11/12 Tahoe Weather, Conditions, Stoke, and What's Up Thread... IT'S BAAAAAAAACK!!!

[splitter]

here's a morning shot of the highest climbing wall in the world above the reno arch

Reno needs to have better marketing folks, 'cuz when you Google "World's Tallest Climbing Wall" the top 4 results are this: http://www.toxel.com/tech/2010/10/25...climbing-wall/

there's a hell of a lot more wrong with Reno's tourism/marketing folks than the tallest climbing wall bit.

a lot of douches want to know why on earth we would have something like that downtown in a non-gaming, non-smoking facility, 'cause the casinos are doing so goddamn well

Hopefully the place'll be cool. At the moment it, on the inside, it doesn't seem like they were really ready to open. There are a few bars inside and a decent bouldering area. Apparently on the second floor there are plans to do another set of bars/eateries overlooking an indoor/outdoor skate/bike park.

the wall is cool. 2 pitches of lead, one 5.7, one 5.9 and a lot of other top ropes next to it.

Hopefully they can couple it with the Knitting Factory down the street and the whitewater park to piggy back on the river festival in spring...

There's also a big open "plaza" next to the building that would work well as an outdoor market/farmers' market.

[kidwoo]

another set of bars/eateries overlooking an indoor/outdoor skate/bike park.

Wait what?

[dookeyXXX]

I have yet to venture to the Knitting Factory. To be honest, of all the KF venues, the Reno one has the weakest musical acts swing through (at least to my taste). I would enjoy seeing more indie acts and less metal/punk/rap...

Speaking of which, what's the scoop on the Tonic Lounge? While their web presence sucks (Myspace page is incomplete, FB page is horrible...why can't bars/clubs that host live music actually have decent, comprehendible websites with easy to view/use calendars of shows?), they seem to have some interesting shows on the horizon...

Not being a Reno local and only popping in a few times a year, I do have to say that they seem to be fixing up downtown and adding things to make the city a little cooler in the cultural department. But then what do I know?

I'd be curious to know how much of an impact all of the California indian casinos have on Reno (i.e. do less bus tours from the Bay Area come up to Reno in favor of hitting the numerous indian casinos that are closer?)

Finally, isn't an outdoor rock climbing facility kind of ridiculous in a city like Reno...I doubt folks will use it from now until at least April, so that's 5 months of dormancy...or will people climb it in the dead of winter?

[gone2alpine]

Bringing it back to skiing....

Well there may be trouble in paradise for Squalpine Meadows....shameless spam, I know but here is the link. Commentary there would be cool...

http://unofficialalpine.com/?p=1080

[tahoearmada]

interesting... ive been hearing some strange news miself

[powdork]

so, yeah. i am a little excited.
the alpine folks have to be excited to gain a real mountain instead of squaw.

[Driver]

Anyone know what JMA's typical program is for newly purchased resorts? Not sure if it'd be good or bad for the wood. Clearly new capital could be a good thing in terms of lifts, but a continued push to (over)develop other aspects of the valley not so good from my standpoint. Alternatively, could be a somewhat forced sale by kirkwood mountain resort llc as they've had a few tough years... or it could just be a rumor. Interesting.

[Ottime]

New lifts? Let's consider a power source first.

I just hope that 10 never becomes a high speed quad. Except on sleeper days, maybe.

[powdork]

back to page 1. this is potentially very big news. not really getting any play though.

[marcusling]

If the sale of KW happened today, I cant see how it would change a thing for this season. Im more worried about a shift in management right before the season that just creates chaos. Ottime is correct when it comes to the power situation. They cant run the stuff they already have without blackouts. KW dropped several million into a new powerstation, so I have a feeling they will holdout on the hookup to the grid until they get their money back from that little investment. Sorry, my cup is half empty on this one.

[powdork]

i would think the money invested in the power station would be reflected in any sale price.
it could mean a kw pass is good at am, or not.

