More Snow, Snow, Snow

No time for pictures. It is snowing again. Plowed out 10 to 18 inches of snow. It is going to be a great skiing weekend. 88 is open with controls. It may be closed in the AM for avalanche control but will be open to get the skiers through. Check road condition before heading up. If 88 is closed you can get up on 50.

I'm going down to Lodi tomorrow to pick up our grandsons. Saturday I will be taking pictures of all the snow.

Kirkwood has a lot of activities this weekend plus fireworks. We are booked through the 24th but open after that.

Winter is back

Winter came in roaring like a freight train. We woke up to 12 to18 inches of new snow with more dropping all day. We have have another storm coming in tonight so check road conditions before coming up. 88 was closed all day today at the Carson Spur.

Winter is coming back

This beautiful spring weather we have been having is soon to end. We have rain coming in tomorrow and Tuesday it will turn to snow and snow Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. We have a great three day weekend coming up with great skiing at Kirkwood and Cross Country in Hope Valley. See our links on activities at www.woodfordsca.com

Great New Restaurant in Markleeville

Good news! We have a new restaurant in Markleeville. It is a gorgeous 10 minute drive from our guest house in Woodfords. It's grand opening is February 11th and will be open weekends during the winter months. Call them for your special event or private party. The link is below the pictures to learn more about them. It is a Wood-fired Pizza and Restaurant and has a unique menu that is changed often to take advantage what is freshest for the season. Stonefly is owned and operated by Nick Hartzell and Ali Bornstein. They graciously invited the locals in over the past two weeks to practice on and test and critique their menu. Now we are all dying to go back.

http://www.stoneflyrestaurant.com/Site/Stonefly.html

Soaring NV, Minden. For the Flight of Your Life

Glide Time: Soaring NV offers bird's-eye take on Lake Tahoe.

By Adam Jensen
Nevada Appeal News Service

A tow plane helps SoaringNV's ASK-21 glider gain altitude while approaching Lake Tahoe.

Adam Jensen / Nevada Appeal News Service

 

STATELINE — Sometimes at Lake Tahoe, it's all a matter of perspective.

And few people can offer a better perspective on one of the world's deepest alpine lakes than the staff at SoaringNV, a glider company based out of the Minden-Tahoe Airport, about 30 minutes southeast of Lake Tahoe on U.S. Highway 395.

Self-described “glider girl” Laurie Harden started the company in May 2008 after seeing a business opportunity in a sport she began to be interested in as a teenager. Her passion has only grown.

“It's about as close as you're ever going to get to being a bird,” Harden said during some downtime in the operation's hangar.

Minden becomes a gliding Mecca in the summer, when pilots from all over the world come to ride Carson Valley's strong thermals, columns of warm, rising air that provide lift for a glider in place of propellers or jet engines.

But winter months may be the best for the spontaneous customers and first-time flyers because there are few crowds and plenty of calm air that make for smooth rides, Harden said. Snow-capped Sierra mountains certainly don't hurt the experience either.

A flight with SoaringNV starts with a ride across the airport on a golf cart to one of SoaringNV's gliders, where staff members acquaint passengers with what not to touch and outfit them with a parachute that isn't expected to be used.

The passenger sits in the front of the surprisingly comfortable, if snug, cockpit, while the pilot takes the controls in a back seat.

The glider's nose is then hooked up to a tow plane and whisked into the air over the Carson Valley, winding around a bit gaining elevation before heading towards the lake, which slowly turns from a sliver of blue to an expanse of unparalleled beauty.

Even for the most jaded basin resident, the sensation of being towed in a glider toward the lake can make a passenger feel like a winged Kit Carson or John C. Fremont circa 1844.

With tiny black dots of skiers and snowboarders peppering the slopes of Heavenly Mountain Resort below, the tow rope releases with a prominent click and the hum of the tow plane fades.

After that, it's just you, your pilot, the rush of wind past the glider's fuselage and the epic expanse of Lake Tahoe unfurling thousands of feet below.

But the glide isn't necessarily all about scenery.

“Do you want to do a loop,” asks pilot Gabe Bourbeau, before dropping the nose of the glider toward the ground then pulling back on the control stick, turning the panoramic view from the brown of the valley's fields to blue sky and back again as the glider smoothly makes a roller coaster out of thin air.

And that's just one trick in the bag.

