• A military watchdog group said it’s received a flood of complaints from alarmed US military personnel who were pressured into watching the Melania documentary by their MAGA-supporting superiors. The $75 million documentary received an 8% positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and Melania’s contract reportedly earned her $27 million from the project regardless of ticket sales. [Chronicle]
• Seattle Seahawks fans were out in full force in San Francisco Saturday — as seen in the below footage by content creator Corky Trewin who's posted several reels highlighting his time in SF. Swaths of blue shirts could be seen flying high on double-decker tour buses and mingling with the masses throughout town Saturday — with the occasional clusters of red-shirted New England Patriots fans sprinkled in. [SFist]

• The US Coast Guard conducted an overnight search Friday after receiving a report of two surfers calling for help offshore near the Santa Cruz Lighthouse, which was eventually called off after ten hours with no official missing persons reports filed. [Santa Cruz Sentinal]
• A skier died on Mammoth Mountain Thursday after attempting a double-black-diamond run, which occurred within full view of those riding some of the resort’s chair lifts, marking the fourth fatality of the season. [Chronicle]
• A portion of the Super Bowl pre-game show will be broadcast live from Alcatraz, featuring former Alcatraz prisoner and convicted car thief, 93-year-old Bill Baker, sharing his stories from the three years he spent on the island after attempting to escape from three other federal prisons. [NBC Bay Area]

• Here’s an exhaustive list of the many celebrity sightings and high-profile events that took place over Super Bowl week. [Chronicle]
• Next Saturday, SFMTA is inviting all who celebrate Valentine’s Day to head to the Hyde & Beach cable car turnaround at Fisherman’s Wharf for a free photo opp in a decked-out V-Day cable car. [SFMTA]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

The snow finally arrived in time for Christmas for powder-staved Tahoe skiers, but with that snow came some very treacherous driving conditions, and an avalanche that hospitalized two Mammoth Mountain ski patrollers.

We’ve mentioned that there has been very little snow at Tahoe ski resorts this year, so little that the ski resort Sugar Bowl did not even open until today, December 26, the day after Christmas. But after this week’s Christmas storms that rollicked northern California, the Chronicle reports that Tahoe ski resorts got three to five feet of fresh snow powder over this week's holiday, and the resorts are readying for a huge after-Christmas weekend.  

But there is a flip side to this badly needed snow arriving all at once. SFGate reports that driving conditions on I-80 near Donner Pass are incredibly dangerous, while KRON4 notes that two ski patrollers at Mammoth Mountain were hospitalized after being caught in an avalanche Friday morning.

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“At approximately 7:30AM (prior to Ski Area operations) on Friday, December 26, Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol was performing avalanche mitigation work when an avalanche occurred on Lincoln Mountain,” that Mono County resort wrote in a Friday Instagram post. “Two Patrollers were caught in the slide and were immediately transported to Mammoth Hospital. One patroller sustained serious injuries and is being transported out of the area for further care, the second patroller is being evaluated with possible broken bones.”

The resort was closed for the remainder of Friday, though anticipates reopening Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, the weather conditions were so bad on Donner’s Pass that on Christmas Eve, drivers were being turned away. Drivers can now drive through Donner Pass, though as of 3:50 pm Friday afternoon, the California Department of Transportation says that “Chains are required on all vehicles except 4-wheel-drive vehicles with snow tires on all 4 wheels from Kingvale (Placer County) to Truckee (Nevada County).”

Related: Mammoth Mountain Opens Ski Season, But Heavenly, Boreal, and Northstar Just Delayed Their Openings [SFist]

Image: Sugar Bowl Resort via Facebook

A nightmare came true for several skiers at the Tahoe ski resort Heavenly Monday morning, as their ski lift chairs collided, and some victims reportedly fell 30 feet to the ground before being rushed to a hospital.

Here’s a terrible incident that will give skiers the shivers every time they ride a ski lift from now on. The Chronicle reports that five people were injured in a ski lift accident Monday morning around 10 am at the Lake Tahoe resort Heavenly. The resort itself has been pretty mum on the circumstances, but eyewitnesses say that one of the ski lift chairs lost its grip on the cable, slid back, and crashed into the chair behind it. They add that some passengers fell from a height of about 30 feet, and multiple reports are confirming that five people were hospitalized.

