoption will happen sometime in August to September.
Council members had questions about parking policies in the area and regulations, which may come back to council as the plan develops. Public comment was supportive of the amendments, as they would revitalize the development in the area, and questioned possible changes to mitigation fees.
Planning calendar and staff reports
While the council was interested in hearing from the Senior Center, the item has been pushed until they attain 501(c)3 status.
The Arts, Culture and Tourism Commission is still soliciting applications for a student member, but will seek an at-large member if they cannot find a student member.
Jinkens expressed interest in hearing on the bear protocol update, which is slated to happen at the March 13th meeting. He also asked about logistics of surveying businesses and the community, which assistant city manager Hilary Roverud said would likely align with their existing community surveys they had.
Mayor Pro Tem Keith Roberts expressed interest in clarifying the differences between affordable and workforce housing, which the Tribune defined in an article in our housing series.
LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Area plans, also called community or specific plans, help keep local control, flexibility and character of the area that they cover, and are an essential function of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s (TRPA) Lake Tahoe Regional Plan. But how do these area plans address housing? And how have they changed as the Phase 2 amendments of TRPA’s housing plan have taken effect? In this month’s housing series article, the Tribune takes a look at different area plans and their specific housing policies.
What is an area plan?
Area plans, as defined by the TRPA, are plans created by local governments with community members and stakeholders to help implement the policies of the regional plan at a community scale. They contain land use goals and policies, along with zoning and regulations, permit requirements, development and design standards. They also contain goals and policies around transportation, conservation, recreation, public services and housing.
These area plans serve as the framework that provide the incentives for coverage, density and height, but they have to be built into the plan before they can be made available to a developer or to the public. Plus, they still need to fall within the allowable use of the regional plan as dictated by the TRPA.
And while California or Nevada rules may differ for things like accessory dwelling units or parcel divisions, because the Lake Tahoe area is governed by the bistate compact of the TRPA, their rules come first.
Outside of the TRPA, area plans are also called specific plans, which can help with determining more local control under a general plan. These can help with the framework of additional regulations that help achieve the goals of the general plan, and may be more difficult to achieve solely through regulations like zoning.
What priorities does the regional plan promote for housing?
In general, TRPA’s regional plan promotes environmental redevelopment and sustainable economic development, especially in the creation of town centers. This promoted higher density and height along with housing in town centers, along with transit and walkability in these areas, which also would reduce vehicle miles traveled in these sections. These were paired with incentives for housing, such as deed restrictions, bonus units and changes to coverage.
In 2023, the TRPA’s Phase 2 Housing Amendments intended to make deed-restricted and multi-family projects more financially viable, which impacted local plans. To become consistent with the new regional policies, local amendments were made to area plans or counties adopted the regulations put forth by the TRPA.
What area plans are out there?
Washoe County: Tahoe Area Plan
Placer County: Tahoe Basin Area Plan, Alpine Meadows General Plan, Martis Valley Community Plan, Olympic Valley Area General Plans
Douglas County: South Shore Area Plan; proposed Tahoe Douglas Area Plan
El Dorado County: Tahoe El Dorado Area Plan (TED Area Plan); will update and incorporate the Meyers Area Plan
City of South Lake Tahoe: Tahoe Valley Area Plan, Tourist Core Area Plan; the Y Industrial Area Plan and the Mid-Town Area Plan are currently in development
Washoe County – Tahoe Area Plan
Washoe County’s area plan has a community vision statement that expresses interest in providing a range of housing opportunities while also respecting private property rights and respecting the heritage of the area. Their land for residential use exists with the regulatory zones of Chateau, Crystal Bay and Crystal Bay Condominiums, Fairway, Incline Village 1 through 5 and Residential, Lakeview, Mill Creek, Mt. Shadows, Stateline Point, Tyrolian Village and Wood Creek. They also included some housing in the Incline Village Commercial Area and Ponderosa Ranch.
Senior Planner Kat Oakley said that they heard feedback from citizens regarding Phase 2 Housing Amendments and proposed to adopt some parts and modify others—proposing a half parking space per unit in town centers and a shorter maximum height of 56 feet, which was the pre-existing maximum height. However, Washoe County ultimately opted into the parking reductions down to 0 spaces per unit with an approved parking study that showed that all parking needs would be met, as well as the 65 feet maximum height.
However, Oakley said, “Washoe County was still able to adopt the change to allow deed-restricted multi-family housing in Ponderosa Ranch to further support opportunities for workforce housing.”
“In the Tahoe Basin, area plans have the dual function of providing a vision for the future of that particular area and enabling more local control over zoning regulations,” said Oakley. Recent amendments focused on the zoning aspect, but the vision for the character focuses on maintain a year-round population, continuing tourism as the central economic anchor for the area and maintaining natural resources.
“Since area plans include zoning regulations, they play a very direct role in housing. There are more incentives now for affordable, moderate and achievable deed-restricted housing. We also expanded opportunities for accessory dwelling units, which could help with housing provision,” said Oakley. “Zoning regulations are one piece of the puzzle—they can allow the types of housing we want to see in appropriate places, and they can create regulatory incentives. The Washoe County Tahoe Area Plan has both of those pieces.”
Still other pieces such as funding, land availability, land cost and development costs also prevent challenges that Oakley says can’t be overcome by zoning regulations alone.
Placer County states in their area plan that they are trying to create affordable, moderate and achievable housing. The land for residential use exists within the subdistricts of Kingswood West, Lake Forest, Lake Forest Glen, Mark Twain Tract, McKinney Tract, Rocky Ridge, Sunnyside/Skyland, Tahoe Estates, Tahoe Park/Pineland, Tahoe Pines, Tahoe Vista Residential, Tahoe Vista Subdivision, Talmont, Tavern Heights, Timberland and Woodvista. They have several mixed use and town center subdistricts within Greater Tahoe City, North Tahoe East (including Kings Beach), Tahoma and Sunnyside.
Principal planner Emily Setzer noted that Placer County also accepted the Phase 2 Housing Amendments from the TRPA. “We brought the option to have an alternative set of proposed amendments, but it would have required us to create a financial feasibility statement and much more work on our end, and we didn’t hear an alternative from our public workshops.”
Setzer also said that the Phase 2 amendments ultimately achieved the same goal of getting housing costs down and making them more feasible within the area. However, the multi-family housing amendments have been harder for Placer County to utilize, as they do not have enough active stormwater systems to allow for the increased coverage and density. Setzer recently asked TRPA to analyze additional coverage solutions to allow these projects to achieve the increased density needed.
Outside of the Tahoe Basin but still in the region, Placer County has area plans that are set for further updates. Setzer noted that while there isn’t necessarily a major focus on those areas, there is a more comprehensive approach to them coming through the Placer County General Plan Update, which will likely update the land use and area plans for those parts of the valley.
Several of those plans were established a fairly long time ago and have not received substantial updates, although there has been some feedback that people living in the areas have wanted changes. Setzer said there was the potential to consolidate plans, to look at trends and needs, especially within housing.
Setzer invited members of the public to reach out to the planning department and staff, and to keep an eye on the discussions around the Placer County General Plan Update. The planning committee will be discussing it on March 26, then it will go to the Board of Supervisors on May 19. More community outreach will follow those two meetings.
Douglas County’s area in the Tahoe Basin is relatively small, containing largely multi-family housing units according to their area plan in 2024. Of their 132 housing units, they have 88 multi-family units on Market Street and 64 units on Deer Run Court, though those operate as a timeshare. They also have 31 units of housing in the Kingsbury Manor Mobile Home Park. Employee housing is provided by Edgewood and Heavenly, though both locations are within South Lake Tahoe.
However, the SSAP was originally adopted in 2013, and amended both in 2024 and 2025. However, efforts to create a Tahoe focused plan have been in the works since 2014, called the Tahoe Douglas Area Plan (TDAP), that didn’t come to fruition until late last year.
The TDAP will be replacing the 29 plan area statements and the Round Hill Community Plan, simplifying the permitting and environmental reviews, supporting a mix of land use and transportation options along with implementing existing design and development guidelines to protect the environment.
The public outreach portion for the initial draft closed in December 2025 and the TDAP’s public draft area plan will be released in spring of this year. Members of the public will be invited to another community meeting in summer 2026 before the final environmental review and consideration of the plan’s adoption take place. “It is imperative that community members are involved in the process to share their visions for their community area,” said Eric Cachinero, public information officer of Douglas County. Ascent Inc. is also helping to creates the area plan alongside the county.
Cachinero also shared that the county intends to conduct a comprehensive housing needs assessment, which will help identify the specific challenges, opportunities and the appropriate mix of housing types and suitable locations for future development. The county will continue to utilize the Phase 2 amendments for areas zoned for multi-family and town centers, which have had varied levels of support. But the upcoming housing needs assessment, Cachinero said, “is vital in preparation for decision making regarding housing policies, to ensure they align with both regional goals and Douglas County’s unique community needs.”
You can stay up to date with the TDAP at their webpage or email principal planner Kate Moroles-O’Neil at kmoneil@douglasnv.us for more information.
El Dorado County – TED Area Plan
The Tahoe El Dorado Area Plan (TED Area Plan) was designed to ensure consistency between TRPA Plan Area Statements and the county zoning ordinance, which would simplify permitting and streamline environmental review. This would establish a better framework to advance housing and economic development, according to the TED Area Plan’s goals.
Chief Deputy Director at the Tahoe Planning and Building Division Brendan Ferry and Planning Manager, Long Range Planning Unit Thea Graybill spoke with the Tribune on the TED Area Plan.
Ferry said that they’ve known about these land use inconsistencies for a while and that they have made things difficult for homeowners and stifled economic development. “There’s been a reliance on these old plan area statements, which serve a purpose, but they really need to be updated and incorporated,” said Graybill.
El Dorado County proposed alternatives to TRPA’s Phase 2 amendments, choosing to take a customized approach rather than take them at face value. “We’ve been in lockstep with TRPA,” said Ferry, regarding the process of these amendments. “We recognized that our county is more rural than others, we don’t have as many town centers and less population, so this felt necessary.”
Meyers, which has more familiarity with an area plan given that the Meyers Area Plan existed before the TED Area Plan was initiated, had a strong voice in public comments. The county did a year of public outreach during Phase I of the TED Area Plan, conducting hearings in Tahoma, Fallen Leaf Lake, Meeks Bay and Meyers. “This is a democracy, we want input and we’re building this thing together,” said Ferry. He says they’re striving to give each community their own policies within the TED Area Plan.
County staff are also providing quantitative analysis for the proposed alternatives to TRPA’s Phase 2 amendments for the TED Area Plan. Ferry says that a major part of the plan is looking at commodities and land that the county has control over and cutting costs there. “We’re also really looking at the height, density and coverage as three driving factors,” said Ferry.
Graybill told the Tribune that they are tentatively planning to release the public draft at the end of February and will be hosting public workshops in Meeks Bay on March 4, Meyers on March 11, and a virtual option on March 12. The TED Area Plan will also be agendized for discussion at TRPA’s regional planning committee meeting on March 25.
South Lake Tahoe has several area plans within its limits: the Tahoe Valley Area Plan, Tourist Core Area Plan; the Y Industrial Area Plan and the Mid-Town Area Plan are currently in development. City planning manager John Hitchock and director of development services Zach Thomas spoke with the Tribune about the various area plans.
“These area plans replace community plans and allow local jurisdictions to create flexibility and control in the community. They help substitute standards, but coverage is the only one that can’t be substituted,” said Hitchcock.
Currently, all the area plans in the city cover commercial zones in the city, including the tourist areas. The city was interested in focusing on areas of work, recreation and high density residential development.
“For many, many years our commercial cores had nothing happening. I mean, there was no redevelopment, buildings were past their useful life,” said Hitchcock. “And that’s why we have that huge focus on that commercial core in our area plans, because it really needed infrastructure improvement and redevelopment opportunities. The only way you’re going to get that done is to create incentives for development.”
The city adopted TRPA’s Phase 2 amendments primarily for the benefits it would confer outside of town centers, driving more coverage, density and height in the suburbs of South Lake. However, they did have concerns with requirements around the stormwater system, given the density of population and the infrastructure. It’s something that the city has spoken about with the TRPA.
It helps that the city does provide recommendations to the TRPA through the Tahoe Living Working Group—increased coverage for deed restricted housing happened as a result of some of those conversations, and the importance of a seat at the table can’t be overstated, especially as South Lake Tahoe has a large portion of the population and affordable housing units within the basin.
Some of the principles around housing that is “affordable by design” that will serve the missing middle has become a major focus, which is what they hope to achieve through higher density housing that is closer to services. While this has brought up concerns around the basin around evacuation, Thomas says that there have been studies that show it is easier to evacuate town centers and that they typically have better firefighting infrastructure—and studying these impacts is required under CEQA regulations.
Currently, the expansion of the Tahoe Valley Area Plan to the Y would lead to expanded uses for the industrial area and increased flexibility for use, such as indoor recreation facilities. Thomas noted that while there’s not a pressing need to make residential area plans and the idea has not yet been fully explored, likely options for those plans would be to create more consistency with state laws with regards to ADUs and subdivisions of parcels.
Both Thomas and Hitchcock said the city prides itself on their outreach efforts with stakeholders and the public. “We really believe area plans should reflect community input,” said Hitchcock, and invited the public to reach out to him at jhitchcock@cityofslt.org or senior planner Anna Kashuba at akashuba@cityofslt.gov.
NEVADA CITY, Calif. – Nevada County supervisors on Tuesday approved a resolution authorizing the board chair to sign a Joint Memorandum of Association with Placer and El Dorado counties aimed at strengthening regional wildfire resilience and improving forest biomass residue management.
The agreement formalizes collaboration among the three Sierra counties to reduce hazardous forest fuels, support biomass utilization projects and coordinate economic development efforts tied to forest health.
“We have the trees, projects and communities asking for action on wildfire,” said Nevada County’s Board Chair and District 3 Supervisor Lisa Swarthout. “By working with our neighboring counties, we can attract biomass solutions that could support our local economy and help make the work of reducing wildfire risk more cost-effective.”
Three years ago, the California Office of Land Use and Climate Resiliency launched five pilot projects statewide to examine barriers to biomass removal through an initiative known as the California Forest Residual Aggregation Market Enhancement, or Cal FRAME.
The program identified the lack of long-term feedstock contracting as a significant obstacle to sustainable biomass disposal. Pilot projects studied ways to aggregate biomass supplies into regional brokerages to create more reliable markets.
Locally, the effort included developing Biofuel Development Opportunity Zone, or BDOZ, risk ratings for Nevada, Placer and El Dorado counties. The ratings evaluate an area’s suitability for biomass utilization and provide an investment-style risk assessment intended to attract bio-based business development.
All three counties received an “A” grade, signaling strong feedstock supply, infrastructure and capacity to support new biobased facilities.
Building on that momentum, the counties developed the memorandum to focus on coordinated actions, including sharing project information, pursuing joint funding opportunities, advocating for state and federal support, promoting bioeconomy facilities, coordinating SB 1383 compliance for woody biomass and supporting wood manufacturing projects.
County staff considered several organizational structures and determined that a simple memorandum was the most efficient way to begin joint action without the complexity of forming a new governmental entity. The agreement allows flexibility and can be amended by unanimous vote of all three counties.
