Archive for the ‘Winter at Truckee California’ Tag
8474 Hillside, Serene Lakes
If you searched the world over, you would be hard pressed to find a better house for the cross-country skier. Before we even get to the house, which is incredible, let’s consider the location. About 100 yards from 8474 Hillside Drive is Royal Gorge, the nation’s largest cross-country ski resort. Royal Gorge is receiving high marks from skiers after a new owner and new management team from Sugar Bowl took over last year. From the lodge you can head out to Point Moriah and witness the 4000 foot drop into the Royal Gorge itself, or you could head towards The Wall and check out the sublime view of Devil’s Peak. Actually you can ski there for a week, and never get tired of all the good skiing. And to make it even better, you are going to have plenty of time to enjoy all that skiing, because this area is blessed with bounteous quantities of the white stuff.
Great room
Now that your interest is piqued, it gets even better: The house is awesome. We can start where only any skier would start. In the waxing room. That’s right. This place has it’s own waxing room. It’s a skiers dream.
Ski tuning room
Then we see the rest of the home. With interior stairs, partially covered decks, enclosed hot tub and gently sloping driveway this place is designed to make life easier when the snow flies. The spectacular great room is cheery and loaded with light. The soaring ceiling and numerous windows offer lovely forest views. Then there’s an oversized garage for toys, boat, snowmobiles etc, dumbwaiter, hydronic heat, fun reading/sleeping nooks and an observatory for star gazing! Whew.
Rear deck
All in all you get a hefty 2500 square feet of living space, with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths in this custom built home that was built in 2002. Even if you are not a Nordic fanatic this home is a great place to be (yeah, yeah, Sugar Bowl is just down the road a piece), but of course if your winter world revolves around skating up steep hills and gliding across mountain meadows…then this place is your big piece of heaven. Perhaps the world’s greatest piece of Nordic heaven. No matter what you love about the mountains this property is definitely worth a look! $799,000
Share this: Lynn Richardson, Your Friend in High Places
Sunny skies on Sunday at Tahoe
Yes, it’s that time of year again. When crisp mornings are followed by warm afternoons, and the bright yellow leaves of the aspens and cottonwoods shine brightly against the deep blue skies. But then, just when you are nicely lulled into complacency with the beauty of autumn, the snows of winters arrive, usually with a vengeance with just a day or two of warning. Will you be ready?
-Are the hoses disconnected and stowed away? Has the sprinkler system been turned off and drained?
-Is everything out of the yard that you don’t want covered in snow for the next six months? Kayaks? Lawn chairs? Planters? Bike racks?
-Do you have all your firewood stacked and ready to be easily accessed so you can stoke the flames of winter?
-Has your heater been serviced?
-Have you installed a stop and drain valve to easily shut off the water in your house when you leave for an extended period?
-Have you reorganized your garage so that you can actually get a car in there? And does that car have its winter tires on? Do you need new windshield wipers?
-Is the snow blower ready to go, or the snow poles installed along the driveway so the snow plow company won’t dig up your landscaping?
-And where is that @#*& snow shovel and snow and ice scraper?
View from my office this morning!
Phew, you’ve finished those pesky chores. Now you just have one more fun step before winter. Go shopping. Can’t find your warm gloves and need to get another pair? What about that jacket that died in April? Now’s the time, and the local businesses would love to see you come walking in the door. Or better yet look up the local ski swaps. I’ll have information on ski swaps later in the week so check back in a few days.
Finally, satisfied that you are ready, it’s time to sit back, relax and dream of what that fresh dumping of new snow will bring you: Is it a smooth glide across Euer Valley, or would you prefer to catch a view of Tahoe as you make your turns from the top of the Sherwood Chair? Or perhaps your dream is simply sipping on a hot toddy, sitting close to the crackling fire, and watching the big flakes float to the ground.
Share this: Lynn Richardson, Your Friend in High Places
Castle Peak at Donner Summit
The history of Donner Summit is about much more than the horrible struggle of one party of California bound travelers that gave the area it’s name. Donner Summit is a center of California history because unbelievably it was one of the easiest ways to get over the Sierra, but as we all know, it can be an incredibly challenging passage, especially if you try to do it in a snowstorm.
The first wagon train to reach California was the Stephens Murphy Townshend Party in 1844, which traveled over Donner Pass two years before the ill-fated Donner Party. They stopped on their journey at Big Bend long enough for the first European baby to be born in California, Elizabeth Yuba Murphy. One member of the party was Moses Schallenberger who spent the winter at Donner Lake, and later had the ridge above the lake named after him. Other party members went on to start the cities of Sunnyvale, Murphy’s and Stockton.
The Railroad was completed in 1869, but to get over Donner Summit required fifteen massive tunnels, including Tunnel 6, which was over 1500 feet long and blasted through solid granite by crews of Chinese workers. Some of the rock removed from the tunnels was used to construct the still visible China wall, which was built without the use of mortar.
Serene Lakes
Without refrigeration, ice was a necessary commodity in the west in the mid 1800s, but it was transported all the way from Boston or Alaska at great expense. So when the railroad opened, entrepreneurs saw opportunity in our cold climes. The Summit Ice Company began operation in 1868 at what were then known as the Ice Lakes, later the Serene Lakes. But the operation only lasted four years before Donner Summit’s heavy snows made nearby Prosser Lake, which had even colder temperatures, but little snow, a more attractive alternative.
The three Serene Lakes, were turned into present day Serena and Dulzura with the raising of the water behind a dam in 1941. The construction of a new road into the lakes in 1959, issued a development opportunity, leading to the creation of eight separate subdivisions at the lakes, and over 600 homes as well as Royal Gorge Cross-Country, and the Ice Lakes Lodge.
Share this: Lynn Richardson, Your Friend in High Places
YOUR FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES 