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ENLARGE
Jim Grant / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Sue Perpall of South Lake Tahoe displays her Sierra Ski Ranch season pass from 1971 when she was seven years old.
LAKE TAHOE — Glancing at the medieval-looking, bare metal bindings mounted to a pair of bright orange, 1968 Spalding Sideral skis, a snowboarder sporting the latest gear couldn’t help but smile and nod at veteran Sierra-at-Tahoe ski instructor Claude Gunsch.
The exchange took place in Sierra’s Broadway Express lift line this month, and typifies the friendly atmosphere at the ski area that has kept Gunsch coming back since he started teaching in 1989.
“I like the family feel of Sierra,” Gunsch said. “I love the people who come back every year. It makes it a really special place.”
Gunsch was trying out the borrowed skis on Jan. 2 as part of a celebration to commemorate the ski area’s 40 years at its current location.
A re-routing of Highway 50 in 1968 moved the resort to where it now sits.
The resort opened after an estimated $1 million worth of construction with a new lodge and a single chairlift — the resort’s existing Nob Hill lift.
But the family atmosphere at the ski area started under original owners Vern and Bobbie Sprock, said longtime pass holder and South Shore resident Sue Perpall.
The Sprocks opened Sierra Ski Ranch in 1946.
The ranch was renamed Sierra-at-Tahoe after the couple sold the area in 1993 to Fibreboard, a vinyl-siding manufacturing, industrial insulation and resort operations corporation. They renamed the ski area and sold it to the current owners, Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., in 1996.
Perpall — a former Sierra race team member — remembered fun and occasionally anxious moments from her childhood at Sierra.
Rambunctious kids lived in fear of not being allowed to ski after goofing around the previous day, Perpall said.
“If you were bad (Bobbie Sprock) would not give you a ticket,” Perpall said, proudly displaying her Sierra Ski Ranch season pass from 1971.
The attitude extends to employees, too. Dennis Cambron, lift supervisor, started working at the resort 12 years ago, when he was 19.
Cambron started working in the parking department and gradually moved up to lift supervisor. He loves his job, and likes the people he works with.
“People come and they’re already in a good mood,” Cambron said. “It spreads like a virus and puts the employees in a good mood.”
Cambron shares his office with Paul Beran, mountain operations manager. Beran started working at the resort about the same time as Cambron.
“If you ask him, he’ll say he started a week earlier than I did,” Beran said.
All the employees are like family and banter back and forth, and it’s always in good fun, Beran said.
The resort brings a lot of locals back to the mountain every year, and it has a family vibe to it, Beran said.
“It’s a positive work enviornment and people have pride in what they do,” Cambron said.
Beran even met his wife, Mercades at Sierra. Now they have a 1-year-old son, Josiah.
Cambron added that he also has “a smoking hot redhead wife, Dayna.”
Beran said he’s fortunate to still work at a ski resort where he can ski and snowboard on powder days.
“People have this glamorous idea of resort life, but it’s not,” Beran said. “It’s tough, but if you can share that hard work with friends and have a chuckle along the way, it’s worth it.”
The exchange took place in Sierra’s Broadway Express lift line this month, and typifies the friendly atmosphere at the ski area that has kept Gunsch coming back since he started teaching in 1989.
“I like the family feel of Sierra,” Gunsch said. “I love the people who come back every year. It makes it a really special place.”
Gunsch was trying out the borrowed skis on Jan. 2 as part of a celebration to commemorate the ski area’s 40 years at its current location.
A re-routing of Highway 50 in 1968 moved the resort to where it now sits.
The resort opened after an estimated $1 million worth of construction with a new lodge and a single chairlift — the resort’s existing Nob Hill lift.
But the family atmosphere at the ski area started under original owners Vern and Bobbie Sprock, said longtime pass holder and South Shore resident Sue Perpall.
The Sprocks opened Sierra Ski Ranch in 1946.
The ranch was renamed Sierra-at-Tahoe after the couple sold the area in 1993 to Fibreboard, a vinyl-siding manufacturing, industrial insulation and resort operations corporation. They renamed the ski area and sold it to the current owners, Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., in 1996.
Perpall — a former Sierra race team member — remembered fun and occasionally anxious moments from her childhood at Sierra.
Rambunctious kids lived in fear of not being allowed to ski after goofing around the previous day, Perpall said.
“If you were bad (Bobbie Sprock) would not give you a ticket,” Perpall said, proudly displaying her Sierra Ski Ranch season pass from 1971.
The attitude extends to employees, too. Dennis Cambron, lift supervisor, started working at the resort 12 years ago, when he was 19.
Cambron started working in the parking department and gradually moved up to lift supervisor. He loves his job, and likes the people he works with.
“People come and they’re already in a good mood,” Cambron said. “It spreads like a virus and puts the employees in a good mood.”
Cambron shares his office with Paul Beran, mountain operations manager. Beran started working at the resort about the same time as Cambron.
“If you ask him, he’ll say he started a week earlier than I did,” Beran said.
All the employees are like family and banter back and forth, and it’s always in good fun, Beran said.
The resort brings a lot of locals back to the mountain every year, and it has a family vibe to it, Beran said.
“It’s a positive work enviornment and people have pride in what they do,” Cambron said.
Beran even met his wife, Mercades at Sierra. Now they have a 1-year-old son, Josiah.
Cambron added that he also has “a smoking hot redhead wife, Dayna.”
Beran said he’s fortunate to still work at a ski resort where he can ski and snowboard on powder days.
“People have this glamorous idea of resort life, but it’s not,” Beran said. “It’s tough, but if you can share that hard work with friends and have a chuckle along the way, it’s worth it.”