Regional leaders said the collaboration will help align strategies across county lines.
“Placer County supports the Joint Memorandum of Association (MOA) among Nevada, Placer and El Dorado counties to strengthen regional wildfire resilience and coordinate responsible management of excess forest biomass,” said Kerri Timmer, Placer County Regional Forest Health Coordinator. “The MOA, adopted last week by Placer and El Dorado County Boards, creates a framework for collaboration among the neighboring counties to align strategies, share resources, and advance projects that reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health. With Nevada County’s pending action we can finalize the agreement and start working together to protect communities, critical infrastructure, and other key features across our shared landscapes.”
With Nevada County’s approval, the three counties can now formally move forward with joint projects aimed at reducing wildfire threats while creating new opportunities in the region’s forest-based economy.
“The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has designated forest health, wildfire management and biomass utilization as top priorities and incorporated these issues into the County’s Strategic Plan,” said Carla B. Hass, El Dorado County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer. “We’re delighted to be part of this important memorandum of association that will benefit the safety of our collective residents and businesses in our fire-prone areas, develop a new workforce and support new and existing wood products and bioenergy markets.”
Editor’s note: Club Tahoe Association’s hiring of Grand Pacific Resorts has been updated below.
Club Tahoe Resort, a nearly 50-year-old timeshare tucked away off Northwood Boulevard in Incline Village, is going through a cannibalization of sorts:
Two boards, neither of which recognizes the other; a legal complaint (submitted by resort owners against “old” board members) working its way through Washoe County’s Second Judicial District Court; a transition in management companies that ended with the previous company, Tricom Management, being ordered by a judge to relinquish control; and legal fees being paid for by those who are litigating in the first place.
As the infighting continues, many owners are worried a larger goal is at hand: the purposeful deterioration and ultimate sale of the resort, shades of which have recently happened to neighboring timeshare resorts.
“It seems to be the same trajectory in all these places,” said Mona Ogden, an owner at Club Tahoe and the mind behind a “Save Club Tahoe” effort. “They just stop doing maintenance and let it fall into such a state of disrepair that owners give up … We’ve tried everything, reports [and other ways of notifying various state and local agencies], and the resounding response is, not my department; you need to go hire a lawyer.
“In a timeshare model, how are you going to hire a lawyer? How are you going to coordinate thousands of people to pitch in money toward a one-week thing they own? They’ll just give up. They’re not going to invest money in it. We are unprecedented and highly unusual in getting as far as we’ve gotten.”
The kindling to that success stems from emotional as well as financial investments, according to those who spoke with Moonshine.
Illustration by Sarah Miller/Moonshine Ink
“I like to say it’s a home away from home,” said owner Dina Fitch, whose parents were original owners at Club Tahoe, purchasing a unit in 1978. “It’s a generational resort. My family’s on technically our third generation … When I had gone up as a teenager I had made friends with some people, and I am still friends with one of the guys. I met him when I was 16. He’s one of my oldest and dearest friends.”
Brian Arnold is another owner whose parents were original purchasers; he began visiting Club Tahoe when he was 8 or 9. “I’ve basically been going up there once a week for 50 years,” he said. “Ultimately, I feel I’m being screwed out of a financial asset that my family has owned. It’s not as much of [an asset] because, at the end of the day, it’s not a lot of money. But it’s just not being able to use it. If we don’t have this, if we don’t have Club Tahoe for my family, we likely won’t be going back up there because of the cost of other nearby units or hotels or anything else.”
Fitch and Arnold are both part of Club Tahoe’s recall board, president and treasurer, respectively. Meanwhile, the original board — the one the Save Club Tahoe group considers replaced — also remains active.
The dual existence of boards, which neither of them acknowledges, is causing a paralysis of Club Tahoe Resort operations. The current management company, Grand Pacific Resorts (GPR), stated in a Feb. 4 notice to all owners that it is committed to remaining neutral amid board confusion. Without a formal 2026 budget, GPR is utilizing the association’s 2025 operating budget numbers in the interim. Amid all the red tape, no clear answer exists as to what the next few months, let alone year and a half, will bring. A possible 50-year termination of the resort is outlined in the original bylaws.
Jason Gamel, president of the American Resort Development Association (or ARDA), called what’s happening with Club Tahoe an “unusual situation.”
“It’s rare to see an actual effort to recall the entire board and elect a new one or have another one in place,” he said. “It’s rare to see that.”
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: A timeshare resort born in 1978, Club Tahoe Resort is undergoing a significant change on the heels of replacing property management companies, legal battles, aging infrastructure, and more. A portion of owners have formed a Save Club Tahoe group and recalled the association’s board to move the needle on progress. “Our goal is to regain control of Club Tahoe,” said recall Board President Dina Fitch. “The resort didn’t get this way overnight. It is not going to be repaired overnight in any way, shape, or form. But as [recall Board Treasurer Brian Arnold] puts it, we need to get the keys first. And then we have to take a very hard look at things. But how that happens, when that happens, there is no do-or-die date.” Photo by Nina Miller/Moonshine Ink
Timeshares still timely?
The concept has been around in the U.S. for 52 years, yet timeshares have not gone the way of the dodo bird.
The standard model allows the purchase and utilization of a recurring interval, usually a specific week each year, at a vacation resort. The average price in 2024 for a timeshare transaction was $23,160, per ARDA, with an average $1,260 in annual maintenance fees.
At Club Tahoe, the last interval sold (week 2 of each year) went for $3,367.80 in 2021. The 2026 annual maintenance fee (based on 2025 numbers) is $830, with the possibility of rising if/when this year’s budget is finalized.
In the U.S., timeshare occupancy returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time in 2024; ARDA reported that sales volume saw $10.5 billion, with the average occupancy at 80%.
“We’ve had a lot going on in the industry,” said Gamel, who’s served in his position for six years now. ARDA, he told Moonshine, has been “involved in almost every law that’s been written on the books on timeshares. We’ve helped every state in one way, shape, or form along with some other regulatory agencies.”
While timeshares back in the early days were born on the wave of independent developers buying a resort or two and sustaining their own sales and marketing, the ’80s and ’90s are when major brands started joining the fray.
“Hilton, Disney Vacation Club [were] the early ’90s, for instance,” Gamel said. “You had Marriott, who entered the game in the ’90s, and when that happened, all of a sudden, they started acquiring resorts … As time has gone on, and the cost of real estate has gotten really expensive, which really started in the 2000s and maybe even the 2010s. If we look at what was happening then, people weren’t doing as much development of their own properties, but a lot more corporate acquisitions, then consolidate.”
Today’s landscape has only a handful of major “active sales” developers, including Marriott, Westgate Resorts, Disney Vacation Club, and Holiday Inn Club.
George De Laurentis is a licensed real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate. He’s lived in South Lake Tahoe since 1977 and has worked in real estate and timeshare sales for over two decades.
“I worked for every company in South Shore that has sold timeshares, from the Ritz Tahoe to the Stardust to the Americana to the Marriott properties, Wyndham properties,” he said. “That’s the nature of the game. When one resort opens, all the agents go to the new resort [until] they get low on inventory.”
Now, De Laurentis works in independent sales for Coldwell, with clients who want to resell their Marriott timeshares. “I rep people who’ve bought [their timeshare] from the developer or inherited it, or they were given to them. Those [last two groups] tend to not have paid anything for it and therefore they’re in a position to get rid of it … [and] price it cheaper than anyone.”
SINCE 1974, timeshare resort growth has mostly plateaued. 2024 was the first year since the Covid-19 pandemic that timeshare occupancy returned to pre-2020 levels — at 80%. Courtesy graphic
The younger generations have gained their own footing in the industry, helping maintain momentum since the initial heyday of timeshare growth (36% from 1974 to 1984; see the ARDA graph above). In 2022, ARDA reported that Gen Z and Millennials accounted for 57% of all timeshare owners, and 53% of new sale purchasers.
De Laurentis gave perspective on today’s timeshare pitches, describing an oft-used approach of the time and energy put into planning vacations. “It’s spring break — how far in advance did you make those reservations?” he asked. “A smart person who goes during prime time, you’ve got to make the reservation 8 to 12 months in advance … Once you can get someone to admit that’s something they do, then a timeshare works.
“Somebody wants to come to Tahoe this Fourth of July and they don’t have a reservation right now; there’s nothing for them. Yes, you can reserve timeshares spur-of-the-moment … if you can jump on a plane and pay high airline tickets and run up to the resort three weeks in advance, you can do that, but I wouldn’t plan a major vacation that way.”
The oldest timeshare resorts tend to be the smallest in size, have the lowest occupancy, and the lowest billed maintenance fees, per the ARDA’s State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry 2025 study.
“The industry is currently undergoing an accelerated phase of winding down older and dysfunctional timeshare resorts, which has caused the overall resort and unit counts to decrease by about 5% since 2020,” the report stated. “This may ultimately serve to improve the overall health of the timeshare ecosystem.”
The legacy of Club Tahoe
Club Tahoe Resort opened its doors in 1978, four years after the U.S. timeshare industry’s inception. The resort consists of 93 units (with 51 interval weeks per unit), tennis courts, a pool area, parking, and a main clubhouse. In the past, owners have enjoyed discounted passes to Diamond Peak and access to Burnt Cedar, a residents-only beach in Incline Village.
Club Tahoe is known as a legacy or independent resort, meaning it’s not owned or represented by a known hospitality brand (like Marriott or Disney, for example). Up until 2014, it was self-managed, with various operations stayed in-house — like rental revenue, association dues, and accounting.
Tera Taylor began her Club Tahoe connection as a staff member before becoming a member over a decade later. In 2008, she started working in the resort’s office as a satellite office manager for a different timeshare exchange company. After about a year, the then-general manager for Club Tahoe offered her the position of on-grounds clubhouse manager.
“I took on that role,” she said. “I worked there and then I moved my way up to general manager. I worked there for about 16 years, up until March of 2024.”
Taylor grew up watching her mom manage a timeshare resort in Kings Beach. Post-Club Tahoe, she still works in the business, though in Sacramento.
In 2014, Club Tahoe Resort Association’s board of directors hired timeshare management company Tricom Management, based in Anaheim, to take over operations. This move shifted some responsibilities for the on-site staff like Taylor — no more accounting department, no more handling rentals, or invoicing, though she says her job as a manager day-to-day stayed the same (checking people in, quality control inventory, and so on).
As a direct and proximate result of Counter-defendants’ intentional interference, the Association has suffered and continues to suffer damages, including operational paralysis, vendor confusion, exposure to contractual liability, reputational harm, and increased administrative and legal costs.”
~ Defendants’ answer to amended complaint
While the shift to a corporate, bottom-dollar-driven mindset was challenging, Taylor said the first years under Tricom went well. Then, Covid-19 happened.
“They laid off a bunch of employees at Tricom [across the country], and I felt like things started really circling the drain and we weren’t getting the attention that we needed at the property,” she explained. “I was working a million hours, and the board wanted things done and they were telling the management company, and they were telling me, and I was working above and beyond. When things didn’t get done, I felt like I was kind of the pawn in the middle that was left holding the bag.”
Owners also noticed the pandemic impacts, specifically a “decline and lack of repairs,” Arnold said. “As simple as the blinds; they have these vertical slats and one or two would break and fall off. People — me and other owners in that same unit — submitted a maintenance request. Then a year later you go back up and it’s still there.”
Various complaints have been collected: rodent infestations, broken appliances, crumbling stairs, flooding, the closure of amenities like the racquetball court and sauna.
This awareness has led to concern over the possibility of a timeshare trend: Independent timeshare resorts faced with rising maintenance costs and aging owner bases often opt for termination and sale.
“What appears to happen is the physical properties are allowed to deteriorate, and they’re not maintained until there’s a point to which owners can’t afford a special assessment,” Ogden said. “If you can’t afford the special assessment, what is there left to do? These properties, they’re all worth a lot of money. And Incline Village is the premier location in Tahoe itself.”
South Lake Tahoe’s Tahoe Summit Village timeshare owners faced a version of this situation. In October 2024, owners received letters from the board informing them that a special assessment of $56,236 per interval week was due by each association member. Such an assessment was intended to “cover anticipated carrying costs through Dec. 31, 2024,” per the letter. Alternatively, owners could relinquish their intervals without having to pay the special assessment. Ultimately, the timeshare resort closed.
Taylor and others interviewed assert that while old, Club Tahoe had healthy financial reserves up until Tricom entered the picture and the pandemic hit. “It’s almost like they were just holding us back,” she said.
During the years of the pandemic, Taylor added that delinquent units re-obtained by the Club Tahoe association via Tricom weren’t being resold. In reviewing Tricom’s contract, section 3.9 required the company “to find purchasers for no less than fifty (50) Intervals per year.” Failure to meet the quota meant a penalty charge of $500 per interval from Tricom to the association.
“We asked the [old] board multiple times to confirm whether Tricom reimbursed Club Tahoe for any quota shortfall, and [board member] Marc Pearl cited the lack of reimbursement (along with other reasons) as a basis for [eventually] terminating Tricom,” Arnold explained in an email. “If those payments were owed or received, they should be reflected in the association’s accounting records and financial statements, but I do not see any corresponding income in the 2023 or 2024 audited financials.”
According to county records currently available, Tricom did not sell any interval weeks after Oct. 21, 2021. The sole (partial) exception was two peak weeks (one summer, one winter), which original board member Marc Pearl acquired in summer 2023. According to owners, Pearl said he only paid transfer fees for the intervals. This move, as was explained by Pearl in a later owner call, was meant to be the impetus of a larger movement to transfer unused association weeks back to owners free of charge, to then turn them into dues-paying weeks. But per owners, such a policy has never been implemented.
In late 2024, Club Tahoe’s board terminated the Tricom contract, on the basis of poor performance. The company then turned around and sued the association for improper termination.
Judge Scott Freeman of the Second Judicial Court of the State of Nevada denied Tricom’s motion and dismissed its complaint in August 2025. Shortly after, Grand Pacific Resorts (GPR), which had been hired in February 2025, began actively managing Club Tahoe’s operations.
As recently as January 2026, one Club Tahoe owner was told by GPR staff at the front desk that Tricom’s relinquishment of the association included leaving bills unpaid.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED: On Oct. 25, 2025, Club Tahoe Resort owners gathered to recall the association’s acting board. Pictured is the master petition. In total, 641 owners unanimously called for the recall of the original board. Photo by Dusk Bennett
Team ‘Save Club Tahoe’
Save Club Tahoe is a movement of 600 to 800 of the roughly 4,600 possible owners.
Ogden lit the proverbial match after she experienced a series of frustrations: an application to become a board member that she was told “must’ve been lost,” aggressive actions toward a Club Tahoe staff member, the association’s hiring of unlicensed contractors who caused a sewage leak, and board members unwilling to rectify or address various situations.
There was also talk of the then-board, made up of the original board minus three, using their positions for special favors — such as Pearl’s obtaining peak weeks in July 2023.
After a particularly contentious April 2024 meeting with two board members, Ogden said, “I went home and just started calling and emailing every owner I could think of and launched this group.”