The resort was frankly pretty evasive in their above tweet, simply saying that the lift called Comet Express is “on HOLD,” and linking to a page that just shows which lifts are operating and which are not. Parent company Vail Resorts did not add much more in a statement to the Carson, Nevada website Carson Now that simply said, “Heavenly Mountain Resort can confirm an incident occurred on its Comet Express chairlift today, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. The safety of our guests is our top priority and the resort is investigating the incident.”

Comet chair accident at Heavenly
byu/diamondshittingbull intahoe

But several purported eyewitnesses chimed in on this Reddit thread describing the accident. “Two forward going chairs collapsed and people fell on the ground,” the original poster notes. Another person claiming to be an eyewitness responded, “Ya I witness[ed] it. Chair slid backwards with people on it into the chair behind it. The people in front chair fell off.”

In terms of the victims’ conditions, a reported eyewitness claims, “There were 4 sleds to take the people down, it was not good at all. I saw one of the victims on oxygen as they went by.” Another purported witness says, “Yeah they fell from a good 30/40 feet, 1 definitely had broken ribs and a collapsed lung could not breathe on his own so ski patrol had to provide oxygen, can confirm at least 1 left in a life flight helicopter.”

According to the site Carson Now, five people were transported to and hospitalized at Renown Hospital in Reno. Their ages, conditions, and identities have not yet been released.

Related: Missing Woman Found Stranded on Gondola Overnight at Tahoe Ski Resort [SFist]

Image: xamfed via Reddit

Pow! The powder of Mount Rose ski resort officially opened to skiers for the season Friday, and a flurry of other ski resorts have announced their prospective opening dates for the weeks to come.

There were some August snowfalls at high elevations in the Sierras this year, which made one wonder if the ski season would be starting earlier than normal for winter 2024-25 . It’s not, really. Last year, Tahoe’s highest-elevation resort Mount Rose was the first ski resort in the region to open on the second weekend of November. Well, here it is the second weekend of November 2024, and sure enough, the Chronicle reports that Mount Rose was scheduled to open today.  

That report was published Monday, but from the Facebook post above we can see that Mount Rose did indeed open on Friday. They’ll be open Saturday and Sunday too, both days from 9 am - 4 pm.

Some of that Mount Rose snow may be man-made, but there is a winter weather advisory in effect for the Tahoe area until 5 pm Saturday, and the National Weather service is predicting “Snow likely” for Friday night.

Mount Rose seems likely to have the Tahoe ski scene to itself for the next two weekends, but KTVU lists the current scheduled opening dates for other Tahoe resorts. Though you’re advised to keep an eye on these resorts’ websites, and these dates could move back — or up — depending on the weather.

• Boreal: Friday, November 22
• Heavenly: Friday, November 22
• Northstar: Friday, November 22
• Palisades Tahoe: Wednesday, November 27
• Diamond Peak: Thursday, December 5

Though you’ll notice this list does not include North Tahoe’s Homewood, as Homewood will not operate this season, and may not ever be open to the public again.

Related: Ski Season Is Officially Here as First Tahoe Ski Resort Opens on Friday [SFist]

Image: Mt. Rose - Ski Tahoe via Facebook

A 34-year-old San Francisco man got a little off course at Lake Tahoe’s Kirkwood ski resort and ended up spending a night in the wilderness, but was eventually rescued by a cavalcade of search personnel and a CHP helicopter.

Lake Tahoe-area ski resorts, and the area’s regional rescue personnel, are already a little on edge in 2024 after an early January incident where one skier died in an avalanche and several others were left missing and had to be rescued. Another near-death incident is now coming to light, as KTVU reports that 34-year-old San Francisco man Mihayl “Mike” Petkov skied off the Kirkwood ski resort grounds into the backcountry, via the back side of the mountain. He was saved after a 24-hour-long rescue mission where Petkov had to endure an entire night outdoors lost in the wilderness.

The incident actually happened the night of February 10, according to a Facebook post from the Amador County Sheriff's Office. NBC Bay Area reported at the time that once Petkov realized he was lost, he “fell in deep powder and couldn't get his skis back on.” After trudging through heavy snows, he managed to text friends, who alerted rescue personnel.

