Jamie Anderson is as much of a South Shore local as a girl can be. She grew up here, homeschooled so she could snowboard every day, and recently bought a house just one street away from Lake Tahoe. Jamie has been riding at Sierra Resort forever, and is well-known and loved by everyone here.

Her incredibly aggressive riding style and ability to flawlessly stomp landings has once again set her on the road to competitive success. She took first in Slopestyle again at this year’s  New Zealand Open, putting her into tenth place overall for the 2010 Burton Global Open Series. Look for that ranking to improve quickly.

Jamie is the 2009 B.G.O.S. Champion and the 2009 Swatch Ticket To Ride World Snowboard Tour Champion – effectively making her one of the top female snowboarders in the world. She also took the title at the 2009 Winter Dew Tour.  X Games, Grand Prix Progression Sessions, Roxy Chicken Jam – name a major competition – Jamie has probably won it in the last few years. The girl is on fire.

Jamie embodies the reason that snowboarding Slopestyle needs to be in the Olympics. How do you keep an athlete who is dominating her sport, a sport that is already recognized by the I.O.C., off the world stage? Perhaps in 2014 . . .

Jamie Anderson – TTR Profile 2009 from ttrworldtour on Vimeo.

One action, one person, one solution at a time. We all need to create the change we want to see! Hannah is truly showing us all the way.

Everyone knows carpooling is a great idea for the environment. Yes, sometimes it means you have to leave a little earlier or stay a little later, or go a little out of your way to pick someone up. But the fewer miles you drive means the air stays a little cleaner, the lake stays a bit clearer, we use a little less oil as a society  . . . really the benefits just go on and on.

So how about we start by focusing our carpooling energy on Fridays. Make an effort to call your buddies before you leave the house to make a plan, rather after you get in the car. See if there is a way to make the trip a little more efficient by putting a few more people in your car. Or ride your bike in the summertime. Or walk to the local restaurant instead of driving across town. Do it on Friday. Start tomorrow.

Be part of the solution!

Trust me – we are busy the whole time. From snowcats and snowmobiles to the facilities and infrastructure to the chair lifts, offices, locker rooms, and fleet vehicles – everything needs to be maintained, rebuilt, repainted, reconstructed, fixed up, broken down, cleaned out, and rethought.

One of the ongoing tasks over the summer months is picking up trash. You wouldn’t believe how much trash accumulates all over the parking lots and on the mountain in 4 1/2 months. It takes us most of the summer plus Keep Sierra Clean Day in October to get it all into dumpsters.

So each Tuesday morning, all of the summertime employees get together in a parking lot, or some other area that needs some TLC, with trash bags and gloves and pickers, and gets to work cleaning it up. This past week was the second week in a row we tackled D Lot. It looks like it will take a third week just to clean up this one lot.

It takes a lot of helping hands to keep our mountain environment clean and we’ll take all the help we can get! Please be responsible about your trash during the winter months and make sure you find a trash or recycle can. Be conscious about litter that might fly away if you are tailgating and if you drop something on the mountain, pick it up. We can all be part of the solution if we take responsibility for the consequences of our own actions.

The “official closing day” for Sierra Resort is Sunday, April 18 (ski resorts always close on a weekend, everyone knows that). But the fun day is really Monday, April 19 – Community Day. All lift tickets on Community Day are $25 and we donate all the proceeds to support community sports teams. We only run a few lifts and we end the day early but it’s more about raising funds to help our local programs and enjoying a few last runs with friends than anything.

“Community Day is all about saying thank you. We want to show our most loyal guests that we value this community and are willing to support year round recreational opportunities for our kids,” said John Rice, General Manager of Sierra Resort.

Sierra Resort has hosted Community Day on the day after the official closing day since 1993.

In years past all sorts of fun has popped up around the mountain on Community Day. Costumes are popular – there is a group of dedicated locals who dress as pirates and ride around the resort calling themselves “Pirates of the Sierrabbean”. The weather is typically in the 60’s on Community Day, and when you have skiing in the 60’s, there are bound to be a few bikinis on the slopes as well. We’ve also seen retro one piece suits, evening gowns, and gorilla costumes.

Other Community Day fun includes the official “last run of the season” led by our General Manager John Rice. Starting from the top of Grandview Express, John leads all comers down Sugar n’ Spice to Lower Main, ending at the Lodge for a final celebration before we close the resort for the season at 3:00 p.m.

The 2009-2010 winter season was exceptional – with over 520 inches of snow and possibly one more storm on the horizon how could it not be? Come enjoy Community Day with us and end the year on a high note!

Mother Nature put spring on hold this morning with 7 inches of freshies

Mother Nature decided to send another 7 inches of snow as a little reminder that winter in the Sierra Nevada Mountains can pop up at any time.  So today we are enjoying blue skies, fresh snow on the trails and in the trees, and the return of cold temperatures that keep the snow on the slopes in great shape. The weekend weather will continue the winter trend before we get what could be another two feet of snow early next week and then the return of spring in earnest for the rest of the 2009-2010 ski season. As of today, we have received 432 inches of snow – well on our way to our annual average of 480 inches.

Fun terrain parks freshen things up

To keep things fresh through the rest of the season, we’ll be adding new features to our terrain parks, cutting South Shore’s Only Superpipe every night, and the groomers will be getting creative overnight, finding black diamond  steeps to groom for the first time all season. So far we’ve seen Clipper, Jackrabbit and Castle buffed out. Look for surprises like Eastabout, Chute, and maybe even Upper Dynamite to be carpeted in corduroy before too long.

High angle grooming is one of my favorite things about spring skiing and riding – along with corn snow, shedding layers, and the happy-go-lucky vibe that seems to take over everywhere in Lake Tahoe. All over the Tahoe basin, backcountry skiers and snowboarders are giddy about the spring snowpack and getting out to explore the legendary off-piste terrain that stays fun until mid-May.

Spring conditions means Corn Snow

Expert skiers and riders will be heading out to Huckleberry Canyon here at Sierra Resort for a little golf. What? Ski golf? An area called the Golf Course, accessible via Gate 5, is very popular this time of year for its long, untracked turns. You can check out both the front nine and the back nine, though there is no snack shack at the turn

If you want to explore Huckleberry Canyon, a good way to get started is to sign up for one of our Free Friday Tours. The tours run every Friday at 10:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. and offer an introduction to the area for those who are unfamiliar and would prefer to explore for the first time with a guide. We also offer Backcountry Lessons on the weekends, that are a bit more in-depth than the Free Friday Tours and include professional instruction.

It all starts on Saturday morning with a variety of clinics. Kal of Vertical Sports (a tele shop in South Lake Tahoe) runs Sierra Resort’s Telemark & Backcountry Center. His team of instructors offer morning and afternoon clinics for beginners, intermediate/advanced, and super advanced skiers. The clinics are taylored to the experience of the participants – so perhaps you are still mastering the beginner slope or maybe you want to master your technique on steeps and bumps. Whatever you are looking for, you will be paired with an instructor and group interested in the same thing.

Pluckin and Jivin at Telegrass

Then there are the equipment demos. I can count on one hand the number of times in a season you can actually demo tele gear anywhere in Northern California. Every year for Telegrass, three or four of the top tele ski manufacturers come to Sierra Resort and you can try as many different pairs as you want. Demos are free for Telegrass participants.

Then there is the “grass” in Telegrass. That would be the live Bluegrass bands playing on the Tiki Deck. Guitars, mandolins, upright bass, fiddles, and maybe a drum set snuck in here and there. The live music makes the party! So grab a seasonal brew from New Belgium Brewing Company, loosen those buckles on your ski boots, and stomp away on the deck like you’re back in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Finally, throw in all the fun stuff like relay races, terrain park demonstrations, a bump off, a retro costume contest and the chance to hang out and get to know a bunch of normally backcountry skiers, and you’ve got one of the most lively spring skiing weekends in all of Lake Tahoe. Plus, Sierra Resort’s uber-friendly vibe tops it all off like sprinkles on soft-serve ice cream on the Fourth of July!

Taste a seasonal brew from New Belgium

Cost for Telegrass includes a commemorative T-shirt:

$85 for one day of clinics, $135 for both days

Lift tickets for participants are just $25 or you can buy next year’s season pass and ski for free for the rest of this winter season.