The first true organized attempt to “save” Club Tahoe took place in April 2025, when, Ogden says, there was “enough critical mass to decide that we were going to come again to Club Tahoe for this annual meeting, and we were going to do an in-person recall, because the bylaws stated that if we had a certain amount of participation there, we would prevail.”
To formally recall board members, the bylaws require a “duly convened regular or special meeting” and “the affirmative vote of the voting members casting no less than two-thirds (2/3rds) of each class of votes present at said meeting, and a successor may then and there be elected to fill the vacancy thus created.” This first recall effort failed because it was procedurally invalid and violated the resort’s governing documents and Nevada state law.
At the same time, the Tricom litigation was taking place. The management company would normally assist with general election notification, hosting, and oversight, but that did not happen. The original board is claiming by way of counsel that “any alleged procedural irregularity in that election” would have occurred because of Tricom’s undermining of the association’s ability to hold the election.
This was part of the reason the board chose to change voting from in-person to online. Others, as claimed in a June 2025 email from the board to Club Tahoe owners, were for safety in light of violent threats, and better accessibility for voter engagement.
From the election emerged the following board members, expanded from four to seven: Keith Wilson (incumbent), Gloria DeAlba (incumbent), Donald Wall (incumbent), Robert Vermeltfoort, Marc Pearl (incumbent), Keith Ogden (married to Mona Ogden), and Christine Becker. Vermeltfoort resigned from his position in October 2025.
It is against these board members, and the Club Tahoe Resort Owners Association itself, that Club Tahoe owners Lawrence Garvey and Robert Payton (a member of the October 2025 recall board) filed a complaint. They include claims of breaches of governing documents, of duty of good faith and fair dealing, of fiduciary duties, the improper transfer of reserve funds, and more. As of press deadline, there is no specific timeline for the case.
The most critical claims in the Garvey and Payton complaint center around how the April 2025 election happened, which includes reference to a timeshare association’s voting power. For Club Tahoe, when it comes to electing a board member, as an example, there is one vote per interval week owned. If an owner has two interval weeks, they get two votes.
The rub comes when an interval week is returned back to the association for whatever reason (delinquency, deed-back, etc.). They become association-owned weeks. In some timeshare associations, such weeks can be used at the discretion of the board to establish a quorum or for voting purposes. In this practice, it is possible for boards to obtain substantial voting control.
Garvey and Payton allege that, based on freely accessible Simply Voting records (the electronic system used), “the Former Board used [two] voter IDs to cast 1,790 weighted votes, or 24% of the total 7,506 total votes cast in the 2025 Annual Election, in favor of the Former Board-recommended candidates. These two voter IDs were later acknowledged by the Former Board to represent Association-owned, non-dues paying weeks.”
The referenced acknowledgement is from the June 2025 email, which stated that using association-owned weeks is not an anomaly and has been done before, and “there is no provision of NRS 119A or the governing documents that requires an exclusion of association-owned units … Consistent with industry practice, the association-owned units were used for quorum and voting purposes and did not violate any known state statutes.”
By October 2025, tensions were running even higher, and plans to hold a formal recall had been set in motion. After back-and-forth notifications between the various owners, the board, and the association’s legal counsel, a special meeting was held by the Save Club Tahoe group on Saturday, Oct. 25.
PETITIONS, PLENTY: The Save Club Tahoe group encouraged owners to sign petitions to recall the Club Tahoe board at multiple meet-and-greets over summer 2025. Photo by Mona Ogden
“At the Special Meeting,” the legal complaint states, “a quorum was established, and a unanimous recall of the Former Board by 641 Member votes of the Association was certified. There were no votes in favor of keeping the Former Board of Directors in place.”
Brian Arnold, Dusk Bennett, Daniel Doss-Grinstead, Dina Fitch, Keith Ogden, Robert Payton, and Tera Taylor were elected to the recall board.
Taylor, who left her position as general manager a year and a half prior, became an owner in exchange (she purchased her interval from another owner rather than through Tricom, which still wasn’t selling any). “I became an owner so that I could continue the good fight to help all of my owners and my previous staff,” she said.
A Nov. 3, 2025, letter emailed out to owners from the association’s general counsel, the LKG law firm, cited the special member meeting as unlawful because of semantics: the action taken was done under what the recall group called a “special member meeting,” but proceeded with under the rules of a “special board meeting,” which are not the same.
“Because the requirements of the Bylaws were not met, however, the special member meeting for an Oct. 25 recall election was unlawful, and any and all action taken at said meeting invalid,” the letter stated in part.
The original board members engaged in litigation did not respond to Moonshine Ink’s requests for comment.
Sands of time
What’s happening at a neighboring time share, Tahoe Sands Resort (TSR) in Tahoe Vista, serves as what multiple Club Tahoe owners see as a possibility should their efforts to save Club Tahoe fail. Especially since TSR is also managed by Grand Pacific Resorts.
TSR is actively dissolving after financial challenges, particularly a high percentage (55%) of defaulting owners, which equates to about 1,500 timeshare segment owners not paying maintenance fees each year. By the end of 2024, TSR accumulated negative retained earnings of $537,956.
“While the financial situation has been a challenge, we also have the burden of an aging facility,” noted an early 2025 letter from the board of directors to TSR owners. “The reserve fund simply cannot keep up with the amount of capital work needed to maintain a thriving resort. The fund currently has $200,000 in savings and we forecast needed capital improvements in the amount of $1,220,000 over the next three years.”
Owners were given two options: to pay an annual assessment of approximately $3,000 to $5,000 to help continue the resort’s operation indefinitely, or to dissolve, selling the resort and possibly receiving between $15,000 and $20,000 based on market factors. The clear preference, according to survey results, was for the sale of the property.
Kerri Countess has been an owner at Tahoe Sands since 2017. She’s a full-time resident in Spanish Springs (the northern portion of Sparks), Nevada, and fondly refers to Tahoe Sands as a “blue-collar beach club.”
She says the presentation of options was disingenuous.
“[We can either] triple your dues … fee [to] $4,500 a year and that would not allow us to do any upgrades to the property … Or, we could sell the property, and you could net anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000. What do you think people voted for?”
VIEW FROM THE SANDS: Kerri Countess, parent and grandmother to those pictured, has been a member at Tahoe Sands Resort since 2017. As the resort goes through dissolution due to financial struggles, Countess is frustrated by what she sees as disingenuous methods of communication, like board members claiming voter majority to sell the resort by using association-owned weeks for that very vote. Photo by Kerri Countess
Similar to Club Tahoe’s voting methods, TSR’s bylaws state, “The Association Board shall cast votes which arise from suspended Memberships or for Memberships deemed held by the Association.”
Countess pointed out that under such a rule, what the owners want might be moot if the board has enough votes to make a majority.
She told Moonshine she wishes there had been more of an effort to salvage the resort through piecemeal efforts. “At no time was our property ever very active on hotels.com … We have eight buoys on that property. We could’ve [rented out] those eight buoys alone … They didn’t say, ‘We own five parcels, we could potentially investigate selling off one parcel.’ Each one of those parcels has five to seven units on it.”
The Tahoe Sands Resort board did not respond to Moonshine’s request for comment.
As of press deadline, TSR remains for sale; it was listed in April 2025 for $30 million. Owners were able to use their weeks through 2025, but no longer can as of Jan. 1, 2026, though they’re required to pay the annual maintenance fee at half-cost ($485.17 for a studio, $597.33 for a one-bedroom, and $687.05 for a two-bedroom).
“As owners,” proclaimed an April 2025 president’s address to TSR owners, “we are all sellers in this process.”
The San Diego Country Estates in Ramona, California, (also managed by GPR) recently underwent a similarly laid-out vote and is actively undergoing dissolution. After such financial hardships as delinquency (59%) and deferred maintenance, the timeshare association’s board of directors held a survey on owner preferences for how to proceed with the future of the resort. The results, according to an email sent to owners in March 2025, “showed that 84.5% of owner responses, representing 85.5% of the total owned intervals, chose … to dissolve the association and sell all the resort property.”
Just like Tahoe Sands, San Diego Country Estates association incurred new costs to implement the dissolution, “reducing the eventual payout for all participating owners. As a result, owners who wish to fully participate in the final payout will be expected to continue paying their quarterly maintenance fees.”
According to the association website dissolution FAQs (which are almost identical to Tahoe Sands’ dissolution FAQs), owners in good standing could receive between $5,000 and $10,000 per interval once the resort is sold.
Fifty years and counting
As of press deadline, the two boards of Club Tahoe continue to function — though the original board claims operational paralysis and has not moved to finalize the association’s 2026 annual budget, which is required through bylaws to be sent to owners “not less than 60 days before the beginning of the fiscal year,” which started Jan. 1.
“As a direct and proximate result of Counter-defendants’ intentional interference,” posits the defendants’ answer to the complaint, “the Association has suffered and continues to suffer damages, including operational paralysis, vendor confusion, exposure to contractual liability, reputational harm, and increased administrative and legal costs.”
Without clear guidance, owners are paying their annual assessment based on the 2025 amount of $830. Some owners of summertime intervals have been contacted directly by GPR’s financial arm, Advanced Financial, asking for maintenance fee payments. Owners of shares during earlier months, including those who have already visited, were not contacted.
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Club Tahoe condos in Incline. Photo by Nina Miller/Moonshine Ink
Club Tahoe condos in Incline. Photo by Nina Miller/Moonshine Ink
Club Tahoe condos in Incline. Photo by Nina Miller/Moonshine Ink
The recall board has held two meetings over Zoom since its creation, with directors openly acknowledging their lack of access to the association’s finances, full owner roster, and other information. They are planning for the annual meeting on April 25, at which new board directors will be elected.
GPR is operating in its own type of silo with Club Tahoe. Whether the company will facilitate any upcoming elections is unknown. Jeff Brock, regional vice president of resort operations for GPR, told Moonshine in an email that his company is not “in a position to comment or participate in an interview.”
To date, Club Tahoe is not selling interval weeks to new timeshare owners. Rather, short-term renting options are available.
The recall board members and supporters remain wary of GPR’s recent history of dissolving timeshares.
Keith Ogden, a Club Tahoe owner in a particularly interesting spot, as he’s currently functioning as a member on both boards, claims that before he was “shut out” of the original board for aligning with the recall one, he viewed the GPR contract with Club Tahoe (which the recall board has not been able to access).
“They [GPR] are completely in control of finances, and they can starve the resort by mismanaging it,” he said. “And once they starve the resort, it goes bankrupt, then they get 25% of the sales proceeds gross — gross, not net sales — proceeds for being there and running it into the ground.”
Say the “Save Club Tahoe” group does manage to meet its goal of regaining control of the association — there’s still the bylaw-sanctioned possible termination of the resort after 50 years. On Aug. 24, 2028, a meeting will be held with all interval owners and board members. Unless 75% or more of those gathered vote for termination, Club Tahoe Resort’s declaration will continue another 10 years and again 10 years thereafter until termination is agreed upon.
“If we even get that far,” Mona Ogden said. “I honestly don’t think we will. I think they’re actively bankrupting us at the moment, and that will force a sale before we even get to ’28. But in a perfect world, the ’28 vote would’ve been a fair and ethical situation where owners did indeed vote and association-owned weeks were not voted by these people who had hidden them and stockpiled them for years in order to control the place. It all comes down to an ethical board. If you have an ethical board, ’28 shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about because you would feel good about it.”
The original board members, meanwhile, most recently responded to the legal complaint by requesting a preliminary injunction — essentially a pause button on any action for the resort — through the court.
But until there’s an official order that comes down, Save Club Tahoe continues to operate. “We have a lot of intelligent, a lot of competent people,” Fitch said. “People who have different skills, different strengths, and so you draw upon all of that in order to achieve this goal.”
The Lift Workspace, a coworking organization in Truckee, is likely here to stay — for at least another 10 years — after submitting the only lease proposal for its building within the Truckee Tahoe Airport District (TTAD). Now, it must contend with the building’s increase in rent to fair market value per Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards. And Lift is not the only tenant of the airport reckoning with raising rent. It comes as yet another hurdle for the district in its yearslong balancing act between mandates on the aviation side and its commitment to its taxpayer base.
According to TTAD Board of Directors President David Diamond, the airport is making corrections to other past leases that fell short of fair market value.
“In the past, the airport has not always made sure that its leases were market value,” Diamond said. “In some cases they were below, and in some cases they were way below market value. This board under the guidance of our general manager, we’re basically trying to clean everything up.”
As a Public Regional General Aviation airport, the TTAD is obligated to comply with the FAA and its regulations. The airport owns 2,350 acres of land, which serve both aeronautical and nonaeronautical purposes, leading to gray areas in compliance. Furthermore, as a California Special Airport District — one of only nine— TTAD receives around $9 million in taxpayer money from Placer and Nevada counties.
“The alignment of these three policy bodies (federal, state, district) to address the use of public funds and airport revenue is unique with different requirements based on a number of involved public policy and legal factors,” the airport’s general manager Robb Etnyre said.
Contrary to FAA desires, the TTAD board believes taxpayer money should serve some community benefit. Additionally, Diamond said the state of California requires the property taxes the airport receives to be invested or spent in a way that supports the public. Consequently, the TTAD and its publicly elected board walk a fine line between conforming to FAA regulations and the public purpose of an airport to serve the community.
“What’s a fair rate for a nonprofit?” Horvath wondered. “Or what’s a fair rate for maybe a for-profit organization, but one who has a lot of impact in the community?”
“Though the FAA wants airports to self-sustain, the current TTAD Board of Directors believes the taxpayer money should be spent on projects that benefit the public,” Diamond explained.
Regardless of the airport’s mission, Board Vice President Greg Horvath acknowledged how much influence and authority the airport district has because of all the land it owns and manages. Even with FAA guidelines, the board has discretion in the way it manages its property, though the FAA has shut down past TTAD initiatives.
“There’s this natural tension here where it’s the fiduciary duty of the board and the airport district to manage our budget, manage our finances as responsibly as we can,” Horvath said. “I ran on a platform of trying to do so in a way that had the most impact for the community at large, not just people who utilized the airport’s direct services. But these are the types of challenges that come out from the airport having this much authority over property and over space.”
In 2024, following an FAA inspection, the TTAD’s hand was forced. A letter of noncompliance was sent regarding the airport’s below-market price hangars and their usage. Additionally, the FAA deemed some rents to be insufficient, like that of the Truckee Donner Recreation and Parks District Bike Park. Per FAA requirements, the TTAD must charge fair market value in order to not compete with the private sector and to self-sustain its operations with minimal FAA grants. As such, the TTAD began reassessing the lease terms of its tenants.
THE LIFT coworking space occupies the former Clear Capital building just off Truckee Airport Road. After a Request for Proposal process, the Lift was awarded the lease with the airport district. Photos by Ted Coakley III/Moonshine Ink
“There is at a minimum, a sort of general effort to move rents closer to market value,” Horvath said. “Exactly how that’s going to shake out for nonprofits and other, even for-profit community impact organizations is unclear.”
While many organizations are obliged to the airport district as its tenants, the airport district is in turn under obligation to the FAA and its assurances. Etnyre addressed the FAA’s Revenue Use Policy, which instructs airports to create a self-sustaining structure through the business they conduct.