[LongShortLong]

The Kirkwood sale rumor is taking a looooong time to hatch. Perhaps they were waiting on the Mountain Club remodel or some approval stage for the power line. My number one improvement request is a snow shed / tunnel for Carson Spur. Fixing the spur removes a lot of uncertainty for visitors.

[Nuthon]

If the sale of KW happened today, I cant see how it would change a thing for this season. Im more worried about a shift in management right before the season that just creates chaos.

I've heard rumors about this since Aug.

I doubt at this point JMA would be dumb enough to do a shift in management right before the season. If anything they will be putting all the management under a microscope this season & see who is actually worth keeping & who is just dead weight. It might end up helping things out.

[Nuthon]

My number one improvement request is a snow shed / tunnel for Carson Spur. Fixing the spur removes a lot of uncertainty for visitors.

HA HA HA. What, you think this is Europe? We ain't that smart in these here parts. Besides why not just tunnel from Silver Lake to K-wood & avoid the Carson Spur altogether.

[skier666]

I heard a bullet train is going from my house to the base of chair 6? True? My sources are reliable...

[Sinecure]

Wouldn't that be sweet?

Who needs a bullet. Just have a decent train that left Emeryville in the late afternoon on a Friday, stopped once in Sacramento, and got you to Truckee within 3-4 hours of departure from SF would be awesome. Return trip scheduled to depart on Sunday around 5:30pm. Get the local hotels to pitch in for a local shuttle.

[fallguy]

Besides why not just tunnel from Silver Lake to K-wood & avoid the Carson Spur altogether.

what about the fabled tram from silver lake to kwood?

[Dark Star]

Not much happening in the immediate backyard, but the greater backyard is holding some goods if anyone's got the itch (TR of a Pow Day, Bloody Couloir, and yes this should be in the e-side thread once 213 or whomever else steps up makes one)

http://unofficialnetworks.com/fullon...america-52483/

[fallguy]

i've heard the JMA rumor for a little while, and have also heard of possible changes within management (for the better IMHO). My guess as far as the selling of Kwood, the current owners have bleed the place dry (sold all the available real estate), and are looking to download the resort. is it possibly a good thing? could be yes because they haven't really done much for on hill upgrades.

[powdork]

Not much happening in the immediate backyard, but the greater backyard is holding some goods if anyone's got the itch (TR of a Pow Day, Bloody Couloir, and yes this should be in the e-side thread once 213 or whomever else steps up makes one)

http://unofficialnetworks.com/fullon...america-52483/

very nice. might i suggest here
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...00-quot-Winter

[Nuthon]

what about the fabled tram from silver lake to kwood?

It will actually be an underground moving carpet that moves as the same speed as chair 4. So instead of taking 10 min from Silver lake to Kirkwood it will take just under 2 hrs

[Arty50]

Dear god, please tell me the Kirkwood sale rumors are true. Pretty please!!!

I have yet to venture to the Knitting Factory. To be honest, of all the KF venues, the Reno one has the weakest musical acts swing through (at least to my taste). I would enjoy seeing more indie acts and less metal/punk/rap...

Speaking of which, what's the scoop on the Tonic Lounge? While their web presence sucks (Myspace page is incomplete, FB page is horrible...why can't bars/clubs that host live music actually have decent, comprehendible websites with easy to view/use calendars of shows?), they seem to have some interesting shows on the horizon...

Not being a Reno local and only popping in a few times a year, I do have to say that they seem to be fixing up downtown and adding things to make the city a little cooler in the cultural department. But then what do I know?

I'd be curious to know how much of an impact all of the California indian casinos have on Reno (i.e. do less bus tours from the Bay Area come up to Reno in favor of hitting the numerous indian casinos that are closer?)

Finally, isn't an outdoor rock climbing facility kind of ridiculous in a city like Reno...I doubt folks will use it from now until at least April, so that's 5 months of dormancy...or will people climb it in the dead of winter?

