Reno-Tahoe

The world’s best snow sports athletes brought their high-flying antics to Northstar-at-Tahoe last weekend for the Toyota Championship, the final stop of the Winter Dew Tour. The event featured men’s and women’s slopestyle and half-pipe events in snowboarding and skiing disciplines, with local athletes making a strong showing … and we got some pictures. Check out the slideshow below and log on to the Alli Sports Web site to view results:

Need a perfect way to cap off your second day at the Winter Dew Tour at Northstar-at-Tahoe this week? Common and Tweak Bird will be playing live at the Village at Northstar on Friday, Feb. 20 from 5-7 p.m.

COMMON

An easy trap to fall into when talking about rapper and producer Common is to get started with how impressively prolific this elder emcee is. Now, anybody who makes this point is certainly right, but it seems most anybody we talk about Common inevitably interrupts us, “So I had to did, what I had to did, Cause I had to get duh-ough….!” Yep, that’s a proper butchering of Common’s “The Food”, a Kanye West collaboration from his excellent 2005 Be, which earned the Southsider a ton of cross-over appeal — no small thanks to “Chapelle’s Show.” And while we’ll never get tired of the loping tale of good people doing not so great things for honorable reasons, Common has been quick to make new tracks. In 2007, he released Finding Forever, and at Northstar we’ll catch new material from his late-2008 album, Universal Mind Control.

TWEAK BIRD

Brothers Ashton and Caleb (last name Bird) are purveyors of a heavy, almost psychedelic brand of rock and roll. These two Carbondale, Illinois, natives moved to Los Angeles a couple years ago and have created a niche for themselves as turgid rockers. Late last year they released the Reservations EP [Volcom], after releasing a couple seven-inches to critical acclaim.

For more information on the Winter Dew Tour and the Toyota Championship at Northstar-at-Tahoe, visit their site online.

(Courtesy of Winter Dew Tour)

Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort will serve as the host venue for the final stop on the Winter Dew Tour, Feb. 19-22! Building on the success of the five-stop AST Summer Dew Tour, a 3-stop nationally televised Winter Dew Tour has been created and will begin this December in Breckenridge, Colo. and travel through Mt. Snow, Vt. before crowning Tour Champions at Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort.

The Winter Dew Tour will bring the top athletes in skiing and snowboarding to Northstar for four days of high-level competition, as well as extensive spectator entertainment and activities on the mountain and in the village.

For those not able to make it to the event, ABC, the USA Network, and MTV/MTV2 will be broadcasting the 3-stop tour. Check out this tour preview:

If you haven’t seen the latest issue of Ski Magazine, the cover story is the “Top 50 Resort Guide,” with Reno-Tahoe-area resorts getting some major props from readers.

In the last decade, the resort industry has definitely taken a turn, shifting its attention from a niche of solely ski/board enthusiasts, to travelers and families who want the fresh tracks, but also after-hours activities, shopping, restaurants and nightlife.

Throughout Reno-Tahoe, resorts have been keeping up with demand – and readers of Ski have taken notice. Here are some of the rankings:

• Squaw Valley USA, ranked number 15 overall, was recognized as “A giant playground. Never boring and always challenging,” with it’s 4,000 acres sprawled across six peaks.
• Heavenly Mountain Resort’s addition of a new gondola a few years back certainly helped it earn the 17th spot in the poll, along with its expansive terrain bridging two states and 300 days of sunshine a year.
• Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort, ranked 23rd overall, is a local favorite, and with a “terrific” new village, its reputation is growing in the larger ski community. The resort recently added expert terrain at Lookout Mountain, and the Ritz Carlton Club under development at mid-mountain will add a touch of class when it is finalized in a year.
• Alpine Meadows, earning a ranking of 29th overall, looks like a hometown mountain at first peek, but the 2,400 acres of awesome terrain and snowfall that tops 500 inches some years tells a different story. Alpine is a good fit for skiers of every ability, but still exudes that Old Tahoe charm.

Other notable Ski Magazine rankings:

• Family Programs: 8. Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort
• Best Terrain Park: 3. Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort
• Best Scenery: 2. Heavenly Mountain Resort
• Best Terrain/Variety: 5. Squaw Valley USA
• Best Terrain/Challenge: 6. Squaw Valley USA
• Best Lifts: 9. Squaw Valley USA
• Best Apres Ski: 4. Heavenly Mountain Resort
• Best Off-Hill Activities: 5. Heavenly Mountain Resort

In other news, Squaw Valley USA received high marks in Outside Magazine’s November listing of the 15 Best Ski Resorts in North America, coming in at a respectable number nine.

What is your favorite Reno-Tahoe resort (and why)?