“We cannot use aviation money to subsidize non-aviation facilities. The grant assurance says you can’t do that,” Etnyre said. “The board’s very cautious, as they should be, about the use of public, tax-collected funds as subsidized business operations in our non-aviation facilities.”
Part of the TTAD’s nonaeronautical budget, however, goes toward benefiting the community, including assistance to nonprofit tenants and the allocation of $2 million for fire mitigation projects. The California Special Districts Association provides guidance to the airport district on any public funds it gifts.
TRUCKEE BIKE PARK is one of several TTAD tenants with leases increasing to fair market value per FAA regulations.
Previously, TDRPD received such community benefit with a license agreement originally priced at $1 a year for the Truckee Bike Park. The fair market value hunt has changed its terms. After the FAA land inspection, the general manager for the recreation district, Sven Leff, said the airport informed them the rent for its bike park would have to change.
In April 2026, the district will begin paying $5,796 per year for the park. It also leases the land for the Ponderosa Golf Course from the airport for a nominal fee, since that acts as an open-space safety zone for the airport.
Leff said the agreement for the golf course included a clause acknowledging that as a nonprofit with community benefit, the parks district was eligible for rental credit payments that covered the full market cost of what was valued at $166,000 per year in 2008.
“What’s a fair rate for a nonprofit?” Horvath wondered. “Or what’s a fair rate for maybe a for-profit organization, but one who has a lot of impact in the community?”
This was just the question the TTAD board has asked when leasing to nonprofits, as well as when the Airport Office Building rented by the Lift was reassessed. Several nonprofits housed in TTAD’s warehouse such as Truckee Roundhouse, Tahoe Food Hub, and Sierra Community House, are the subject of in-kind discounts. According to Etnyre, those nonprofits pay discounted rent, equivalent of about a 50% decrease from fair market value.
“From a business perspective, maybe we’re not being as smart as we could be in terms of revenue opportunities,” Diamond said. “But we are offsetting that loss of revenue in terms of benefit to the region.”
The in-kind discounts are considered community benefit programs that result in foregone revenue. TTAD Director of Finance and Administration Liza Smith estimated the foregone revenue from its warehouse nonprofits for 2026 to equate to around $102,000 as their leases are reassessed for fair market value.
“We’ve got $9M of property tax coming in and I want to make sure that it is used on behalf of the people who are paying it,” Diamond said. “Because that, to me, is general good governance.”
Diamond added, as a pilot himself, he doesn’t think public funds should subsidize his hobby. On the aviation side of things, Etnyre said the TTAD is working on adjusting aeronautical rents and fees to fair market value, as well as introducing landing fees, enforcing hangar rent, and exploring a partnership with JSX, a private jet charter service. JSX was the other primary party interested in the Airport Office Building, but it ultimately didn’t submit a proposal.
Additionally, for-profit organizations like the Lift face higher costs, even though the Lift offers community benefit by serving nonprofits at discounted rates. The assessment commissioned by the airport for the facility valued rent at $2.25 per square foot for a total of $24,300 per year. The Lift is currently paying $1.67 until July 31, 2026, and counter-proposed $1.85 per square foot for its new lease.
THE WAREHOUSE is home to three nonprofits — Truckee Roundhouse, Tahoe Food Hub, and Sierra Community House — as part of a community benefit partnership with the TTAD.
In the TTAD Board of Directors’ Jan. 28 meeting, when it disclosed it would lease to the Lift, its staff report acknowledged any capital improvements for the Lift would require taxpayer money to complete, leaving some uncertainty about the Lift’s future.
“As a California Special District, TTAD’s use of property tax funds must meet the public purpose of the district,” the staff report stated. “Because TRV [Truckee River Ventures is the parent company of the Lift] is a for-profit enterprise, funding tenant-specific improvements could be perceived as subsidizing a private business.”
The airport district continues to have to strike a balance between the communities it serves and the regulations it abides by. Due to its allocation of funds to wildfire mitigation, it has shifted its community benefit funding toward a focus on community-wide benefit. However, Etnyre said it will continue to provide in-kind discounts to nonprofits.
While the TTAD works to manage its rentals, entities such as the Town of Truckee have expressed interest in some airport parcels of land, which the district may be willing to part with. If it disposes of the land, the FAA will be involved in how that money is used.
“I think that brings up good questions for the community at large,” Horvath said. “What kind of role do we want the airport to have? … These organizations […] have huge impacts in our community but are sort of beholden to the airport district as their landlord.”
I was at a party a while back when the conversation turned toward AI. A financially well-off fellow I’d just met told me how he’d given thank you letters to his best clients. He went on to boast that, while he handwrote out and signed his name to each of those thank you letters, he had ChatGPT write the actual words to the letters for him.
That didn’t sit well with me.
One-hundred fifty years ago, on March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the world’s first ever telephone call, but it took 75 discerning years for his invention to reach 100 million users. When the automobile came out, it took 33 years to gain 100 million users. The cell phone took 15 years for its first 100 mil, and the internet conquered the feat in seven years.
It took ChatGPT 60 days.
That mark was reached three years ago this month. And now the thing is everywhere, with about a billion users (and growing) relying on it for more and more things with greater and greater devotion. In three years — out of the 300,000-plus years of us homo sapiens walking on two legs around this word — that thing has changed the way we live and think and do.
And I don’t think that’s good.
It is 2026, and there’s no iota of a shred of a doubt that we are in the AI Era. It’s here, and it’s here to stay. But while it took thousands of years for us to go from stone to bronze to iron, it is precisely the quickness of the adoption of AI that should give us pause. Things are happening like a lightning-strike and only getting faster. It is 2026, and we all wake up and brush our teeth in a technological arms race of instant, instanter, and instantest without any idea if what is being shoved down our metaphoric throat is good for us or bad for us or just for the profit of the few.
What was wrong and what needed fixing? What’s the AI end-game? What, in 2026, does it mean to be human?
In so many facets of our human lives that weren’t broken four years ago, we are now being told (even forced) to “leverage the power of AI” in order to do things faster. But if everyone in a race starts speeding up at the same pace, everyone in that race is still going the same relative speed. Nothing is gained.
And when we start going faster just for the sake of going faster, things get lost. Learning gets lost. Texture gets lost. Wisdom gets lost. Where this seems most troublesome for our humanity, to me, at this stage, is with our written words.
Less than three years since the unveiling of large language models (LLMs), our culture now uses the machines to write (or “improve”) everything from our emails to our essays to our web copy to our songs to our books; our lesson plans, grocery lists, workout regimens, text messages, and, yes, thank you letters.
And let us not forget that true writing is rewriting — that it is in our editing, our reworking, our drafting, our human honing where we really get to know what it is we are trying to say and how we are trying to say it.
It is 2026, and I encourage us human beings to return to writing our own writing. Because if we don’t, like any language that is no longer practiced, we will one day lose the ability to do so. And when we human beings lose our ability to write, it is our ability to think, to figure out problems, to find creative solutions, to be human, that will wither and fade.
AI is here and it’s not going to go away. It will grow more astronomically powerful and more absolutely pervasive within our everyday existence. With access to it in our pockets, we human beings have essentially become cyborgs. Yet we are not meant to live as cyborgs, but as human beings.
So let us live like human beings. And a good way to make sure we do that is to get back to writing our own writing.
As I begin my year as mayor of Truckee, I do so with deep gratitude and reflection. This year is especially meaningful as it marks both the start of my term as mayor and my final year on the town council after seven years of service. It feels like a fitting way to close this chapter of public service.
Over the past seven years, we have taken on big challenges, made difficult decisions, and laid critical groundwork to ensure Truckee remains a resilient, welcoming, and thriving town for generations to come. I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together.
I am especially proud of our commitment to sustainability and climate action. The town council designated annual funding for environmental initiatives, turning values into action. We helped establish the Climate Transformation Alliance to advance regional carbon neutrality and adopted single-use food ware and plastic water bottle ordinances. We developed a Building Decarbonization Roadmap that positions Truckee as a leader in environmental protection. We are transitioning the town fleet to electric vehicles where practical, expanding fare-free and reduced-fare transportation options like TART Connect and vanpool programs, and supporting year-round bicycle and pedestrian mobility through BCycle and trail plowing.
Truckee was designated a Clean California Community this year, one of the first 30 cities statewide. This achievement highlights Truckee’s leadership in reducing litter, enhancing public spaces, and fostering community pride.
We have also invested in people, strengthening staff capacity to address housing, sustainability, engagement, communications, and inclusion, while rightsizing our organization to better meet community needs, including adding critical public safety positions. Public safety and preparedness have remained a top priority with the creation of the Emergency Management Division and expanded wildfire mitigation efforts.
The adoption of the Truckee 2040 General Plan was one of the most consequential efforts of my time on the council. This robust public process incorporated the Town’s first Climate Action Element, people-focused mobility policies, strengthened community character, and included a robust safety element addressing wildfire risk.
Housing remains one of our most urgent priorities. The town has secured 800 deed-restricted units and created, preserved, or converted housing for over 860 locals.Innovative programs like Lease to Locals are now being replicated across the country.
There is more to do, and so we also advanced funding mechanisms to support more housing programs, transportation, and emergency services. I am equally proud of our thriving small business community, the opening of DEWBEYÚMUWE? Park, and the investments we’ve made in trails and roads, including the renewal of critical tax measures that support this work.
We could not do all of this without the volunteers advancing special projects like the River Revitalization Steering Committee, the Chief’s Advisory Committee, the Planning Commission, Public Art Commission of Truckee, and many more.
The Tahoe Truckee Homeless Action Coalition has made meaningful progress addressing homelessness, leading with compassion and collaboration as we move toward opening a pilot navigation center.
Looking ahead, key milestones include Housing Element decisions, improvements to the Homegrown Housing Program, groundbreaking for Edmunds Lofts, completion of a town-wide evacuation study, a new heat pump incentive program, public art installations, and rollout of Cloudpermit to improve transparency and efficiency. We also look forward to building our bilingual communications, supporting the Truckee Library, the restoration of Donner Lake, and the continued care of our trails through the renewal of the existing sales tax.
None of this happens without the tireless work of town staff, my fellow councilmembers, committee members, and the passion of this community. Truckee is strongest when we work together.
My hope for Truckee is record snow, ambitious agendas, and thoughtful, spirited conversations that move us forward.
~ Anna Klovstad was elected to the Truckee Town Council in 2018 and 2022. She cofounded the Climate Transformation Alliance as mayor and now leads TTUSD’s Facilities Department. As a certified construction and energy manager with an architecture degree, she champions energy efficiency and sustainability projects in the Tahoe/Truckee region.
Tahoe is facing a workforce housing crisis. A recent community survey led by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) revealed that two-thirds of Tahoe Basin residents struggle to afford housing. These are the workers who keep Tahoe running year-round: staffing our hospitals, maintaining our infrastructure, educating our children, responding to emergencies, and supporting our tourism economy.
When workers are priced out of the Basin, daily commuting becomes unavoidable. That influx of vehicles worsens congestion on already overburdened roads and degrades the quality of life for residents and visitors. More cars also means more pollution and more runoff from roadways flowing into the lake.
On its surface, it can seem like this is a simple housing supply problem. While it’s true there is a lack of access to affordable housing for many people who work in Tahoe and others who live here with limited incomes — like seniors and people with disabilities — the reality is more nuanced. Tahoe doesn’t have enough affordable housing to accommodate our local workers; too many existing units are used by tourists or as second homes that sit empty.
The numbers are dramatic. Of the 49,000 housing units in the Tahoe Basin, roughly half are occupied year-round, while the other half sit empty or are used as vacation rentals. And of all the housing in the Basin, only 707 units are deed-restricted — apartments, townhomes, and condos guaranteed to be rented below market rate to qualifying tenants. Building more housing without deed restrictions is most likely to support additional luxury housing, not the workforce housing we need.
Another reason simply increasing housing supply will not work in Tahoe is the lake itself. More density without stringent water-quality protections results in more runoff flowing into the lake. Loosening development standards to accommodate more construction will create more problems for the lake, a national treasure that deserves protection.
TRPA just kicked off an environmental review to examine policies to increase workforce housing. That process may sound technical, but its implications are anything but abstract. The decisions made now will determine not only where and how people live here, but also how well we protect the lake in the effort to meet our workforce housing needs.
The last time TRPA conducted a full-scale environmental review of development impacts in the Basin in 2012, it set a hard growth cap on the number of housing units that could be built here without compromising lake clarity. Of the 52,000 potential units, only about 3,000 remain unbuilt. That’s why it’s critical for the environmental review process to examine not only which types of units can be built and where, but also how the housing we already have can better serve year-round residents.
By focusing on adaptive reuse and programs like downpayment assistance to help people access existing homes, TRPA can address housing needs without sacrificing the lake. Most importantly, TRPA must narrowly focus its incentives to make it less expensive for developers to build housing that meets the needs of our workforce through deed restrictions and other tailored policies and programs.
TRPA will examine a wide range of issues as part of the environmental impact statement, and the scoping period just kicked off. The agency’s decision-makers need to hear from the community to understand priorities and concerns. To learn more about the issues and to add your voice, go to mountainareapreservation.org/the-housing-tahoe-needs.
~ Alexis Ollar is the executive director of Mountain Area Preservation, an environmental and workforce-housing advocacy organization based in Tahoe/Truckee, working since 1987 to advocate for the environment and community.
Venus entered Pisces on February 10 and will move through the sign for the whole month, working to soften our hearts. Mercury joins the North Node in Pisces on February 12, bringing intuitive, impactful messages. February 14 marks a major threshold as Saturn joins Neptune in fiery self-confident Aries, signaling a cycle reset around will, identity, and how spiritual vision becomes embodied action. This is also Valentine’s Day — try to use the extra sparks for fun and connection rather than reacting defensively.
With Saturn and Neptune now together in Aries, we experience both completion and initiation. Interestingly, this event closely coincides with the Chinese New Year on February 17, when the collective shifts from the Chinese astrological energies of Wood Snake (shedding and release) to Fire Horse (action, boldness, and momentum). That same day, the Aquarius new eclipse moon occurs and will be paired with Venus conjunct the North Node in Pisces. February 23 carries volatile energy as Mars will square Uranus. These few days will be electric and a little edgy, so watch out for impulsivity. And when Mercury goes retrograde in Pisces on February 26, aim to trust your intuition while also being on the lookout for misunderstandings.
The Virgo full moon on March 3 brings discernment and a connection to practical concerns. Venus enters Aries on March 6, sharing the sky with Saturn and Neptune and asking us to check in on what desires are truly worth committing to.
NATURAL MAGIC
For this month’s wild mashup of the Chinese New Year and the new eclipse moon in Aquarius with Venus conjunct the North Node in Pisces, create a simple water manifestation ritual. Fill a bowl of spring water with rose quartz, a seashell, or moonstone (or all three!). Before bed, name one desire you are ready to receive (if you can do this outside, under the dark, starry sky, that is wonderful, but if it’s too cold then do it in your cozy home). Next, dip your fingers in the water and touch your heart and temples while naming your desire. Then place the water near your bed and go to sleep, letting your dreams and the water magic work overnight. In the morning, once again dab the water on your heart and temples. Journal your thoughts and emotions on what you received in your dreams.
