At the Lake: Sierra dump continues

Winter continued to roar over the Sierra Nevada on Monday, putting another half foot of snow at lake level, South Shore public works staffers in plows and a considerable-to-high avalanche warning in effect for backcountry travelers.

The human effect included visitors fleeing the area in their vehicles to escape the storm's wrath and chain controls, residents shoveling feverishly and the rosy faces of area youth beaming with smiles.

It was the Lake Tahoe Unified School District's first snow day of the season for students in a year that has been quite a departure from a few years ago. Then, the school year extended to the third week of June to make up for almost two dozen snow days.

Tahoe schools remained closed Tuesday.

LTUSD School Board Member Sue Novasel returned from the Caribbean Monday with a climate shock and white welcome mat of sorts covering the driveway.

"Welcome home," she joked Monday.

Students appeared to have a better time on Monday than adults.

Lake Tahoe Environmental Science Magnet School student Caleb Russell took his fun indoors, playing the "Backyard Baseball" game and grabbing a movie at Video Library.

Brandan Buchanon went sledding near Sawmill Pond with his mother, Kitty, who discovered one way to clear her San Francisco Avenue driveway was to pound down the snow with tire tracks.

Eduardo Garibay, a 10-year-old Bijou Elementary School student, and his brothers built a sliding hill outside their Fairway Avenue house.

"We're not going anywhere," their mother Cynthia said, looking at the blowing snow. With wind gusts from these storms expected to top 115 mph on the ridges, much of the snow has blown horizontally and produced large drifts.

The high wind has contributed to high avalanche danger in the backcountry on slopes of 32 degrees and steeper above the tree line, the Sierra Avalanche Center reported Monday. This means human-triggered avalanches are likely between Yuba and Sonora passes. Below the tree line, the hazard lowered to moderate to considerable.

The strong winds shut down eight lifts at Heavenly Mountain Resort and a shuttle bus route, but the snow added another foot to the five already collected for skiers and boarders on the slopes, the ski area reported.

Snow means big business to Lake Tahoe.

"The volume has increased on the phones," South Lake Tahoe Lodging Association President Jerry Bindel said. And with Easter scheduled early and a late season, March and April are shaping up for the crowds to hit the slopes.

On the roads, city and El Dorado County street superintendents Scott Rogers and Tom Halverson, respectively, were out in full force to keep up on clearing the roads amid a continuous storm system.

"Right now we're just making room and pushing the snow back. Unfortunately, some driveways are affected," Rogers said, confirming the city has received some calls to complain of berms. Halverson reported the same thing for the county.

Caltrans has brought up 10 staffers from the Sacramento area. The state transportation area warned motorists of on-and-off delays on Highway 50 due to avalanche controls. Monday marked another day of chain controls on the major thoroughfare and Highway 89. The route was closed at D.L. Bliss State Park because of the avalanche hazard.

Despite the boon of snow, the Central Sierra remains at 55 percent of average, according to snow sensors read by the California Department of Water Resources on Monday.

"These kinds of storms should be having an impact and clearly it's been quite a boost. But we didn't have a wet fall, and we were in such a deep hole to begin with," state hydrologist Frank Gehrke said.

But more is yet to come. A winter storm warning went into effect Monday night into Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported. The storm was estimated to bring another 6- to 10 inches at lake level and 1- to 2-foot above 7,000 feet by Tuesday night. The storm series is predicted to taper off Wednesday.

"There's a pretty good jet stream over us," meteorologist Rudy Cruz said.

Unless swimming is your spring sport, the spate of late-winter Sierra storms couldn't have come at a more inopportune time.

With more than 5 feet of snow falling in the Tahoe Basin since last Thursday, spring athletic teams at South Tahoe and Whittell high schools are once again moving indoors.

Early last week, STHS baseball coach Matt Tillson was planning to hold his team's first practice outside on Saturday. That luxury is available to the Vikings about as often as Applebee's serving customers free steak fajitas.

"It was looking really good. I was sitting in my chair at St. Theresa overlooking the field, and there was green out there," Tillson said. "I was just hoping. That's all you can do. We live in Tahoe, so we have to expect this."

Tillson must wait for school to resume before he can hold his second tryout. The final tryout was set for Monday, but with school being canceled Monday and today, the Vikings' skipper won't be able to hold his first official practice until Thursday at the earliest.

Normally, that would have put the Vikings at a huge disadvantage, but it has been snowing in the valley as well, forcing Douglas to use Line Drive U on Monday.

"I'd like to fly them to Florida. We'll move forward and do what we can," Tillson said.

Warriors' manager Don Amaral couldn't get his team out of town for their regular workout on Monday.

Whittell was restricted to a gym practice. The team had planned to go to Amaral's Line Drive facility in Minden, but the adverse weather prevented them from a risky drive on Kingsbury Grade.

