Local Ski Resorts Close Dispite Record Breaking Snowpack

Update on I Love Skiing’s Photo Contest

I Love Skiing’s Photo Contest Sponsored by Nordica Boots and Skis launched March 28, 2011. The contest has had 34 submissions in its Submission period. (March 28-April 18) Currently, Connor Kennedy is in 1st place with his image titled Dry Slope 3. Posted is an update of the progress of the competition. Stay tuned for the winner!

David Rohde Speaks and Accepts Award at UNR

David Rohde was awarded the first Frank McCulloch Award for Courage in Journalism at 3 p.m. on Thursday March 3, 2011 at the Joe Crowley Student Union at the University of Nevada, Reno. The award presents a milestone for the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism and for the school’s Journalism Week, (J-Week) March 1-3. McCulloch, 91 and famous alumna of the Reynolds School of Journalism at UNR, presented the award to Rohde with great pride.

The theater at the Student Union began to fill with students and faculty as Jerry Ceppos, Dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism, began to prepare for the introduction of McCulloch and Rohde. As soon at the clock was at 3 p.m. the theater was completely packed. Silence hit the crowd as Ceppos started telling of the two honorable speakers and as the crowd prepared for Rohde’s horrific story of being kidnapped in 2008 by the Taliban and being held captive for seven months.

McCulloch, 1941 graduate of the Reynolds School of Journalism, has proven excellence in the field of investigative reporting. He has exposed political connections to the mafia, fought and defeated several libel cases that still serve as a standard in court cases today, and helped end the Vietnam War through his reporting.

“I couldn’t have created a first winner of this circumstance better fitted to have it than David,” McCulloch said.

Rohde, investigative journalist for the New York Times and author of “A Rope and A Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides,” accepted his award with great honor. As Rohde and McCulloch began to set foot upon the stairs to the stage, Rohde put out his arm to McCulloch, helping him up the stairs.

After Rohde was presented his award by McCulloch, he went into his story of his abduction. While Rohde was in Afghanistan doing research for a book, he had set up an interview with a Taliban leader. He told of how he made the mistake of not telling his wife the night before of his interview because he didn’t want to worry her. As Rohde, his translator and his driver were in the process of meeting up with the Taliban leader they were kidnapped by Taliban gunmen. As the crowd began to listen, a feeling of great emotion hit the audience as the crowd packed in the college theater began to realize what this man has been through.

“In a matter of seconds we had been abducted,” Rohde said.

Rohde spoke the hardships he faced as a prisoner to the Taliban. He told of how uneducated their people were and how much they hated western culture.

In June of 2009, Rhode and his translator escaped from the Taliban and made it to the Pakistani Embassy where they found safety.
Rohde’s courageous reporting and investigative journalism have demonstrated himself as the matchless recipient of the Frank McCulloch Award for Courage in Journalism.

Rohde ended his speech by giving students an optimistic approach of journalism.

“Good journalism still happening in print and online. I encourage you to find innovative ways to tell stories,” Rhode said.

Robb Gaffney: Doctor, Author, Professional Skier, and Family Man

For Robb Gaffney, Squaw Valley, CA is a place for him to discover and transcend his own limits, whether it is on or off the ski hill. Gaffney has lived in Squaw Valley, CA for 20 years. Him and his wife have two kids and he owns his own psychiatric firm in Squaw just across from the village.

Gaffney, 40, is known for his extreme skiing with film appearances in ski movies such as “Walls of Freedom, 1999, High Society, Focused, and GNAR” and for writing the book titled “Squawllywood.”  More importantly, Gaffney is also known as a Board Certified Psychiatrist.

Gaffney grew up in a little ski town in northern New York. He started skiing at a very young age with his older brother, Scott Gaffney, 42, at Big Tupper Ski Area. Gaffney describes Big Tupper as a small, local mountain where the lifts were always turning. During high school Gaffney described himself as “not too reserved” and “very outgoing.”

In 1983, at 13 years of age, Gaffney took his first ski trip out west to Crested Butte, Colorado. Gaffney remembers this trip as the reason why he decided he was going to move out west after college.

After graduating high school, Gaffney moved out west to go to school at University of Colorado, Boulder. Gaffney recalls spending most of his time in Colorado at Berthound Pass where him and his friends would push their boundaries in the backcountry.

“Skiing at the resorts was so restricted in that time,” Gaffney said. “In the backcountry we could do whatever we wanted to do.”

Throughout Gaffney’s life he has always had an outlook on life of “pushing the limits.”

“If you push your boundaries just a little everyday, it makes life really cool,” Gaffney said.

Gaffney decided he wanted to be a psychiatrist one day skiing at a local resort in Colorado during his second year in med school. The moment it hit him was when he was going up the chair lift with an older gentleman with a humungous, gray beard who was telling Gaffney that he has skied over 70 days so far that season and it was only January.

“I looked at him after he told me this and asked, what do you do?” Gaffney said. “He told me he was a psychiatrist.”

After graduating from med school at UC Boulder, Gaffney moved to beautiful Squaw Valley, CA where he currently resides with his family, Andrea, his wife and two children Noah, 10, and Kate, 8.

During the 20 years that Gaffney has lived in Squaw he has had a major impact on the community. He is a local ski icon, a doctor, and an author.

In the late 1990’s while Shane McConkey (ski icon), Scott Gaffney, and Robb Gaffney were riding up Shirley Chair at Squaw, they came up with this great idea to write a book about Squaw and identify all of their favorite spots to jump off cliffs.

“It was Robb’s labor of love that got the book done,” Scott said.