In honor of the Virgo full moon eclipse on March 3, engage in a practical purification ritual by cleaning your altar, desk, or closet. As you organize and clear out what’s no longer needed, also speak aloud which habits or obligations are no longer sustainable for you. This full moon rewards discernment, and its magic looks like clarity, action, and devotion to what truly works
On a cold, gray day in Truckee, 40 years ago, what could you do for warmth and comfort? You could light your wood stove, enjoy seeing the flames through the window, and cook a yummy meal in an iron pot on top.
Even if the power went out, as it often did in winter months in those days, no problem. You could be warmed and cheered by the fire from the stove, along with smelling a delicious recipe your mom used to cook.
A CLASSIC COVER for the classic wood-stove cookbook that could. All photos/images courtesy Laurel Lippert
In 1977,I moved to Truckee into a house that was built in 1878, learning in time that people chose to move here because of the surrounding natural beauty. In 1974, my husband Tom and his friend Tim Ward had bought the house on main street, a block from the downtown businesses, for $11,400.
Our friends also lived in inexpensive old houses, worked hard, and cooked at home. The simplicity of the “good old days” offered us time to share our beautiful outdoor setting and the stories of our pasts.
Tom and I were raised in the 1940s and ’50s in the Midwest, by people whose lives were simple and only survivable through hard work. Our parents lived on what they earned, and eating well (not expensively, but well) was always a priority. Recipes passed down from parents and grandparents were an important part of living and enjoying food.
When Tom and I decided to write The Woodstove Cookerybook in 1980, it wasn’t for money. Tom taught skiing in the winter, and I worked at a local downtown store and restaurant, so we had the time and thought it would be fun to create a cookbook and test recipes to choose which ones to include.
HANDWRITTEN: The original letter from San Francisco Chronicle columnist Merle Ellis to Laurel’s husband, Tom.
Our house, in the heart of downtown, 100 feet from the railroad tracks, had a ground-level to store old stuff, a main level with a small living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a room we converted to Tom’s office. The top level was two bedrooms and a bathroom that we had installed. Back in the old days, people bought the old houses because of the low prices. We were never allowed to remodel the exterior, due to the historic preservation code for our 100-year-old town.
Other than the frequent train whistles, old Truckee was quiet, and the warmth came from feeling safe and having nature’s beauty and good friends nearby. A popular store downtown, Robert’s, provided useful and unique household items, some of which we bought for cooking on our wood stove. In December 1980, the owner of Robert’s agreed to sell The Woodstove Cookerybook and displayed it at the checkout counter.
Soon, the book gained popularity. Reviews were published in the Sierra Sun (twice), Tahoe Daily Tribune, and Lodi News Sentinel. (Tom was raised in Lodi.)
But the real fame came in December 1981 when we received a call from a man who said he recently bought a copy of our book at Robert’s while visiting Truckee. “My name is Merle Ellis,” he began, “and I write the food column for the San Francisco Chronicle. I would like to write about The Woodstove Cookerybook. Is that okay?” he asked.
I was stunned. “Of course!” I answered.
On December 29, 1981, his story appeared in the Chronicle, titled Old-Fashioned Cooking on a Wood Stove, and featured two of our recipes, one entitled Montana Beef Stew and the other Tom’s Never Twice the Same Beans.
Oh, and Ellis had ended our phone conversation with the comment, “My column is syndicated in 130 newspapers.”
After the article ran, checks poured in, and, over the years, we sold thousands of copies of our little cookbook, always for $3.95, plus 70 cents for shipping. An obsessive bookkeeper, I wrote down the number of letters I sent to libraries, museums, prospective dealers, magazines, book clubs, and distributors. I also kept Merle Ellis’s handwritten letter to Tom, “I’m glad you’re getting some results from the column,” it read. “Hope it continues. Neva and I are going to try to take advantage of your offer to do a little skiing before the snow melts. We’ll be in touch.”
The 1981 San Francisco Chronicle story by Merle Ellis that really helped spread the word about The Woodstove Cookerybook.
In April 1983, The Woodstove Cookerybook was also included in another column in the San Francisco Chronicle, titled Cooking with Wood by Jane Benet, a food editor, with our address and phone number included.
The story goes on from there, but I’ll just end with this — cookbooks never get old, nor do most good books. Keep reading, keep cooking, and keep enjoying the past and the future in your present.
The 44th annual North Lake Tahoe Snowfest returns Feb. 26 to March 8 for all its activities, events, tomfoolery, and fun.
What started out in the early ’80s as a winter festival to entice tourists to continue taking ski trips into March (visits dropped way off after February) and to throw a party has evolved into 10-plus days of the community getting together for good times.
It all commences in grand fashion Thursday, Feb. 26, with Gar Woods’ annual kick-off party, where local legends The Blues Monsters (with Kendall Naughton) will get the dance floor going, the Wet Woodies will be flowing, and the Snowfest scholarship candidates — two local high school seniors recognized for their contributions to area nonprofits — will be introduced.
LE CHAMOIS’ Valley Throwback Party means different things to different people. Photos by Wade Snider/Moonshine Ink
Philanthropy is a crux aspect of the festival. “Snowfest raises an extraordinary amount of money for local nonprofits and student scholarships,” said Catherine Cooper, board member of Snowfest, with its every happening, sponsorship, and vendor giving back to Tahoe/Truckee in some way. “It’s an honor to work on this event for, and with, the community.”
On the 27th, everyone heads over to Olympic Valley from 2 to 5 p.m. as Le Chamois unleashes the Valley Throwback Party, its après-ski hootenanny humdinger of huge proportions.
Attendees are encouraged to don retro garb and come ready to party like it’s the early ’80s — when Snowfest was founded and both it and The Chammy got their share of screentime in the now cult-favorite ski comedy Hot Dog … the Movie. (Remember that snowball fight where the locals fire down from the rooftops onto bigheaded Rudi Garmisch and his gang?)
After The Chammy it’s on to the Tahoe City Winter Sports park from 5 to 8 p.m. for a fireworks show and live music by the local classic rockers The Nomads. The nearby Sierra Surf Club at the Evo Hotel is the spot for the afterparty.
THE TAHOE CITY STREET FAIRE has a little bit of everything for anyone and everyone, big and small, yound and old.
From 8 to 11 a.m. the next morning (2/28) the annual North Tahoe Firefighters Association pancake breakfast takes place at the T.C. Fire Station, leading attendees right into the extravagant Tahoe City Street Faire, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“I love how the Tahoe City Parade has morphed into the Tahoe City Street Faire,” Cooper said. “The first Snowfests held in the 80s had street dance parties, and that tradition is retained now as the street faire … for adults, families, kids. It’s a huge celebration.”
Saturday’s good times keep snowballing with the Tahoe Tap Haus BlizzardFest Brewfest in the Cobblestone, which — with its ear-catching lineup of DJs and Burning-Man-art-car Edna the Elephants’ laser light show — has become a rocking party that last year alone also raised over $10K for the Shane McConkey Foundation.
Sunday, March 1, sees some time devoted to our four-legged pals, with the dog pull in Tahoe City (ever seen a canine pull a keg?). After the quadrupeds pave the way, the next few days lend a bold bipedal sport theme; Monday, March 2, features the Tahoe youth figure skating recital at the Winter Sports Park, and Tuesday brings Pete ‘n Peters Bar Olympics (a triathlon of pool, shuffleboard, and darts). Wednesday, the 4th, holds opening day of the Town Race League at Palisades Tahoe in the afternoon and a night of qualifying rounds at the Sports Park ice rink for milk jug curling.
What in the heck is milk jug curling? Well, per tahoesnowfest.org, “A Snowfest original and modern Tahoe tradition … a hilarious and competitive twist on a winter classic” where, instead of stones, competitors (often outlandishly costumed) push milk jugs across the ice, aiming for their target.
“If you like playing bocce but want to up the level of stoke and risk,” longtime North Tahoe local and event attendee Rick Hengel said, “milk jug curling on ice is definitely something to consider.”
That said, on March 6, among other events, attendees can watch or compete in ice sculpting at Alibi Ale Works in Truckee, a hot-wing eating contest at Tahoe Tap House, Bridgetender’s Fat Friday 3-Point Jam, and/or Tahoe National Brewing Co.’s Gelande Quaff.
Gelände quaffing [ɡəˈlɛndə kwæfɪŋ], noun: an athletically inclined drinking game founded unintentionally in the mid-80s by original members of the Jackson Hole Air Force (the mountain’s legendary band of hard-charging skiers) when a beer mug sent gliding down the Bear Claw Café bar top overshot its intended target, fell off the edge, was somehow caught mid-air by a quick-reflexed patron and promptly chugged. In short time rules were established and a game was invented, with points awarded for successful catches (one point for a mug catch, two points for a handle catch) and successful chugs.
Yet if gelände quaffing isn’t your thing, that’s really no thing at all. Because the point of this article is that Snowfest has something for everyone. I mean, we haven’t even talked about the Rock & Roll Prom, the Alaskan Open Snow Golf Tournament, the Kings Beach parade, Incline Village’s Winterfest, the clam bake, the polar swim, the FreeHeel Fest, The Great Ski Race, River Ranch’s annual ice sculpture contest, or about a dozen-plus other events.
The thing is, Tahoe/Truckee is still, at its core, a weird, removed, eclectic, zany, music-loving, dog-loving, game-loving, sports-loving, sometimes crazy, sometimes party-hardy, milk-jug-curling good-time-quaffing mountain-town that enjoys coming together every once in a while to celebrate our awesomely unique culture.
Snowfest 2026 is that opportunity to do so. See ye out there.
For the full calendar of events, ticketed events versus free (most) events, nonprofit benefacts, scholarship awards, further details on milk jug curling or gelände quaffing, or general info, visit tahoesnowfest.org.
Feb. 4 was a day that rattled the world of journalism. Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, who purchased the Washington Post in 2013 — the 149-year-old storied newspaper that was home to Woodward and Bernstein, the famous reporter duo who broke the Watergate story in 1973 — announced that he was laying off 30% of the entire workforce, around 300 people, due to financial losses over the past two years. The Post will shutter its sports desk, same with the Books section, and it will suspend its podcast that this reporter enjoys and listens to for accurate news and analyses, Post Reports. The international desk will shrink — the paper’s Ukraine bureau chief and correspondent, as well as the entire Middle East desk, were let go. Not like anything of note is happening in those regions, right? Interestingly, the reporter who covers Amazon for the Post was also fired.
Journalism has often been called the fourth estate, or the fourth branch of government, because of its important role in holding up a light to what our elected and business leaders are doing. A society cannot hold its leaders accountable if we don’t know what they are up to. That is one reason the Post, in 2017, adopted the official slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” This highlights the dangers of government secrecy and the importance of a free press.
Bezos, like many billionaires, has sought to cozy up to President Trump. He paid $40 million for the Melania movie and spent another $35 million marketing the film (so far, the movie has only made $7 million). Imagine if he had used that money instead to save the Washington Post? Or the $500 million he spent on a yacht? Or the $55 million for his wedding?
Bezos showed his true colors when, in an unprecedented move, the FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson last month, taking her phone, two laptops, and her Garmin watch in an investigation of a government contractor’s handling of classified material. Bezos stayed silent.
Whether or not you like the Washington Post, it has played an essential role in our democracy for the past century and a half, exposing important stories about our leaders, our government, and the world that many of us would not know about otherwise. The decimation of the Post is yet another example of democracy’s pillars crumbling under the Trump administration.
Former Post executive director Martin Baron said, “This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations … Bezos’ sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own. This is a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”
That is one reason Sen. Bernie Sanders coined a new slogan for the Post — “Democracy Dies in Oligarchy.”
Don’t let our democracy die. Please continue to support newspapers, both local, regional, and national. A democracy without a free and fair press is no democracy at all.
Shoulder-Season Playbook: Big Impact, Better Value in South Lake Tahoe
Timing is everything for your next event.
When you’re mapping out a leadership retreat, incentive getaway, or multi-day meeting, timing can make all the difference. In South Lake Tahoe, shoulder season is where savvy planners find the sweet spot. Fewer calendar constraints. Less hustle. More options. And a destination that still delivers that unmistakable lake-and-mountain wow factor.
Why Shoulder Season Works
Shoulder season is the quiet achiever of Tahoe event planning. It’s when the destination feels open, adaptable, and ready to work with you.
With fewer competing bookings, hotels and venues have greater availability and flexibility. That means meeting rooms configured to fit your flow, smoother load-ins, and easier coordination across multi-day programs. It also means your stakeholders see a stronger return on investment without sacrificing experience.
And make no mistake, the experience still delivers. You’re meeting where North America’s largest alpine lake meets the Sierra Nevada peaks. Crisp air fuels clear thinking. Big views inspire big ideas. Your attendees still get the awe, and then some.
Sweet-Spot Weeks to Know
And make no mistake, the experience still delivers. You’re meeting where North America’s largest alpine lake meets the Sierra Nevada peaks. Crisp air fuels clear thinking. Big views inspire big ideas. Your attendees still get the awe, and then some.While Tahoe’s shoulder seasons shift slightly year to year, two planning windows consistently deliver the best mix of value, flexibility, and seasonal appeal for meetings and group activities in South Lake Tahoe.
Late April through early June marks spring’s transition on the South Shore. The lake begins to shine, the mountains hold onto their final traces of snow, and the destination feels refreshed. Golf courses reopen, lower-elevation trails become accessible, and lake cruises, kayaking, and paddleboarding begin to ramp up. Longer daylight hours and clear air support productive meeting days paired with outdoor receptions, scenic breaks, or casual team-building.
During spring, indoor venues remain plentiful and adaptable, while outdoor activities can be layered in as conditions allow. It’s a smart choice for incentive programs and strategy sessions that benefit from a sense of renewal without committing fully to summer logistics.
Late September through earlyNovember delivers one of Tahoe’s most focused and visually rewarding seasons. Fall color arrives in nearby valleys, temperatures settle into a comfortable range, and the lake takes on a calm, reflective tone. Hiking remains accessible, lake cruises continue into early fall, and cooler evenings naturally lend themselves to fireside networking, private dinners, and relaxed social gatherings.
Fall shoulder season also brings consistency. Weather tends to be stable, days are still bright, and leaf peeping is in its prime.
A quick planning note: Tahoe is a mountain destination, and shoulder seasons come with character. Spring may include lingering snow at higher elevations, and fall evenings cool quickly. The upside is choice. South Lake Tahoe’s walkable meetings district, flexible indoor venues, and experienced local partners make it easy to build programs that stay smooth, comfortable, and compelling regardless of what the weather decides to do.
The Value Equation
his is where shoulder season delivers its strongest planning advantage.
Planners often see more favorable room rates and added concessions during these windows. That can translate into additional breakout space, enhanced AV support, or flexible food and beverage minimums. Venues have more room to accommodate special requests and last-minute adjustments, making programs easier to fine-tune.
Many groups choose to reinvest those savings into experiences that elevate the agenda. A hosted welcome reception with lake views. A guided outdoor activity between sessions. A surprise guest speaker or team excursion. Value extends beyond the hotel stay. Group dining and off-site experiences often avoid peak-season premiums and rigid requirements, allowing budgets to stretch further across the full program. Add in Visit Tahoe’s helpful event value tips, and you’ll discover just how affordable your lakeside retreat can be.
