An Imbalanced Snow Season is Providing Reno/Tahoe Locals With Just Enough For Now
Madison Castagnola reports on hopes for the ski season that were high after a snowy December but are now melting away with consecutive days of dry, warm weather in 2022.
Getting Started
While I have nearly 17 years of ski experience, this new year has been disappointing. The snow flip flops between ice and slush.
About 30 minutes south of Reno, Nevada, is Lake Tahoe. It is known for both its beauty in summer and winter providing various activities. With the winter Olympics taking place, many people in the greater Nevada area are trying to enjoy the winter amenities the area has to offer despite the current dry spell in weather.
Skiing and snowboarding are a big reason that many people visit and/or live here. Just this past weekend while I was skiing, I met people from Iowa, New York, Ohio, and the Bay Area on the chairlift; all shared similar remarks about how Lake Tahoe was unlike any other experience. “While you don’t have two feet of powder here,” the visitor from Iowa said, “you can’t beat the views.” As a skier myself, I wondered why people were so attracted to the area and winter sports here.
I have been skiing since I was five years old when my parents put my sister and I in ski school at a local mountain in Lake Tahoe called Diamond Peak. Once both of us understood the basics, we joined the ski team to become better. At the time, we would drive up every weekend from the Bay Area just to participate in races, games, and just ski with people who enjoyed it as much as we did. There is something to say for the community that comes from being in winter sports. It seemed that people just loved to ski and snowboard and wanted to share it with everyone so they could feel the same love for it.
After a record breaking monthly snowfall in December of 2021 with 18 feet that broke the previous record from 1970, it seems to be melting fast.
While skiing this past weekend was enjoyable, the snow itself was a little disappointing. The morning provided my dad and I with icy conditions that kept us on the bottom half of the mountain. The afternoon conditions were improved a little allowing us to go up the top lift, but the slush kept lunging us forward in our skis and the occasional rock from lack of snow would catch our edges.
Local Insights
University of Nevada local Ricky Pasquet shared his thoughts with me about why he decided to take up snowboarding and how the Tahoe area contributes to his experience.
“Coming to Reno was definitely the reason I wanted to get into snowboarding more,” Pasquet said. “Just being so close to the mountains and everything they have to offer,” he added, was a good incentive for him to get involved in this winter sports community. Pasquet had some experience with snowboarding before moving to Reno for college in 2018. Being surrounded by friends that participated in winter sports and being outside was motivating to him.
Pasquet thinks that ski bum culture is a big part of northern Nevada and the Tahoe area because we have beautiful amenities that are easy to access. The overall feel of “vacation vibes” as Pasquet stated is a big part of the ski bum culture.
Beyond the typical ski and snowboard activities, Pasquet pointed out that we also have access to ice skating, sledding, snowmobiling and more, all surrounded by restaurants and shopping.
When asked about his favorite mountain, Pasquet shared some cool facts. His favorite mountain is Heavenly at Heavenly Ski Resort. He shared that part of the mountain is on the Nevada side while the other part is on the California side. With 4,800 skiable acres, “you can pretty much see the whole lake from the top of the mountain,” he said.
