Using Aikido to Save the Lake

We are all stewards of Lake Tahoe, whether we live here year-round or visit for a day. There’s a lot of energy in that idea if you think about it like a martial arts fighter who is taught to harmonize their movements to control the actions of attackers.

Right now, we have a situation on the East Shore as a huge increase in visitors has put the lakefront at risk. To counter this onslaught, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has extended the area and terms of its Zephyr Cove lease to Aramark, which has proven itself to be a negligent manager for the last quarter century. Haven’t seen that? Take a walk on their “managed” beach where runoff from the parking lot carves a path directly to the lake and some garbage bins and rocks have worn graffiti for the last year. Look at the fences designed to limit the bank’s erosion, which have been pushed down, or deconstructed so the bank, too, is caving in.

As the public’s trustee, the USFS has a huge mandate: to protect public land for present as well as future generations and they are under-funded. I get that. That’s why they’re looking at Aramark’s proposal to allow camping and glamping and a wedding venue on the lakeside. The effect? Cha-ching: Visitors become customers. Nice for them. Not so much for the lake where, as Mark Twain wrote, “The water is clearer than the air, and the air is the air that angels breathe.”

What to do? Back to my martial arts analogy. What if, instead of spending gobs of money so that rich people can glamp or get extravagantly married, the USFS spends a few bucks to make the “enemy” into a friend by actively helping visitors understand their role in caring for the lake. Surely there are ways that competent management could help the visiting public become stewards themselves by partnering with groups like the League to Save Lake Tahoe, The Nature Conservancy, Tahoe Science Advisory Council, Mountain Area Preservation, and Clean Up Lake Tahoe to name a few. Some funds are needed for portable toilets, dumpsters, signage, staffing, and the support of volunteers, but surely this is well within the existing budget.

It’s not a fancy solution; it requires no bulldozers, but maybe it’s all that’s needed to preserve the natural beauty of the lake for future generations. It’s certainly worth a try. The trees that are already felled for additional parking are gone, but the meadow remains. So does the quiet. And the eagle hasn’t moved. Yet.

Jane Sweetland

Kudos to Vail Resort’s Epic Promise

On April 1 at Kirkwood, Calif., Tahoe Freeride hosted the final qualifier event for the 2025 Freeride World Tour, starting high up in the forbidden terrain of The Cirque. With great snow and terrain to match the intense caliber of riders in the invitation-only IFSA Challenger Series, the event was an incredible success, for both organizers, Tahoe athletes and Freeride sport. We couldn’t host these events without the support of Epic Promise, the charitable and foundational wing of Vail Resorts, which provides lodging for staff at each of our 3 Kirkwood events hosted in 2024. Thanks to this support, our North Tahoe-based non-profit is able to collaborate to maintain the excitement of competitive Freeride at this stalwart of mountains, as The Cirque is arguably the most suitable venue to host such a top-tier event in North America.

With athletes converging from around the Americas, with 4 nations represented, Tahoe-based athletes performed exceedingly well in this Final of Finals. Congratulations to locals Kaiya Hanepen (2nd Women’s Snowboard) as well as Brian Stenerson, Tilden Wooley and Tavo Sadeg (1st, 2nd, 4th in Men’s Snowboard) and to Delila Quinn, Britta Winans, Mia Winans and Molly Armanino (2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th in Women’s Ski) and also to Tyler Curle, Westan Lubin and Colton Shaff (4th, 6th, 9th Men’s Ski) for representing California and Nevada freeriders with excellent performances among the elite field.

Among these impressive results, it was snowboarder Tilden Wooley and skier Britta Winans who emerged above to gain prestigious invitation to the top level of sport, the Freeride World Tour, based on series overall results. Thanks to Tahoe Freeride, Kirkwood Mountain Resort and the Epic Promise of Vail Resorts for making this possible; competitive Freeride is alive and well in the Sierra Nevada!

Jason Dobbs