Let’s Plan (Without the Headaches)
Shoulder season planning in South Lake Tahoe is refreshingly straightforward.
Start by browsing a wide range of venues, from large-scale, flexible spaces like the Tahoe Blue Event Center to boutique and lakefront options designed for more intimate groups. The destination offers a mix of casino resorts, luxury lodges, and eco-conscious properties, making it easy to match the stay to your program’s tone.
Detailed room and venue specs help planners align space with session needs from the start. Access through Reno-Tahoe International Airport keeps travel simple, with convenient shuttle options and a scenic drive that sets the tone before attendees even arrive.
A Smarter Way to Meet
Shoulder season in South Lake Tahoe isn’t about scaling back. It’s about meeting smarter. With timing on your side and the lake as your backdrop, these windows create a clearer path to meetings and incentives that deliver on every level. So let’s start planning your event. Browse South Shore venues, explore room and meeting specs, and send us your RFP. We’ll help you turn smart timing into an even better experience.
Whether you’re unwinding after an outdoor adventure or simply seeking a moment of calm, South Lake Tahoe’s day spas offer restorative experiences inspired by mountain landscapes and crystal-clear lake views. From luxe bodywork to unique cultural rituals, there’s a way to pamper your body and mind in every season.
Perched within the serene grounds of Edgewood Tahoe Resort, this Forbes Travel Guide 4-Star Spa invites guests to relax in a refined mountain setting with treatments designed to soothe both body and spirit. Signature options include restorative gemstone and specialty massages, body rituals, and facials that marry luxury with the natural tranquility of Lake Tahoe. The spa lounge area features a hot tub that is for clients of the spa only. Learn more.
Waterfront and restorative, The Spa at The Landing blends the calming influence of the lake with a menu of body therapies, facials, and restorative treatments featuring organic products and natural botanicals. With its focus on alignment and overall renewal, this spa provides a peaceful complement to lakeside adventures and relaxation. Learn more.
Serenity Spa at the Marriott Grand Residence Lake Tahoe
Located inside the Marriott Grand Residence Club, Serenity Spa offers a warm and tranquil setting for guests to indulge in full-service massages, facials, and wellness treatments. It’s an easy way to unwind after a day on the trails or slopes, with customizable spa packages and a welcoming retreat atmosphere. Learn more.
Reflections Spa provides a serene escape within one of South Lake Tahoe’s most iconic properties. With rejuvenating treatments designed to melt away stress and melt into mountain views, this spa experience pairs well with a day of gaming, dining, or live entertainment. Learn more.
Rooted in the Japanese tradition of healing and renewal, Onsen Spa at Bally’s combines thermal features like hot baths with a selection of massage and bodywork offerings. It’s a soothing complement to the energy of nightly entertainment and gaming on the South Shore. (Note: Onsen details are informed by local listings and spa hotel guides.)Learn more.
More Ways to Restore in Tahoe
South Lake Tahoe’s wellness scene extends beyond traditional day spas, inviting you to explore experiences that engage body, mind, and nature:
Tahoe Forest Baths offers a rare Japanese cedar enzyme bath experience, one of only two of its kind in the U.S., promoting detoxification, stress relief, and relaxation through warm, natural cedar and active enzymes.
Bliss Experiences provides curated classes and workshops — from forest bathing to mindful movement — that connect visitors with nature and deeper personal renewal.
OMNI Tahoe Wellness Center in the heart of South Lake Tahoe focuses on holistic well-being with a variety of fitness and wellness offerings beyond traditional spa services. Guests can enjoy infrared-heated yoga in the Solar Studio, non-heated classes like aerial hammock and TRX in the Lunar Studio, and other movement-based experiences designed to enhance strength, flexibility, and recovery. It’s a great complement to outdoor adventure and post-play relaxation in Tahoe’s mountain environment.
From deep-tissue massage to cedar enzyme baths and bespoke healing workshops, South Lake Tahoe’s spa and wellness offerings are as varied as the landscape itself. Whether you’re seeking recovery after sledding, skiing, or biking — or simply craving a tranquil retreat — there’s a restorative experience here to suit every traveler.
Perfectly positioned at more than 6,200 feet above sea level, Lake Tahoe is an ideal place for Olympians to live, train, and explore.
Here is a list of Olympic athletes who call Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area home, as well places to visit and take in Lake Tahoe’s Olympic legacy. Looking for somewhere to watch the Olympics while you’re in town? Check out Sports Bars here.
Jamie Anderson is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and South Lake Tahoe local. Anderson competed in her third Olympic Games in Beijing, after winning gold in the slopestyle competition in 2014 and 2018. Jamie Anderson may be known for long, cerebral runs, but she has plenty of big air tricks in her bag as well.
Anderson swept the slopestyle and big air events at the 2021 X Games in Aspen and won the slopestyle events at the Mammoth World Cup 2022. Considered a favorite by many, this South Lake Tahoe local is certainly deserving of a few cheers.
Maddison Michelle “Maddie” Bowman is an American freestyle skier who quickly made her mark on the sport with a breakout performance at the Winter X Games in 2012. She captured a silver medal in the superpipe. From there, Bowman established herself as one of the most dominant halfpipe skiers of her era, claiming X Games gold medals in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and again in 2018.
Her career reached its pinnacle at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where she delivered a standout performance to earn the gold medal in ski halfpipe. Bowman returned to Olympic competition in 2018, finishing 11th against a highly competitive field. Known for her consistency, technical skill, and competitive drive, Bowman remains one of the sport’s most accomplished athletes.
Hannah Teter is an American snowboarder and Olympic champion known for her smooth style and consistency on the halfpipe. She rose to international prominence at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, where she captured the gold medal with a standout performance. Four years later, Teter proved her staying power by returning to the Olympic podium with a silver medal at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
Beyond the Olympics, Teter built an impressive competitive résumé, including a bronze medal at the 2005 FIS World Championships in Whistler, British Columbia, and six World Cup victories throughout her career. Recognized for both her talent and longevity in the sport, Teter remains one of the most accomplished and respected figures in women’s snowboarding.
David Wise is an American freestyle skier and one of the most decorated athletes in men’s halfpipe history. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Wise captured back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2018, cementing his reputation as a dominant force on the world stage. His breakthrough moment came at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where he made history by becoming the first Olympic champion in the debut of the men’s freeski halfpipe event.
Wise’s success extends well beyond the Olympics. He is a five-time X Games gold medalist, earning top honors in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, and 2023. Notably, he entered the Sochi Games with strong momentum after securing his third consecutive X Games gold in Aspen earlier that year.
A 2022 Olympian and eight-year member of the U.S. Ski Team, Cashman returns to the Winter Games driven by a desire to continue challenging expectations in alpine skiing. A technically focused racer specializing in Giant Slalom and Super Giant Slalom, she has built her career on determination, consistency, and a belief that elite performance is possible without following a traditional development path.
O’Brien began skiing at Palisades Tahoe through the Mighty Mite program before starting her racing career with Team Palisades Tahoe. She later attended Burke Mountain Academy, where her performance led to selection for the National Training Group and, in 2016, a spot on the U.S. Ski Team.
Since joining the team, O’Brien has built an accomplished career, including winning the NorAm overall title in 2019, earning eight national championship titles, and competing at the 2022 Winter Games. She was also a member of the U.S. Team Event that won gold at the 2023 World Championships. Growing up in a family of ski racers helped shape her lifelong connection to the sport.
With what has to be the coolest last name of any Winter Olympics athlete, Sugar Bowl Ski Team & Academy’s Luke Winters officially punched his ticket to Beijing after securing a career-best 10th place in Slalom racing. In 2019 Luke won his first national championship title at the alpine combined at Sugarloaf, Maine. He followed that performance up with a second national title in slalom at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire.
A member of the United States cross-country team, North Lake Tahoe’s JC Schoonmaker is entering his first-ever Olympics with a full head of steam after securing a pair of top-10 finishes and a national title at Soldier Hallow, Utah.
A California native and Alaska resident, Hannah Halvorsen is headed to her first Winter Games two years after suffering a traumatic brain injury from a crash. Halvorsen is hoping her comeback story ends with a gold medal win. Halvorsen recently posted a career-best seventh place at a World Cup event in Dresden, Germany.
Hailing from Truckee and growing up in a family of skiers, the multi-talented athlete, Maureen Lebel has competed in all ski disciplines and finished third overall at the North American Cup.
Hurt has two World Cup podiums and made her Olympic debut in 2022. She recently spent the offseason training at home in Palisades Tahoe and is coming off a breakthrough season, with a strong focus on mental preparation — an area she describes as non-linear but essential to high-level performance.
Tahoe’s Olympic Legacy
1960 Winter Olympics Games
The Squaw Valley Winter Olympics | Photo: Craighton Miller
The Squaw Valley Winter Olympics in 1960 are remembered by many as the last of the small Olympics. Originally standing a “snowball’s chance”, the Olympic event near Tahoe’s north shore could have arguably never happened if not for a tie-breaking vote by World War II hero, Jo Marillac.
The legacy of the 1960 Olympics continues into the present. When officials were unsure if a skier had missed a gate in the men’s slalom, they asked CBS-TV if they could review a videotape of the race, giving CBS the idea of inventing “instant replay”.
Champions Plaza
Spirit of Competition Sculpture | Photo: Lake Tahoe News
Next time you’re driving through South Lake Tahoe, be sure to visit the Champions Plaza, located on the corner of U.S. 50 and Lakeview Avenue across from Lakeview Commons and take a selfie with the 11-foot bronze sculpture inspired by local Olympic athletes.
Start Your Own Winter Olympics
You might not be good enough to qualify to represent your country during the Olympics, but your family can start their own Olympic Games in South Lake Tahoe each winter. With thousands of acres of skiable terrain at local ski resorts and a massive backcountry with never-ending progression, and even ice skating rinks, you don’t have to look far to find a worthwhile and memorable experience along Lake Tahoe’s south shore.
Whisk your Valentine away somewhere magical! Plan the perfect dinner with our Valentine’s Day Restaurant Guide in Lake Tahoe. The Jewel of the Sierra offers breathtaking views and a refreshing change of pace. With a whole host of activities to suit any couple’s passions – whether you’d like to cruise the lake, carve some powder, or refresh at a resort – South Shore Lake Tahoe has it all. Below, we’ve included a list of the most romantic restaurants, so you can pair your daytime adventures with a dinner to remember. While reservations aren’t always necessary here, for Valentine’s Day in Lake Tahoe, we strongly recommend reserving your table in advance.
Romantic Restaurants on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe
Friday Station Lakeview restaurant inside Harrah’s Lake Tahoe
For couples who want to get fancy, may we suggest:
The Chart House | Perched atop a hill near Kingsbury Grade, overlooking exquisite Lake Tahoe, Chart House is a legendary seafood restaurant known for its excellent cuisine. Make your reservation now: (775) 588-6276
Evans American Gourmet Cafe | Their menu features a blend of cuisine styles from around the world. Make your reservation now: (530) 542-1990
Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen| Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe | You can count on any Gordon Ramsay restaurant to deliver! From the lobster risotto to Gordon’s famous Beef Wellington to his favorite dessert (Sticky Toffee Pudding), savor the flavors of this world-famous chef’s menu. Make your reservation now: (775) 588-2411
For couples seeking elevated cuisine in a casual atmosphere, we recommend:
Kalani’s | Kalani’s restaurant, first opened in 2004 and featured in Bon Appetit, creates unique dishes by blending the fresh ingredients of Hawaiian regional cooking with Asian and European techniques and influences. Make your reservation now: (530) 544-6100.
The Loft at the Heavenly Village | Taste At The Loft wants to make your Valentine’s Day date feel special. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with an intimate, upscale dinner at Taste at The Loft. Enjoy artfully prepared cuisine in an elegant atmosphere. Perfect for couples looking for a refined and romantic experience in the heart of Heavenly Village. Make your reservation now: (530) 523-8024.
Riva Grill | Riva Grill features beautiful, wooden boat-inspired decor, lake views and an amazing cocktail selection. Give your date what they really want this year, a Wet Woody® on the water + dinner you can’t say no to. That’s unforgettable. Celebrate love with our dinner specials, cozy lakefront views, and the perfect setting for a romantic evening. Make your reservation now: (530) 542-2600.
For couples who are seeking something only to be found in Tahoe…
Gastromaniac – Homemade Pasta & Pizza | At Gastromaniac, you can get a classic pie to go, or you can also pick up some handmade pasta to cook back at your rental cabin or suite. Make your reservation now: (530) 600-2110.
The Grove on the Lake at Camp Richardson Resort | Celebrate love lakeside with a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner at The Grove. Enjoy a cozy alpine atmosphere and stunning lakeviews. Perfect for couples looking to toast the night with great food, wine, and mountain charm. Make your reservation now: (530) 314-4650.
MacDuff’s Pub | A local’s favorite, MacDuff’s Pub is a great choice if you’re seeking a casual, cozy, and unique atmosphere and a menu with no bad choices. Be forewarned; the truffle mac’n’cheese is habit-forming! Make your reservation now: (530) 542-8777.
Naked Fish Sushi | If sushi is your go-to for dates, check out Naked Fish. Featuring specialty rolls like the Tahoe Crunch and Surf’n’Turf, and a chef’s sashimi plate that is hard to beat, Naked Fish stands out. They pick up their fish from 200 miles away to ensure that it is of the highest quality. Make a reservation now: (530) 541-3474.
For couples who love a good steak, check out:
Ciera Steak + Chophouse| Bally’s Lake Tahoe. Stateline’s only AAA Four-Diamond restaurant serves perfectly prepared cuts of meat, including pistachio-encrusted rack of lamb and the incredible 30-ounce Wagyu “Tomahawk” rib steak, complemented by a selection of 300 premium wines and champagnes. Enjoy delicious food and impeccable service. Make your reservation now: (775) 588-3515.
Friday’s Station Steak & Seafood Grill | Harrah’s Lake Tahoe. Lake views at every table, and a 1,000-bottle display wine cellar make this restaurant special. Make your reservation now: (775) 588-6611.
SaltgrassSteakhouse | Golden Nugget Hotel Casino. Discover the superior flavors of Saltgrass while enjoying menu favorites like our massive Silver Star Porterhouse, our homestyle Country Fried Steak, and our slow-braised BBQ Pork Ribs. Make your reservation now: (775) 588-1010.
Sage Room & Steak House | Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe. An elegant steak house, The Sage Room is popular with locals and guests alike. Make your reservation now: (775) 588-2411.
JWB Prime Steak and Seafood | Margaritaville Lake Tahoe Resort. JWB Prime Steak and Seafood delights both resort guests and locals with a laid-back luxe dining experience. Offering a contemporary menu of prime steaks, fresh seafood, and a raw bar, all paired with world-class wines and hand-crafted cocktails. Make your reservation now: (530) 544-5400.
Many hotels are offering Valentine’s Day deals as well. Whatever your plans are for Valentine’s Day in Lake Tahoe, we hope you and your sweetheart make some fond memories to last a lifetime!
Special Events
This Valentine’s Day, fall in love with wine all over again. Love at the Lakefeatures more than 20 premium wineries, curated bites from our award-winning restaurants, and live music – creating an unforgettable Valentine’s celebration at the Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe.
