WINTER SPORTING AND CAVORTING IN RENO AND LAKE TAHOE

BY MICHAEL SVOBODA

THE ICONIC “BIGGEST LITTLE CITY IN THE WORLD” SIGN FLASHES WARM AND WHITE, welcoming me with a steady blink as I pull into Reno at night. At first glance, the city seems like a ruse meant to lure me out of the desert, siren like, and into the handful of mid-sized casinos downtown, before I head up to Lake Tahoe. But it was suggested to me to scratch the surface of this silver city coin and suss out the other side of Reno, to find the Reno-ssance, if you will; the town on the Truckee River that the locals have attempted to mold into a first-class gateway city, preciously placed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range.

From my perch on the 22nd floor of the Eldorado Hotel and Casino, I watch the sun rise into the sky, and the powder blue and pink mountains emerge out of the dark. Hotel casinos can offer top tier rooms such as The Peppermill’s new Tuscan themed tower and the Sienna’s bright cheery rooms (www.visitrenotahoe.com) which seem to offer the best luxury bang for the buck, but for old-school downtown casino “charm” the Eldorado (as does Harrah’s, Sand’s and Circus Circus) you can get comfortable, if not dated, lodging with tons of ding, ding, ding gaming at your doorstep, with rooms running as low as $25 a night—hoping, I guess, that I’ll spend the rest of that cash on a game of Texas Hold’em.

Instead, I take a walk away from the disorienting lights of the casinos and venture down towards the Truckee River, which winds with white water through the center of the city, and finds the “other” Reno, the one bonded with nature, community, and the arts. The Nevada Museum of Art (www.nevadaart.org) houses an impressive permanent collection in a curvaceous piece of architecture and is in walking distance of the many sweet and friendly independent shops and restaurants that dot the up and coming arts district. Later, for a little nightlife, a local suggests 210 North (www.210north.com) which offers music and drink with a gay-friendly (mixed) dance club vibe. There are a handful of exclusively gay bars in Reno and the area is promoting an “all lifestyles” ideal complete with wedding chapels where you can get hitched (not legally) and hotels that are TAG approved (www.visitrenotahoe.com). But a walk along the river, during any season, is a good way to see the downtown on foot.

A car is key to getting around in the area and there are plenty to rent at the airport when you fly in. And after a day in Reno, I’m ready to use it to get up to the mountains and start playing in the snow. I-80 shoots me straight up to Truckee, CA where I turn south on Highway 89 towards Olympic Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games and now home to many world class resorts. The Resort at Squaw Creek in the Olympic Valley (www.squawcreek.com) is an enormous classic lodge perched on a hill, overlooking the Squaw Valley with giant floor to ceiling windows in the fireplace-warmed lobby showing off the mesmerizing snowy views. With rooms starting at around $200, and amenities such as a spa, a ski lift right outside the door, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and dog sledding all at my disposal, it feels like a lovely place to relax and catch my breath. I’m relieved for a moment too, to be away from the casino gaming, as I’ve crossed the line into California, giving the north part of the Lake Tahoe region a distinctively more serene, upscale, and outdoor feel.

Next, I venture northeast on Highway 28, hitting the big blue rim of North Lake Tahoe, as it fills my windshield. It is a living liquid sapphire with cerulean hues that change and shift as I make my way around the alpine highway precipice. I turn north again at Highway 267 and locate Northstar at Tahoe Village (www.northstarattahoe.com). A nearly all new “created village” of shops, restaurants, and independently owned condominium properties managed and maintained by The Village has the feel of a Swiss town nestled up against the mountains. There are activities aplenty, but the focus here is skiing and snowboarding. It’s a quick walk through the village to the Northstar-at-Tahoe gondola, which takes you up to the top of the mountain. Having skied only in high school and snowboarded only once three years ago, I take the time to have a lesson with a fun and amiable snowboarding instructor named Shep, an adorably bearded and extremely patient English lad, who re-taught me the basics in just a few hours. The sun ruled that day at Northstar and I quickly shed my outer layers as I made my way up the lifts to try my new boarding skills on the many powdery slopes.

At night, the black waves of the lake nearly lap up to the window in the Lone Eagle Grille at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, a 20-minute drive from my homey cabin-like lodgings at Northstar. This culinary gem, with painstaking detail given to ambiance and luxury, serves such fancy fare as Pan Seared Elk Tenderloin, Butter Poached Sea Bass, and Lobster Ravioli, all abutting a glowing fireplace and under rustic high-beamed cathedral ceilings. I choose the Sea Bass and revel in its delicate texture and flavor while sniffing and sipping my way through a glass of Cabernet.

Contrast is the spice of life and Lake Tahoe has it in spades, a veritable ‘royal flush’ of differences, most evident as I move from the more luxury oriented North Shore, on the California side, down to the South Shore, clockwise, via Highway 28 and back into Nevada where once again casinos are ever present. There is a greater sense of actual “tourism” in the South Shore area, especially once I hit the Harrah’s –Harvey’s complex just before Heavenly Village at the southern state line tip of the lake. As I said before, the casinos are great for affordable lodging within close proximity to the great outdoors in and around the Reno/Tahoe region and in South Lake Tahoe this is no exception. A far more youthful and looser feel prevails on the South Shore as I navigate the casinos and shops that crisscross the Cal-Neva state line in Heavenly Village (www.skiheavenly.com).

The Gondola at Heavenly Village is worth the price of a lift ticket alone, with it’s swift vertical push towards the sky, I make sure and position myself inside the cab so I am facing the lake, this way I can take in the azure awesomeness of North America’s largest alpine lake from this prime vantage point. Heavenly is one of a kind, offering ample Blue and Black slopes for the intermediate, advanced, and expert skier and boarder, for the beginner it all looks quite daunting though, with only a few Green slopes tucked away and somewhat hard to find. The views of the lake from some 10,000 feet in the air are quite breathtaking, but there is no lodge at the immediate top of the Gondola for lolly-gagging and people watching, as the real draw at Heavenly is being able to ski two states with one pass, with signs at the top directing me either to California or Nevada.

After days in the snow and my head in the mountains, I drive back down to Reno to catch my flight in the late afternoon, but first I’m going to The Sienna Hotel Spa (www.sienareno.com) in downtown Reno and indulge in a full hour massage sampler with a mix of deep tissue and hot stones to rub away the pain and stiffness that always seem to accompany so much snowy fun. An hour of quiet meditation in the serenity room while sipping sparkling wine with my feet soaking in a tub of warm rose water in preparation for my very first pedicure, a peppermint one to boot, leaves my brain and feet soft and tingling, and ready to make my way back to the airport and the City of Angels. But before I go, I sit silently for a few minutes on one of the many bridges that cross over the Truckee River downtown and take a few deep breathes of the cool clean high desert air. I realize then, that I did win big, not on slots or poker, but on discovering a fun, interesting, and diversely adventurous place only an hour’s plane ride from home.

For more info: www.visitrenotahoe.com.