But the Tahoe Daily Tribune added that Amador County Search and Rescue teams sent out snowmobiles and a snowcat, but the evening conditions were too dangerous to locate Petkov. A California Highway Patrol (CHP) helicopter was able to locate him that evening, but could not land because of the conditions, and Petkov had to survive the night in the cold.  

KTVU interviewed Petkov this week, asking what that ordeal was like.

"I was a little worried at first, like, what the night was going to be, because I had no idea how cold it was going to be," Petrov told the station. "At that point, I just had to make sure I was moving my toes every 10 minutes to make sure no blood loss happened, or they don't freeze."

By the morning, Kirkwood Ski Patrol joined the other emergency personnel, and the CHP copter was able to and and retrieve Petkov. And apparently, Kirkwoood comped him a hotel room to rest before heading home.

The Amador County Sheriff’s Office added in their statement, “If you are skiing at a resort, stay within the boundaries. If you are recreating in the backcountry do not go by yourself. Always be prepared for the worst. If you find yourself in a bad situation, rescuers might not be able to get to you right away.”

Related: Man Killed In Tahoe Avalanche Identified as Marin County Resident; Survivors Describe Scene [SFist]

Image: Amador County Sheriff's Office via Facebook

Lake Tahoe-area ski season has its first ski slope opening set for Friday, as Tahoe’s highest base elevation resort Mount Rose opens Friday, November 10, and more ski resort openings are scheduled for the weeks to follow.

Last winter was the second-snowiest winter on record in the Sierras, which certainly introduced some hazards, but also had the upside of presenting a pretty long and glorious ski season (except when roads and resorts were closed). We don’t know if a looming El Niño will bring similar levels of record precipitation this winter. But we do know, from the Chronicle’s new roundup of when Tahoe ski resorts are opening, that Reno’s Mount Rose ski resort is opening this Friday, November 10.

Three-day weekend, anybody?

More ski resort openings will follow the next weekend, and successive weekends into November and December. The Chronicle reports a number of other ski resort opening dates, which are listed below:

• Friday, November 10: Mt. Rose
• Friday, November 17: Boreal, Heavenly, and Northstar
• Wednesday, November 22: Palisades Tahoe
• Friday, November 24: Sugar Bowl
• Friday, December 1: Kirkwood
• Saturday, December 2: Sierra-at-Tahoe
• Thursday, December 7: Diamond Peak
• Friday, December 15: Homewood

And according to the National Weather Service, there may be more snowfall in the Sierras in the near future. The NWS adds above that “Above normal precipitation is likely throughout California next week,” and that the Sierra Nevada Mountains “have a 40 to 60% chance of heavy precipitation, with snow expected at higher elevations.”

Tahoe ski resorts opening for Veterans Day weekend is pretty normal, and last year, six of the above-named resorts opened on the second weekend of November. But it remains to be seen if, like this past ski season, some California ski resorts are open all the way until August.

Related: Tahoe Sees Second-Snowiest Winter on Record; Snow Buries Ski Lifts in Sierras [SFist]

Photo: Mt. Rose - Ski Tahoe via Facebook

A former world champion halfpipe skier and gold medal winner, Tahoe-based freestyle pro skier Kyle Smaine, died Sunday morning in an avalanche in Nagano, Japan.

South Lake Tahoe pro skier Kyle Smaine won a world championship in 2015, per TMZ, winning a gold medal in the halfpipe competition at that year’s FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships. His fame was enough that the city of Nagano, Japan had hired him to come promote skiing in the area. But it was on that trip that Smaine was killed in an avalanche while skiing Sunday morning, according to CNN. He was 31.

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A post shared by Jenna Dramise (@jennadramise)

Smaine’s wife Jenna Dramise remembers him in the Instagram post above. “You loved skiing more [than] anyone I’ve ever met,” she writes. “I picked you up hitchhiking in New Zealand 2010 and who would have thought we would be married 13 years later. The best damn years of my life. I know you had the best runs in your life out there in Japan and could never blame you for doing what you loved.”

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A post shared by Kyle Smaine (@kylesmaine)

Smaine’s final Instagram post is seen above, posted from the same trip to Japan, just hours before his passing.