It actually doesn't snow much in most of Reno. Take last year for instance. Despite record snowfall up the hill, the most I ever had in my yard was a couple of inches and that melted inside of 24 hours. Not to say it doesn't happen, but anything more than an inch or two is rare. You'll get more if you live in the foothills of the NW or down in Galena, but downtown and most of town doesn't get much of anything.

That said, it does get cold; I don't know if I'd want to be up on that wall in the winter dry or wet.

Frankly, I don't get this place. I don't live there anymore, but I don't see how it's going to be an attraction. Outdoor climbing wall? Meh. Skatepark? Whatever. This building isn't going to bring people in from out of town. If they pull of the restaurants/bars right, then they will pull in people from the area though.

Reno has some good stuff happening finally. A lot of great bars have popped up in the last few years (Ceol, St. James, Strega, Old Bridgetender, the Chapel, etc.) and there are some damn good new restaurants that have opened up (Sup, Old Granite St., Midtown Eats, Gastropub, Pie Face Pizza, etc.). Oh and the Hub, which has awesome coffee. St. James is going to open up a brewery/restaurant soon too. A lot of the Cali and other urban ex-pats got sick of the lack of amenities and started opening up bars and restaurants. It's been a nice little boon to the area and is slowly but surely filling the casino vaccum that gutted downtown. The new ballpark was a great addition too.

Speaking of the casino issue, gaming is dying in Northern Nevada. Tahoe and Reno used to get a ton of business from Sacramento and the Bay Area. That’s all been siphoned off by the Native American casinos in the Western foothills. So now they’re totally reliant on long distance travelers. The bigger companies have large databases of clients that they can fly in, wine and dine, and make money off of. If you’re a smaller place, you’re pretty much screwed. That’s why downtown Reno is like a morgue. Tons of old closet out casinos. Slowly but surely, they’re figuring out what to do with the buildings.

The Knitting Factory was the old Horseshoe I believe. I’m not really a fan of the layout. The balcony bar should have had a bigger opening. That way you would have way more space along the rail for people to stand and watch the band. Plus the sound would filter up there better. Also, what’s to prevent people up there from throwing stuff at the band? It’s a really dumb design. I also hate the choke point between the sound board and the bar. The sound board just sticks out way too far. Worst of all, the sound is just ok in there. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either.

As for the acts, I was disappointed at first but it’s gotten a little better. My biggest complaint has been that they’ve been way too conservative. I know the place is new and their number one concern is getting people in the door, but that doesn’t mean you have to endlessly cater to the country crowd and the metal crowd. There are a lot of people who want to see the bands that normally grace the other venues in the chain. They’ve started pulling some in, but it hasn’t been with the frequency that many would like to see. There are enough people there to support those bands. So as of right now, the Knit was a good addition to town; but it’s not driving the music scene like it could be. Hopefully that will change…

[buildakicker]

See you on the hill pussies!

[The Dad]

Well, if the USFS approval was the issue, looks like that's been resolved, according to new coverage in the SF Business Times:

The Alpine Meadows acquisition is now set to close on Nov. 15. The deal recently received unanimous approval from the California Tahoe Conservancy, and yesterday the U.S. Forest Service green-lighted the plan for Squaw to buy Alpine....

Since announcing the Tahoe Superpass, which allows Squaw season pass holders to ski at Alpine and vice versa, ticket sales have exceeded all forecasts by almost three times.... So far, season ticket sales are up 30 percent year over year.

[4matic]

I'm surprised Vail Resorts is not interested in Kirkwood. It would be a good fit to expand options for the South Shore destination tourist. And, it, appears Tahoe will be KSL vs. Vail Resorts. Kirkwood is such an outlier that maybe they remain independent but it was actively seeking financial partners last month. Either way, I don't expect any changes to Kirkwood infrastructure for some time.

The Mountain Club was poorly designed. I've stayed there enough to loathe the kitchen area setup; the bathrooms are bigger than the kitchen. The lockout rooms are nice but the common living areas are claustrophobic and clumsy.