At a customer's request, Bourbeau will take great joy in showing off the capabilities of the ASK-21 glider, busting out a few g-force inducing stunts like “wing overs” and “hammerhead stalls.”

The aerobatics may be the closest to “Top Gun”-type stunts the average person ever gets.

They could also be a bit unnerving if it weren't for Bourbeau's calm narration, which helps assure the passenger that this type of fun is all in a day's work for SoaringNV.

Flights typically take place between 10,000 and 11,000 feet above sea level.

The company does not guarantee the length of flights because of their weather dependence, but 45 minutes is the estimate used by Harden for SoaringNV's “Tahoe SkyRide” package.

The company doesn't fly in rain or snow and wind speeds at ground level get above 30 mph. SoaringNV is flexible if flight reservations are disrupted by weather, Harden said.

Flight packages start at $99, but the lengthier flights over the southern edge of Lake Tahoe and Heavenly cost $259 for a single passenger. SoaringNV's fleet also includes a glider with the ability accommodate two passengers at an additional cost. Group discounts are also available.

The company also offers edited high definition videos of flights for $59, as well as instruction to those looking to become glider pilots themselves.

There are some height and weight restrictions, but people should call in advance for specifics, as well as to make reservations.

For more information on SoaringNV call 775-789-9595 or visit www.soaringnv.com.

By Adam Jensen
Nevada Appeal News Service

 

 

 

 Mormon Station State Park, Genoa, Nevada

In the spring of 1850, the DeMont-Beatie-Blackburn party, a group of about 80 Mormons from Salt Lake City, headed for the gold fields of California. When they reached the Carson Valley, they "concluded to start a station for trade" and built a large log blockhouse at the north end of present-day Genoa, Nevada.
This station conducted a lively trade, supplying food, supplies, and fresh livestock, at a steep price, to emigrant parties bound for California on the Carson Route. On July 2, 1850, David Wooster came to "...the site the Mormons have fixed up for a new settlement. They are building a large block house at the base of the mountain where there is plenty of timber, two miles from the river bank . . . They are selling beef and other supplies to the emigrants at two dollars per pound."

 Mormon Station commemorates the settlement of Nevada in 1851 when the first permanent trading post was established by a group of Mormon traders from Salt Lake City. 
     The area, then a part of Utah Territory, had been traversed by mountain men and fur traders, beginning in 1826, by emigrant wagon trains headed for California and Utah during the 1840's and explored by General John Charles Fremont during the 1840's. 
     The first effort at settlement came in 1850 when a group of young Mormon men, veterans of the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican War, dropped out of a party of 80 Mormons, headed for the California gold fields.  Hampden S. Beatie, Abner and DeMont Blackburn, a Mr. Carter and three others built a temporary roofless shelter for a trading post just north of present-day Genoa. 
     They sold the structure to a Mr. Stephen Moore at the end of a very profitable summer and headed homeward to Salt Lake City.  Unfortunately, Shoshones robbed them on their way and Beatie arrived home to work for his uncle, John Reese, in a store in Salt Lake.   
     His tales led Reese to load 13 wagons and set out with 17 men for the Carson Valley where he established a trading post north of Beatie's on the site of present-day Genoa.

They built a 30-by-50 hotel-store inside a stockade on the site of the winter quarters of Washos. 
     The post thrived, especially with traffic to the gold fields of California. 
     Reese sold the post ot A. Woodward & Co., a mail service of Woodward and Major George Chorpening.  In March 1853 Reese filed an attachment after Woodward was killed by Indians in what was later Humboldt County. 
     On September 1, 1854, Reese sold the property to William J. "Lucky Bill" Thorington with all ranch and farm property, livestock, tools, household furniture and cooking utensils. 
      The July 1, 1857 issue of The Scorpion, a handwritten paper published by Stephen Kinsey, announced a grand ball at Lucky Bill's Hotel (old Mormon Station) on July 5th. 
     The hotel-store passed through many hands.  Henry van Sickle owned it in 1874, and T.N. Hansen was listed as owner in 1910.  It was in use as a store at various times. 
     However, the "Terrible Fire of 1910" destroyed the old building, the oldest in Nevada, as well as much of North Genoa.  
      In 1947 the state constructed the replica which stands at the site.  In 1978 it was changed to its present layout with gazeb

New Facebook Page

I am in the process of moving my personal Carson River Guest House Facebook page over Merrill's Carson River Guest House business page.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Merrills-Carson-River-Guest-House/138694906193363