Per CNN, Smaine is one of two who were found dead after Sunday's avalanche. “At least five men, all foreign nationals from the US and Austria, had been caught in the avalanche on the eastern slope of Mount Hakuba Norikura,” that network reports.

The Tahoe Daily Tribune refers us to this story from the Mountain Gazette, who had journalists also on that trip. “On the summit, [Washington-based pro skier Adam] Ü and Smaine ran into a group of Austrian skiers. Smaine and Ü skied the same run as their previous lap. The Austrian group decided to ski a slightly different aspect with different exposure, according to Ü,” that publication reports. “Smaine and Ü, at the bottom, were transitioning their backcountry gear back into uphill mode. The first of the Austrian group joined them. The second Austrian skier triggered the slide.”

"We saw it coming," Ü told Mountain Gazette. "We heard the crack. We realized it is a big one. We started running and then we got hit."

According to Fox News “Three of the five survived — two uninjured and a third with a shoulder injury. They walked down with the other party, leaving behind the two who were already without vital signs when dug out.”

Related: Helmet Cam Video Captures Near-Death Tahoe Ski Stunt Gone Wrong, as Skier Nearly Suffocates Immersed in Snow [SFist]

Image: kylesmaine via Instagram

This daring ski jump and flip nearly turned fatal at Palisades Tahoe, and the skier’s helmet cam video is both exhilarating and absolutely terrifying.

SFist is no longer wagging our finger and yelling “Don’t go to Tahoe!,” as the latest mess of Tahoe snow traffic has been upgraded, according to Caltrans District 3, from yesterday’s “avoid Sierra travel right now unless it is essential” to today’s “Be prepared for long travel delays on I-80.” (That said, many locals would prefer you stay the fuck away.) But the skiing is great if you can make it there!

That is, unless you almost die because you got submerged in the snow doing a ski stunt, which happened to one skier Tuesday, according to KGO. And because he and his buddies had their helmet cams rolling, the glorious stunt gone terribly wrong is captured on the helmet cam video seen below.

The above video from stunt-loving slope rat Josh Gold shows the flip, and the harrowing moments afterward when the kids realize their friend might die. (Warning: Has profanity.) He notes that skier Jeremy Pascal “landed bolts off this big drop and ended up feet up and head buried, a position that is extremely hard to get out of on your own. [Duke Arnold] jumped in to help and my only regret is not getting there sooner. We managed to Dig him out after a very terrifying 53 seconds.”

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A post shared by Jeremy (@jeremy.pascal111)

Want a really good scare? Now watch the video above taken from Pascal’s perspective, as he does the flip and then nearly dies buried in snow.  (Warning: Very triggering if you have a fear of being buried alive.)

“I started kind of blowing a hole so I could breathe," Pascal told KGO. "But that didn't work either. So then I thought after like 20 seconds, I thought, all right, just chill out. Don't use energy, so don't breathe as much."

The name for this phenomenon is snow immersion suffocation (SIS), and can happen in any form of deep snow. So caution is advised in these kinds of situations. But if you’re the kind of person who’s taking ski vacations during COVID, gladly driving dangerous roads when authorities ask that you not, and then  doing ski flips, you are probably not the kind of person who’s going to listen when someone advises you to be cautious.

Related: Search Continues For Truckee Skier Who Disappeared [SFist]

Image: jeremy.pascal111 via Instagram

Patrick Frost, 35, and Christopher Gerwig, 32, of San Francisco are still nowhere to be found since reported missing since reported missing last Saturday night at Alpine Meadows, just north of Lake Tahoe. Described as "expert skiers," Frost and Gerwig were last seen on Saturday morning at an Alpine Meadows bar "listening to advice about different outlying areas to ski."

New snow layers blanketing the mountains this weekend, as well as high winds, have made the search that more difficult. But! According to Placer County sheriff Sergeant Allan Carter, their chances of survival are "pretty good." 15 members of the Alpine Meadows' ski patrol joined a 10-person sheriff's team in effort to find the skiers.

Carter also says that the best thing to do in a situation like this is to remain positive and...build a snow shelter. Fun! Find out how, here.

UPDATE: They've been found alive. Hallelujah.