Saturday, February 14, 2026, 5:00 – 8:00 pm, Valentine’s Day Dinner Cruise aboard the M.S. Dixie II Paddle wheeler. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a special, romantic dinner with Lake Tahoe Cruises aboard the MS Dixie II. A unique and special way to celebrate. Live music, dinner, and a night you won’t forget.
Valentine’s Day Dinner at the Idle Hour. Saturday, February 14, 2026, 6:30 pm. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a curated food and wine pairing dinner, thoughtfully crafted to complement each course and elevate every moment. Set against the glow of candlelight and lakefront ambiance, this is a night meant to be savored—one course, one sip, one memory at a time.
Check out Valentine’s Day at Lake Tahoe on Instagram
Lake Tahoe is an outdoor lover’s playground year-round, but there’s something especially magical about winter, when the landscape is blanketed in snow and perfect for getting outside together. You don’t have to be a skier to enjoy it, either. Sledding and snow tubing are some of the easiest (and most fun) ways for families and groups to embrace the season. Throughout the Tahoe area, you’ll find plenty of free sledding and tubing hills that are great for casual snow days, last-minute adventures, and travelers hoping to keep things budget-friendly. These spots tend to appeal to families with older kids, laid-back explorers, and anyone who doesn’t mind putting in a little extra effort for that classic, DIY winter experience. Prefer something a bit more polished? Tahoe’s paid tubing parks feature groomed runs, tow lifts, and on-site amenities that make the day smoother and less physically demanding. An ideal option for families with younger children, first-timers, or visitors who simply want to show up and slide. No matter your style, sledding and tubing offer a welcoming, laughter-filled way to experience Tahoe in winter.
Winter Fun For Everyone
Sledding and snow tubing are the kind of winter traditions that make everyone smile, whether you’re traveling with little ones, big kids, or a mix of both. As you pick your hill, think about comfort levels—gentle slopes are perfect for toddlers and first-timers, while older kids will love spots with a little more speed; groups with varying ages often appreciate tubing parks that offer options for everyone. Need rentals or an easy, ready-to-go experience? Head to a managed location. Hoping for a quieter outing? Smaller public hills and off-peak times can make all the difference.
Tubing and Sledding Locations
Tahoe’s snow tubing parks are ready to roll for the season, offering fun for all ages and skill levels. From groomed lanes to laughter-filled runs, tubing is one of the easiest ways to dive into winter play.
Situated on top of Echo Summit on forty acres, Adventure Mountain is perfect for all sorts of snow play, including snow tubing. With up to fifteen machine-groomed sledding runs and a base elevation of 7,350 feet above sea level, this family-owned & operated resort guarantees affordable fun for the entire family. Learn more.
Blizzard Mountain at Sierra at Tahoe Resort:
Blizzard Mountain at Sierra at Tahoe Resort
Sierra-at-Tahoe has always been a fun, family resort, and it comes as no surprise that they have an entire dedicated area called Blizzard Mountain. They have two rope-tow tubing lanes, so you can get even more runs in. Whether the kids are into snow tubing in Lake Tahoe or just some simple winter fun, Blizzard Mountain has it all. Snowball kits, outdoor fire pits, and picnic tables are provided. Blizzard Mountain will be Open (weather permitting) Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays + Sundays.Learn more.
Hansen’s Tubing Hill:
Hansen’s Tubing Hill
For those looking for a bit of seclusion but not too far from the hustle & bustle of Stateline, Hansen’s Resort & Tubing Hill is right up your alley. After dropping off the skiers/snowboarders at Heavenly, take the little ones to Hansen’s for their own fun & excitement. There’s even an easy to view area where parents can watch their kids sliding down. The tubing runs are groomed daily, with high “walls” and a well-planned small hill below to stop you. Learn more.
Tubing at Heavenly Mountain Resort:
Tubing at Heavenly Mountain Resort
Combine the fun of a gondola ride with a bit of tubing at the top of the world. Heavenly Mountain Resort’s tubing hill is located at the top of a scenic ride from the center of Heavenly Village. Their park has four lanes that are 500 feet long and have a 65-foot vertical drop. In addition, their tubing hill has a magic carpet that’ll help whisk you up to the top for another run. Please visit www.skiheavenly.com/explore-the-resort/activities/winter-activities.aspx for updated operational information. Learn more.
Tahoe Snowmobile Track & Tubing Hill:
Tahoe Snowmobile Tubing Hill
Looking to create the ultimate winter-time experience for the entire family? Well, for those that want to try their hand at snowmobiling along with hillside tubing, Tahoe Snowmobile is perfect for you. Located next to the Tahoe Blue Event Center, you can experience it all without having to drive anywhere. Learn more.
Tube Tahoe:
Tube Tahoe
The newest edition to the list of amazing snow tubing locations is Tube Tahoe in Meyers. Located at the Tahoe Paradise Golf Course off US Highway 50, it’s focused on providing a safe, family-friendly environment. Their goal is to become “Tahoe’s Family Tube Hill”… in other words, everyone returns home with positive memorable experiences. Tube Tahoe is aiming to have the longest “resort-quality,” machine-groomed tubing lane in the area. Learn more.
Safety, Etiquette, and Leave-No-Trace
A few simple habits can make your sledding day safer and more enjoyable for everyone. Stick to the far edge when hiking back up, move out of the run out zone as soon as you finish a ride, and keep a close eye on little ones, or better yet, have an adult stationed at the bottom to guide them; most importantly, never sled toward roads or parking lots. Before you head out, do a quick sweep for trash and pack out everything you brought so these hills stay beautiful, following Leave No Trace and doing your part to Keep Tahoe Blue helps ensure the next family gets the same postcard-worthy experience.
Free Sledding Spots
Want a classic Tahoe snow day without the added cost? South Lake Tahoe is home to several dependable sledding spots where there are no lift tickets or tubing fees, just bring a sled (or rent one in town) and enjoy the sweeping mountain views. These laid-back hills are ideal for travelers who prefer a simple, go-at-your-own-pace kind of adventure. If choosing to visit unofficial areas, be sure to park only in safe, legal parking spots with all four tires on the inside of the white fog line, pay attention to and heed “No Parking” signs and avoid blocking gates.
We also recommend purchasing a sturdy, reusable sled instead of plastic which can easily break apart in cold temperatures. Please be sure to pack out all trash and everything brought in and used including broken sleds and plastic pieces.
Taylor Creek Sno-Park: With its beautiful alpine scenery and wide-open play areas, Taylor Creek makes it easy to turn sledding into a full winter outing. A Sno-Park permit is required for parking, but the payoff is good access and plenty of room for everyone to enjoy the snow. It’s a solid pick for mixed-age groups that want space to roam.
Echo Lakes Sno-Park: If you have a Sno-Park Pass, you can utilize this plowed parking lot to access hills by Echo Summit to sled at.
As you can tell, there are a whole plethora of places to try your hand at sledding and snow tubing while in South Lake Tahoe. From magic carpets whisking you to the top of quaint slopes for your little ones to play on, to open hills surrounded by snow-covered pine trees. You’ll find it here in Lake Tahoe.
If you’ve been following OpenSnow’s Bryan Allegretto for his Lake Tahoe forecasts, you know he’s passionate about accurately predicting what the surrounding mountains will get. He’s the voice of reason when other news outlets and weather services hype up FEET of snow, only for the reality to fall far short. But even for “BA”—as he’s known—the storms in the first week of February 2025 were way off, and by a huge margin. In fact, it was his worst prediction in his nineteen-plus-year career. I had the chance to chat with him to get the inside scoop on what went wrong.
BA’s Soul Crushed
Bryan Allegretto enjoying one of Tahoe’s famous storm cycles when the forecast was spot on.
BA takes his forecasting seriously—so seriously that he’s been keeping a scorecard to track just how spot-on (or not) he’s been. Over the past nine seasons, his predictions for every storm across the Tahoe Basin have been off by just 1.5 inches on average. But during the first week of February, things went way off course. He was off by anywhere from 5.5 to 12.9 inches, with some mountains missing the mark by as much as 2 feet! Normally, when he’s that far off, it’s because the storms delivered more (think: colder, fluffier powder). This time? As far as he can remember, it was the first instance they delivered way less.
Atmospheric Rivers are Tough
One of the many warm storms during the wet n’ wild Jan 2017 season
Lake Tahoe’s weather is infamous for its feast-or-famine cycles, and a big reason is that up to 50% of California’s precipitation comes in the form of an atmospheric river. These intense bands of moisture originate from the tropics and slam into the Sierra. If Lake Tahoe is lucky enough to be on the cold side of it, we get huge snowfall. But if not, it means rain—LOTS of rain. And that’s exactly what happened during the first week of February.
Alarm Bells Ding
As the storms began to arrive in the 5-day window, BA was already mentioning how concerned he was about the forecast. First, the band of moisture was narrow at only 50 miles wide which is tiny in the scope of the globe. If the storm moved even a few miles north or south, the amount of liquid we get would be drastically cut. Then there was the problem of temperatures. It set up a battle royale of two giants – cold air to the north and the warm subtropical air flowing into the northern Sierra. Depending on who wins and when, this “could make a BIG difference in snowfall totals.”
Worst Case Scenario Happened
And that’s exactly what happened. Instead of the storm staying focused on Tahoe, it quickly moved north. While the National Weather Service predicted 30 inches of liquid and BA estimated 22 inches as a conservative forecast for the week, the greater Lake Tahoe area only received a meager 6-12+ inches. The moisture tap shut off before the cold air could move in, and the snow ratios—usually around 10:1—were closer to 7:1. The result? A rude awakening after the storm passed.
“Biggest Temperature Gradients as Far as I Can Remember”
A lot of this came down to how cold it was to the north—a real tease for weather forecasters. It was snowing all the way to the beach in Oregon and even in Susanville. With that much cold air up north, it seemed like it would force its way south, but it didn’t. Instead, the warm air took over. Not just in Tahoe, but across the entire West, where everyone got hit with rain. Jackson Hole was in the 50s, and even Utah saw rain!
Models Aren’t Gospel but a Tool
The GFS model… Snow porn at its finest. For the 1st storm in the larger cycle it predicted nearly 12 inches of liquid! The ENTIRE week only got 6!
The best tool for weather forecasters today is still the weather models. But as BA pointed out, “These are global models. Each micro-climate has its own set of errors. You need to understand these nuances and apply them to your forecast.” Take the GFS, for example. The U.S. model, affectionately known as “snow porn,” always assumes snow ratios are way too high, predicting crazy amounts of snow—and it’s nearly always wrong. Then there’s the Canadian model, which tends to underforecast how much snow places like Mt. Rose will get. The real voice of reason? The European model. Statistically, it’s proven to be the most accurate, and now with A.I. to help fix its errors, it’s getting even better.
OpenSnow Will Learn and Get Better
In the end, BA summed it up best: “It’s hard to forecast storms in the mountains.” But that’s exactly what drew Bryan to this field in the first place—the challenge of forecasting and getting it right. Sometimes, like the week of February 1st, 2025, you get it wrong. But that’s an outlier, and the team at OpenSnow is using it as a learning tool. Instead of taking a back seat, they’re constantly working to improve their product. They’ve even hired a full-time A.I. developer to create their own OpenSnow A.I., which is processing 40+ years of data to correct model errors and improve predictions.
And it’s not all about enjoying the summer for pickleball. The folks at OpenSnow use the “off season” as a chance to reflect and improve. That’s when they discovered the Canadian model’s issue with the Mt. Rose snow forecast. They’re always striving to get better.
We get how tough forecasting can be, and we hope this behind-the-scenes look helps explain the challenges involved. Big kudos to him—and to all of the OpenSnow team—for the hard work they put in!
When looking for a skiing destination, one of the factors that typically comes into everyone’s mind: “Is there more than one ski area to visit?” The answer when talking about the cozy town on the shore of Payette Lake is a wholehearted YES! In fact, McCall Idaho skiing has the perfect amount of resorts big and small to fit everyone’s budget, plans, or vision of what they think a ski town is all about.
McCall Idaho Skiing – Covers All Needs
Photo by: Local Freshies®
Within half and hour from the center of McCall, you have access to three vastly different ski areas. The closest is the Little Ski Hill which is only a few minutes away, offering affordable skiing and schussing under the lights. Less than nine miles away, you have the flagship resort: Brundage Mountain. Not just a ski area but rather a basecamp to outdoor fun such as snowmobile excursions to Burgdorf Hot Springs. The furthest away, but a MUST for all visitors, is Tamarack. This resort is now coming into a renaissance due to a new owner. Both Tamarack AND Brundage are a powder hound’s dream especially during mid-week. You’ll pretty much have each place to yourself. The best part is both of these offer lift-accessed backcountry skiing if you have the gear, knowledge, and fortitude to step outside into the wilderness.
The Little Ski Hill – For 1st Timers & Ski Addicts
Image appears courtesy: Payette Lakes Ski Club
As T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia said, “Big things have small beginnings” and the Little Ski Hill in McCall, Idaho is the greatest example of this. Founded in 1937 for local forest workers to recreate during the winter, this quaint area doesn’t have one or two Olympians but SIX who got their start here. Although it may only have a 405-foot vertical drop, it makes sure that every inch of it is maximized. They do this by offering night skiing, a legit terrain park, AND a kid-first attitude that families love. How do you know it’s good? By hearing the laughter and whoops on the slopes. If you’re looking for a fountain of youth or just affordable skiing, this place is it. How affordable? Well, an adult day pass goes for only $30 or hand out $140 and get a SEASON PASS!!!! College students can pick up a season pass for $80 and kids 5-17 can get one for $50.
Compared to other ski resorts throughout the country, the road to Tamarack isn’t treacherous. Heading due south from McCall on Highway 55, follow the massive ridgeline until you pass through Donnelly. We HIGHLY recommend making a pit stop here for breakfast at the Flight of Fancy Bakery. Besides serving tasty pastries and other scrumptious options, their baked oatmeal is the BEST oatmeal you’ll have anywhere.
If you pull into Tamarack’s parking lot mid-week, it will feel as though it’s your own private resort. Although it might have less in-bounds acreage than its cousin Brundage, the 2,800’ of vertical skiing will make sure your legs are screaming especially that you can lap the mountain without stopping. For those that have knowledge about the backcountry, the lift-accessed terrain is MASSIVE since the resort sits on a ridgeline making for easy pickings. That’s just a few of the many reasons you should visit Tamarack Resort.
Brundage Mountain – McCall’s Classic Resort
Photo by: Local Freshies®
Last, but not in any way the least, Brundage Mountain Resort will always be near and dear to our hearts. Looking at the trail map and statistics, you’ll think that it isn’t very big or that it’s pretty mellow. Well, you’d be wrong. Just like all Idaho skiing, you have to look in-between the lines or rather in the glades to find the challenging stuff. For example, from looker’s left, the trails or rather “zones” of the Hidden Valley area holds some amazing steeps you’d find in places like Kirkwood. And if you have a few extra dineros in your pocket, we HIGHLY recommend booking a backcountry guided tour via a snowcat. At over 18,000 acres to explore, the snowcat tours will make sure you find some untracked pow to shred.