Say this word over and over again until you can’t possibly forget it – 3-Pak! Just about everything at Sierra Resort comes in a 3-Pak. Lift tickets, Lessons, Child Care, Demos, and more. 3-Paks are good every day (yes! even holidays!) and don’t have to be used right in a row. So you can use one this weekend, one next weekend and one in April. So before you throw down your credit card, ask if there’s a 3-Pak!

You have to eat, right? Well here’s a deal – Lift & Lunch for just $74. Let’s break it down – full price adult lift ticket is $69 + lunch $15 = $84. Buy online and you save $10! Plus, you don’t have to carry a bunch of cash around all day. This is a goodie for parents who are sending their kids up to the mountain with friends or for just good ‘ol pre-planners. Valid online only, Monday – Friday.

In College? Broke? The two go hand-in-hand like a hangover and Pedialyte. Here’s a deal just for you – College Week tickets are just $54. Valid March 22-26, March 29-April 2, and April 5-9 (notice how these dates coincide with Spring Break, clever isn’t it), all you need is a student ID from a school that we’ve heard of.

The Ultimate Learn to Ski/Ride Package! For just $35, adults can take a first-timer lesson on either skis or a snowboard. The package includes a 2.5 hour beginner lesson, rental equipment from our Burton Learn To Ride Center and a limited access lift ticket. This one is valid for adults age 13+, Sunday through Friday, and can be purchased online only.

Great conditions for learning to ski

Celebrating a great first run

Riding the wave of excitement after the 2010 Winter Games Halfpipe events, skiers and snowboarders at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort are enjoying the 400 foot long Superpipe – the only Superpipe on South Shore – which opened last weekend.

TransWorld SNOWboarding ranked Sierra Resort’s terrain parks and Superpipe in the nation’s Top 10 in the 2010 Resort Guide and it is easy to see why with 5 award-winning terrain parks that are super dialed in right now and tons of fun for jibbers.

Season passholders are commenting on local web sites and blogs that Sierra Resort’s terrain parks are the best they’ve seen in years – the features are creative and well maintained, the flow through the parks is fluid, and the vibe is fun and welcoming.

In addition, snow conditions at Sierra Resort are at their peak – with a 90 inch base and 317 inches of cumulative snowfall for the season, the Park Crew has had plenty of snow to translate their most innovative ideas into a freestyle reality. Some of those ideas include a propane tank turned on end, repurposed into a bonk. Another is an urban-inspired stair set with two 35-foot handrails for sliding.

Park Crew gets creative with Neff Bonk

Several upcoming events will showcase the terrain parks and up-and-coming athletes at Sierra Resort.

Billabong presents Flaunt It on Sunday March 7. An all-girls snowboard series, Flaunt It is both a slopestyle competition and a rail jam. Flaunt It is also part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride Tour, a global snowboarding series that attracts the best female slopestyle riders in the world, including Sierra Resort’s own Jamie Anderson who took second place in last year’s Swatch TTR Tour. Cash and prizes for the top competitors plus $10,000 and a paid trip to the finals in Quebec for the ultimate winner. Registration is online at www.billabong.com/flauntit.

4^th Annual Buckle Up Big Air for GTS on Saturday, March 20. An annual celebration of life for Sierra Team Rider Greg Smith, the Buckle Up Big Air raises awareness among youth of the importance of wearing a seat belt. The Big Air contest takes place in The Alley and is a jam format. Open to skiers and snowboarders.

Nitro & VZ present Highlander on Saturday, March 27. A true face-off contest, snowboarders vie for the top spot in this slopestyle contest until a single shredder stands victorious. In the end, there can be only one.

6,631 gallons of B5

We run a lot of heavy machinery on diesel fuel here at the resort, including snow blowers, a snow plow, a telehandler, and a mule (basically a golf cart that can go off-road). Making the switch from traditional diesel to Biodiesel is a big step forward in reducing the impact of our resort operations – which is the main goal of Project: Green Sierra.

Project: Green Sierra is Sierra Resort’s employee-created initiative that encompasses all of the various environmental initiatives here at the resort. The mission of Project: Green Sierra is to involve all stakeholders of the resort in efforts that will increase appreciation of, awareness of, and, most importantly, action toward conservation of our environment so that we may all see tangible results from our behaviors.

Sierra Resort continues to encourage guests to take environmental responsibility into their own hands and offers suggestions for What You Can Do in addition to a complete listing of all the environmental initiatives currently in place.