Organized ski racing in America started near Lake Tahoe in the 1860s
when gold miners rode 15-foot boards that reached speeds near 100 miles
per hour. By 1895, residents of Truckee had started the nation's first
winter carnival west of the Rocky Mountains and soon built the largest
ski jump in California. Today's Lake Tahoe, with significant annual
snowfall, has become home to the largest concentration of ski resorts on
the continent.
Places like Mount Rose, Squaw Valley (home of the 1960 Winter Olympics),
Sugar Bowl, Heavenly Valley, Homewood, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Alpine Meadows,
Kirkwood, Diamond Peak, Donner Ski Ranch, Granlibakken, and
Northstar-at-Tahoe have seen skiing styles, sports, and fashions churn
through the decades, while now gone resorts, such as Edelweiss and White
Hills Ski Resort, echo the memories of yesterday's skiers through the
pines.