“Squawllywood” is 209 pages long. It includes 18 chapters and a bonus chapter titled G.N.A.R., written by Shane McConkey. G.N.A.R. stands for the “Gaffney Numerical Assessment of Radness.” The game is based on a point system. Each run from the book has a certain amount of G.N.A.R. points. In addition, there are extra credit points (ECP’s) in the game. Some of the things for extra credit points include a complete butt naked run, farting in the gondola while its full and claiming it, and ski into the hot tub at High Camp fully clothed with equipment on.

This book proves how humorous and fun Gaffney is while still maintaining his reputation as an accredited doctor in the area.

In March of 2010, Gaffney turned this game into a real competition. 20 skiers were selected to compete in the game of G.N.A.R. which took place at Squaw Valley. The first day of the competition, the game was banned from the resort. In result, the competition was taken to other resorts including: Alpine Meadows, Kirkwood, Mammoth Mountain, and Snowbird, CO.

Scott Gaffney,co-director for world famous Matchstick Productions has always been close with his brother. Matchstick Productions has been making extreme ski movies for over 10 years. Scott has had the opportunity to film and include his own brother in some of his movies.

“Robb is a firm believer in pushing the boundaries and not conforming,” Scott said. “Especially not conforming.”

Robb’s lifestyle and career have proven that he has not conformed.

“I am always telling Robb he looks like a dork with what he is wearing and tucking his shirts in because he is a doctor, but he doesn’t care what other people think,” Scott said.

While maintaining his reputation as a respectable doctor in the area. Gaffney still pushes that boundary and has fun with whatever he is doing.

“I believe the element of humor has to be part of our lives for us to evolve,” Gaffney said. “Staying active and remaining humorous is an important part of the human experience.”

Leading Resort Management Company Purchases Northstar-at-Tahoe for $63 million

by Brian Sergott

On Oct. 25 the first-class mountain resort management company, Vail Resorts, Inc., announced its purchase of Northstar-at-Tahoe. With this purchase Northstar passholders who purchased the Double Whammy pass for this season are now able to ride not only at Northstar and Sierra-at-Tahoe, but also at Heavenly Mountain Resort. Whether Sierra-at-Tahoe will still be included in next year’s Double Whammy is still up in the air.

Jessica VanPernis, communications manager at Northstar-at-Tahoe is extremely pleased about Northstar’s new ownership.

“It is really exciting that Vail Resorts just purchased Northstar,” VanPernis said. “They have a really strong reputation for customer service and a lot of things that we here at Northstar really pride ourselves in.”

Kelly Ladyga, vice president of corporate communications for Vail Resorts Management Company and spokeswoman for Vail Resorts, felt even though the purchase may seem rushed, Vail has successfully made an uninterrupted transition from the previous owner, Booth Creek Resort Properties.

“It is not a sudden purchase, it has been in the works for quite some time,” Ladyga said. “We are always on the lookout for the right acquisition at the right price at the right time. Northstar met all of our strategic acquisition criteria. The transition has been going smoothly, we just announced a new chief operating officer of Northstar.”

Ladyga and VanPernis both felt Vail Resorts Inc. have done everything they can to ensure a smooth transition between ownership and have not changed a lot of things because of how early it is in the season.

“The deal came in at a great time before the start of the season and the Vail team has been really accessible and trying to work with us along the way to move things along and kind of acclimate us to the way that they do things,” VanPernis said. “There are still some things that won’t be changed until after the season ends. So the way that we have our season passes and that sort of thing will change in the next year or so. They are keeping a lot of things status quo because they know we were so close to the start of the season.”

Young people, especially who go to college at the University of Nevada Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College and purchased a college pass, are excited to be able to ski and ride at Heavenly with their Double Whammy pass.

“I love it,” said Darren Vega, student at Truckee Meadows Community College. “I live by Heavenly and I was going to get a pass there anyway. Now I ride there almost everyday.”

“I have never skied at Heavenly, so it was really fun to finally be able to ski there. And I wouldn’t have been able to do that if they wouldn’t have done that,” said Kyle Roberts, business major at UNR. “I have already gone to Heavenly three times so far this year. It is really cool to be able to go ski the South-shore at Heavenly and Sierra while using my Northstar pass.”

“It’s sick,” said Nick Bertrando, math major at the UNR. “I’m definitely down to go to Heavenly more than I was to go to Sierra, so it should be fun.”

Vail Resorts Inc. has yet to announce whether Sierra will be included next year in the Double Whammy pass. Ladyga was unsure of what will happen next year with the Double Whammy Pass.

“We don’t have an answer for that right now,” Ladyga said. “We’re focused on this season.”

One thing pass-holders fear is the price of the Double Whammy going up next year. Currently it is only $ 279 for a Double Whammy college pass. Many students are anticipating the price rising next year, especially if Sierra-at-Tahoe is still included in the Double Whammy pass.

“I like that for this year you get three resorts, but I don’t like that next year it’s probably going to be more expensive and we might not get Sierra in the Double Whammy Pass,” Alden Spence said, business major at UNR.

Many pass-holders fear Northstar could become even more corporate. Jay Yamuns, Double Whammy pass holder from the Bay Area, had mixed feelings towards the new ownership.

“I am kind of torn about the whole thing,” Yamuns said. “One part of me feels like the small resort atmosphere might go away with splitting up with the local resort Sierra-at-Tahoe. I guess that kind of sucks, but on the other hand Vail, you know they are a big company, they aught to bring in a lot of capital, do some upgrades and bring in their style of running a resort, which is world class. So maybe it will be good.”

With winter coming early this ski and snowboard season, college students who purchased the Double Whammy Northstar pass have already been taking advantage of what the South-shore has to offer and Heavenly and Sierra.

“I think it’s definitely a great value for college students if they want to take advantage of three great mountains and have the option of being able to go to the North and the South-shore,” VanPernis said.