"Any time we can't get on the field (at Lampe Park), we go down to Line Drive," Amaral said.

Rough winters in 2000 and 2001 stimulated Amaral into thinking of an alternative plan for preparing players for the baseball season.

"My first two years we had to play our first game with never being on the field. That's one of the reasons I created Line Drive," Amaral said.

With Amaral pondering starting four or five freshmen in the school's season opener on March 9 in Yerington, any missed practice time is a setback for the Warriors.

"I need to teach somebody to play shortstop. I need to get practices in," he said.

The South Tahoe softball team was planning to work out this morning at the Recreation Center. STHS's track and field team is waiting for school to return to session, according to coach Dan Wilvers.

Tillson said he's not concerned about starting late because he welcomes back a veteran club.

"I'd be really worried if we were a young team," Tillson said. "We have a good senior class that will help us overcome that adversity. The school is blessed to have such good seniors."

Once tryouts are completed, Tillson plans to take his team to Carson City for practice. The Vikings are scheduled to play in two situational scrimmages on Saturday in Carson City.

"March 15 is a real important (date) for us. That's our first league game against Douglas. As long as we can get them prepared before then, I think we'll be OK," Tillson said.

Tillson welcomes any community help in preparing Todd Fields for the season. The team intends to work on the field on Sundays, beginning this Sunday with a plowing project that Tillson hopes will facilitate faster melting once the sunshine returns. Anybody willing to provide a plow to streak the field, should show up at the field at noon.

Most years, the United States Under-16 women's national team roster is comprised of players from soccer hotbeds such as suburban Washington, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. However, there is one player on this year's list who seems a bit out of place.

On the seventh line, sandwiched between players from the Dallas and San Jose areas, is goalkeeper Hannah Daly from Lake Tahoe, Nev. The reference must have raised a few eyebrows since Daly is the first Lake Tahoe-area player " and possibly the first Northern Nevadan " to ever make the national soccer team.

"It doesn't surprise me at all," said Whittell varsity soccer coach Lydia von Rumpf. "She is definitely the best all-around young athlete that I've personally had a working experience with. Between her natural, God-given talent and her amazing work ethic, the sky is the limit for her. I wouldn't be surprised to see her on the Olympic team one day."

Well, she's on her way.

While there have been dozens of soccer players from this area who have made either the Nevada or Northern California state ODP teams, only a fraction of them has reached the regional level. The most recent example is Leon Abravanel, a 2004 STHS graduate who was a regular on the Olympic Developmental Program (ODP) Region IV team before receiving a scholarship to the University of San Diego.

But nobody form the area has made the national team, and the 15-year-old freshman from Whittell High School is obviously aware of her accomplishment.

"I am quite surprised, to be honest," Daly said. "Everybody was very good. The forwards striked the ball harder than I have experienced in any game-like situation. I just played my game ... then I got a call when I got home from a coach telling me I made it. I was just very excited."

Daly will make her national team debut on Friday when the U-16 women's national team faces the U-17 women's national team at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. One of three goalies on the 24-player roster, Daly and her teammates will make their international debut together a few days later when they face Germany's U-17 women's national team on March 5 and again on March 7 at The Home Depot Center.

She leaves on Wednesday for Los Angeles and stays one week before returning to school. In between games, the national team will have multiple training sessions.

Daly was named to the Olympic Developmental Program Region IV team last summer, then made the national team after tryouts earlier this month in Stockton. In addition to integrated training sessions with players from around the country, her regional team played against our country's three other regional teams on the University of Pacific campus.

After a string of aggressive incidents over the last three days, South Lake Tahoe police are looking for two white men in their 20s suspected of trying to rob two people by threatening them with a metal pipe.

The first robbery attempt happened on Saturday at 11:15 p.m. on Laurel and Friday avenues, and the second happened about 15 minutes later at Stateline Avenue, police reports indicate. In both circumstances, the male victims were told to hand over their wallets. No money was exchanged, no serious injuries were reported and the suspects escaped before police arrived.

The alleged incidents occurred in a major city redevelopment area where demolition has been ongoing on old, rundown buildings.

"We believe these are the same suspects," Sgt. Jeff Reagan said.

One suspect is described as a clean-shaven white male in his 20s with shoulder-length curly blonde hair weighing 150 pounds, standing 5-foot, 7 inches tall. He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt. The second suspect was also in his 20s, standing 5-foot, 10 inches and weighing 180 pounds. He also appeared to be wearing dark clothing.

Aggressive incidents were reported through Monday. At 1 a.m. Sunday, a call came in from the Tahoe Villa North Lodge on Manzanita Avenue that an unarmed suspect who rented a room grabbed some money from the innkeeper.

Then on Monday at 4:22 a.m., another man reported being threatened for his wallet following a possible dispute on Manzanita Avenue.

Anyone with information on these incidents or the suspects are asked to call the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at (530) 542-6100.