Photo by: Local Freshies®
Nordic Skiing
Although we’re focused on the gravity fed version, we have to give a nod to the McCall Idaho skiing version known as nordic skiing. Instead of an afterthought, cross-country skiing here is big. So much so that there are multiple nordic centers that maintain and manage trail networks. The jewel on the crown is Ponderosa Park. It’s located on a 1,000 acre peninsula that splits Payette Lake. Featuring heavily forested trails with rolling topography to ridge tops offering up spectacular views of the lake. The newest edition, opened in 2005, is Bear Basin which contains 30 km of trails to explore. You’ll also find trail networks at Tamarack Resort and the summer activities hot spot for mountain biking at Jug Mountain.
As the throngs of skiers and snowboarders head to busy destinations like Vail, Park City, or Whistler, you may want to consider McCall, Idaho for your next ski vacation. From consistent snowfall, thousands of acres of skiing, and fun winter activities like the McCall Winter Carnival, you’ll understand why we consider not just McCall but ALL of Northern Idaho – the last frontier of skiing. If you want to learn more about McCall like what’s there to do, what places to eat, and even insider tips on how to get there be sure to read our insider’s guide:
Japan. Its snow is so legendary that it has coined its own term: ‘JaPow.’ It has become a part of every skier’s and snowboarder’s lexicon. Ranking up there with Steamboat’s “Champagne Powder” and Bozeman’s “Cold Smoke.” We understand if you want to experience where this term originated at Niseko’s ski resorts. But if you’re like us and want to go where no one else is going, we’ve learned that it might be time to go skiing in Hokkaido and experience its ‘Bonchi.’
A map of Japan might make you think that the northern island of Hokkaido is small compared to the rest of Japan, but you’d be surprised to find out it’s nearly one-quarter of the country’s landmass (~22% to be exact) and roughly the size of the state of New York! And there’s more to skiing in Hokkaido than the well-known resorts of Niseko or Rusutsu. There are over 100 resorts to explore in the Hokkaido region alone! On our trip this winter, we learned about a magical place called the “Hokkaido Powder Belt.”
Hokkaido Powder Belt
On Hokkaido, most of the resorts that people visit are on the western side, surrounding the city of Niseko. The Hokkaido Powder Belt, however, is in the center of Japan’s northern island. Using Asahikawa or Furano as base camps, you can access a variety of different-sized ski areas, each offering something unique.
Bonchi – Another Kind of JaPow
As we mentioned in “10 Things I Wish I Knew Ahead of Skiing in Japan,” the sea effect is what makes Japan’s snow so consistently great. While Niseko, being closer to the ocean, benefits from this effect and stays warmer, Hokkaido’s Powder Belt lies further inland. This means it receives slightly less snowfall than Niseko, but the quality of the snow more than makes up for it.
To set it apart from the rest of “JaPow,” central Hokkaido is now calling its snow “Bonchi Snow.” “Bonchi” means “bowl” in Japanese, referring to Furano’s basin-like topography. It also plays on the word “bon,” which means “good” in French, giving it a playful twist—suggesting that this is the land of the best snow, the kind of powder you crave.
Authentic Japan in Hokkaido
Photo by Jaime Pirozzi – Local Freshies®
From every person I’ve spoken to, the Niseko ski resorts feel as if you could be at a Colorado resort just as much as you’re in Japan. On the other side of the spectrum, you have the Tohoku ski areas, which are located in the northern part of the main island. There’s a high likelihood you’ll be the ONLY Westerner at these resorts, and without someone who speaks Japanese, it can be difficult to get around. The Hokkaido Powder Belt is the perfect medium between the two. It still feels authentically Japanese, yet you’ll probably run into people who speak English, especially at resorts, hotels, and restaurants.
Experience Over Pow
On our trip this winter, what started as one of the coldest and snowiest seasons in Japan turned into something unexpected. When we arrived in Hokkaido, a high-pressure system sat over almost the entire country, providing sunny, warm-ish (still below freezing) conditions for skiing throughout our entire trip. The locals told us that a week without snow is unheard of. Even without fresh snowfall, the rich Japanese culture we experienced and the stunning scenery made the trip worth it.
Tomamu
Overlooking Tomamu Resort – Photo by Jaime Pirozzi – Local Freshies®
Photos and videos can leave quite an impression before you even set foot on the slopes. But I’ll admit, the pictures of those two massive towers surrounded by nature felt so foreign to me. I imagined that with two giant skyscrapers, there’d be a sprawling village beneath them just as big. Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Rather than creating a massive village that stretched across the entire valley, the resort chose to build up, preserving as much of the natural surroundings as possible.
The Skiing
Like many Japanese ski areas, this mountain spans two peaks. From the base, it looks like you’d need to shuttle between them, but in reality, the trails connect the two effortlessly. Tower Mountain, located next to the Towers, is the more mellow of the two. It’s home to night skiing on certain days and “Hotalu Street.” But no matter what the snow’s like, you’ve got to make sure you at least bomb down “Hotalu Street” once. The snow-covered avenue feels like you’re in the video game Skate or Die, weaving through a charming Japanese village.
But the real skiing is on Tomamu Mountain. Right off the Unkai Gondola, head skier’s left, and you’ll find wide-spaced birch trees on a steep pitch just begging to be shredded.
The Ice Village
John LaConte enjoying ice ramen at Tomamu’s Ice Village – Photo by Jaime Pirozzi – Local Freshies®
I’ve seen countless photos of ice villages in places like Iceland and Norway, but I never had the chance to experience one in person—until Tomamu. It was truly magical and something you need to take in if you visit here. Inside, you’ll find an Ice Post Office where you can send a postcard. An Ice Bar serving Japanese whiskey cocktails in glasses made of ice. And if that’s not enough, there’s even an Ice Chapel where, according to the resort staff, there’s at least one wedding everyday throughout the season!
Oh, and there’s an Ice Ramen Restaurant… and let me tell you, that was an experience. The frozen egg in the ramen was like a ramen-flavored gobstopper—definitely something you’ve got to bite into to understand.
Local Freshies® tip: I can tell you right now, whatever you wear normally snowboarding or skiing, be sure to add a layer if you visit the ice village. After a day of skiing, the ice from the village felt as if cold was emanating from the structures.
Furano
Photo by Jaime Pirozzi – Local Freshies®
Even from a distance, its hulking face is impressive. Out of all the dozen or so ski areas we visited in Japan, Furano stands out with the rowdiest terrain—probably why it’s the most popular in the region. The steep slopes are made for expert shredders. The resort itself feels like a mix of different resorts rolled into one. The Ropeway’s cable car reminded me of Jackson Hole’s tram, while the fall-line skiing following the mountain’s natural topography brought to mind Taos’ classic trail system. A shining example of this is the A-3 trail: a fun, steep, twisty, tight run that bounces down the fall line as if it were trying to reenact how a waterfall would flow if it were made of snow.
Through it all, Furano still maintains its authentic Japanese vibe.
On sunny days, the views are stunning. Across the long valley, you can see the massive, treeless peaks looming over the snow-covered farmland below.
Danger Lurks
With each new angle, the mountain reveals more big lines you didn’t catch from the last perspective—and, at the same time, more danger. From the top of Kitanomine, looking toward the backside of the Furano zone, we saw huge fractures that looked like glide avalanches just outside the resort’s boundaries.
Kamui Ski Links
Our guide to Kamui Ski Links Akihiko Wakamatsu smiling after our 1st dawn patrol lap – Photo by Jaime Pirozzi – Local Freshies®
Some mountains stand tall, practically yelling at you, “You got what it takes?” while others are more comfortable in their own skin. Kamui Ski Links is definitely one of the latter. It wasn’t the first impression that blew me away—it was what we discovered once we got to know the place.
Mom & Pop Feel
Out of all the mountains we visited, Kamui Ski Links was our favorite. Why? It has that “Mom & Pop” ski area vibe we all crave. There are almost no “Gaijin” around, just a true community spirit, with race clinics on the mountain and locals enjoying cheap meals of soba and chicken curry with rice in the lodge.
And then there’s the terrain. From the base, it looks like the slopes are short, but that’s not the case. Turns out, their gondola accesses nearly 2,000 vertical feet of skiing. While the terrain might not be as steep as Tomamu or Furano, what it lacks in steep shots, it more than makes up for with a laid-back vibe (aka fewer crowds), accessible glade skiing, and a relaxed boundary policy.
Other Ski Areas
While we didn’t get to explore every ski area, the region is packed with some seriously unique spots. Asahidake is a one-hit gondola that opens up access to Mt. Asahidake’s epic backcountry terrain. Then there’s Kurodake, another one-lift wonder, featuring cliff bands to huck off, chutes to tackle, and steep fall-line skiing that’ll make experts feel right at home. And let’s not forget about Sahoro, which offers an all-inclusive resort experience along with its tree-lined slopes—perfect for some solid tree skiing. Then there’s Pipu, Canmore (not the Canadian one), and Santa Present Park to round out the list.
Where to Stay
The lobby at Asahikawa – Photo by Jaime Pirozzi – Local Freshies®
Resort Living or City Experiences
Depending on the kind of experience you’re after, that will dictate where to stay. If you’re looking for the all-inclusive resort vibe, you’ve got that option. Staying close to the slopes means you’ll be spending most of your time at the hotel, where nightlife is pretty much nonexistent. But if you’re the type who wants to expand your horizons, staying in one of the nearby cities is a great choice. It’ll give you the chance to sample local cuisine, check out shops, and soak in the local scene. In that case, staying in a city might be more your style.
Asahikawa – City Experiences
The town’s architecture feels like if Milwaukee went full-on Japanese and then got dropped next to a bunch of massive mountains. Staying in a real city means you’re in for an authentic experience—straight-up local vibes. For a general rundown of things to try and do along with some tips, check out our Japan Guide. For Asahikawa, here’s what to expect:
Local Cuisine
The city’s known for its ramen, and you’ll find spots serving it all over. But if you want to do a side-by-side ramen showdown, check out the Asahikawa Ramen Village, where eight of the city’s most famous ramen joints are all in one place. Another regional delicacy? Soba noodles. Made from buckwheat, Hokkaido produces nearly 40% of Japan’s supply. These brownish noodles are a staple in Japanese meals, with a nutty flavor and chewy texture. You’ll find them served both hot and cold—perfect for whatever vibe you’re feeling.
Sanroku gai – Nightlife
The Japanese live that New York lifestyle—work hard, play hard, and trust us, they work HARD. As the sun sets, Asahikawa’s entertainment district, Sanroku Gai, really comes to life. This area is packed with over 1,000 restaurants lining the tiny winding walkways, serving up fresh seafood caught right off the local waters. Plus, you’ll find plenty of drinking spots to keep the vibe rolling into the night.
OMO7 Hoshino Resort
For part of our trip, we stayed at the OMO7 Hoshino Resort in Asahikawa. As the name suggests, it’s a resort right in the heart of the city. The lobby features a “wax bar” stocked with high-end waxes and tools, so you can tune up your skis on the spot. Downstairs, there’s a beautiful onsen with soaking tubs, a cold plunge, sauna, and a giant whirlpool—perfect for easing those post-ski aches and pains. We didn’t get a chance to try breakfast, but friends who’ve stayed rave about it. The iconic dish? Waffles topped with salmon. It might sound odd, but apparently, it totally works.
The resort’s central location made it the perfect spot to dive into the local culture after a day on the slopes. Plus, it’s a great basecamp with Kamui Ski Links, Asahidake, and Kurodake all under 90 minutes by car, and even Tomamu just over two hours away.
Tomamu Hoshino Resort- Resort Living
As part of our trip to hit up Tomamu, we stayed at the towers. If you’re coming with a family and don’t feel like resort hopping, Tomamu Hoshino Resort would be the ideal basecamp. Besides the incredible skiing, the resort offers an insane amount of other activities, such as horseback riding in the snow (Jaime sooo wanted to experience this), snowmobile tours, ice fishing, and even curling, to name a few. Inside the towers, you’ll find rooms that are absolutely massive—even by American standards, let alone Japanese. A standard room includes a separate family area alongside a huge bedroom.
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Photo by: Josh Laskin – Alex riding the JaPow from his trip a few years ago
This trip definitely sparked the itch for some more JaPow, especially after seeing what these mountains have to offer. After our last visit in 2023, where we got to experience Japan’s legendary snow (and got totally skunked on our Hokkaido visit), we’re ready to go back to Hokkaido for round two!
If you’ve ever wanted to experience Japan, come join us for the 10-day Hokkaido Indy Trip. More details will be dropping in April 2025.
Ever since Caldor ravaged Sierra a few years ago, the resort has become a powder hound’s dream. Storms would dump feet of snow, and only a few hundred locals would be out shredding it. The question on everyone’s mind was, ‘Will Sierra-at-Tahoe survive?’ If the crowd on Saturday, February 8th, is any indication, it’s returning to its former glory.
Back to the Good ‘Ole Days?
In town, the roads were eerily empty. But as we turned left at 8 a.m. onto the access road this Saturday morning, the drive up to Sierra became a slow crawl, with hundreds of cars winding their way up the mountain. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen so many people heading up to ski. By 10 a.m., all parking was at capacity, with cars waiting at the entrance for spots to open up. Talking to friends in town who have been skiing here for years—long before Caldor and the pandemic, during the busy 2015-2017 seasons—they said days like this used to be the norm. In fact, things would get so crowded that they’d call all the ski shops and hotels to let them know the resort was full, sending out text alerts and the whole nine yards.
The Perfect Storm
Photo by: Local Freshies
Without access to data, we can’t be absolutely sure why it was so crowded but can make some educated guesses. Here’s a list of potential factors that may have contributed to the crowds on Saturday, February 8th.
Drought Winter
For the 2024-25 season, January saw little to no snowfall, leading to a build-up of demand for some fresh, soft turns.
Hype Train For The Storms
The Sierra Nevada mountain range is notorious for the hype generated by media outlets. Social media, news stations, and various other platforms were predicting that Tahoe would receive 6 to 9 feet of snow. While this didn’t exactly happen, it certainly fueled the excitement to get up here.
Super Bowl Weekend
Despite not being an official holiday, Super Bowl weekend is one of the most popular times to visit Tahoe, especially with the opportunity to head to the casinos and bet on the big game.
Multiple Events
In addition to everything else, Sierra hosted several events, including a USASA Boardercross competition and a local snow camp aimed at getting young kids on the slopes.
Sierra-at-Tahoe Joins Ikon
The biggest news of the season is that Sierra has joined the Ikon Pass. But is this something locals wanted? Every local we’ve spoken to has shared a similar sentiment: “It sucks, but if it keeps the lifts running, it’s the lesser of two evils. I just hope it doesn’t ruin Sierra and turn it into another crowded South Shore ski area.”
Unlike Epic, which is owned by a publicly traded company, the Ikon Pass is backed by a privately held fund, so any insights about its impact are largely anecdotal. Was the Ikon Pass a factor in the crowds returning? Everyone we spoke to on the lifts had a Sierra-at-Tahoe season pass or another product, like a three-pack. While this may be true, it’s also like a surf break—people might not always tell the full story.
Is this the New Normal?
While it’s refreshing to see Sierra returning to its glory days, every local is thinking the same thing: Will powder days become as crowded as those at other Tahoe ski resorts? Only time will tell. At the end of the day, here’s hoping Sierra continues its comeback after the Caldor fire.
