Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort will serve as the host venue for the final stop on the Winter Dew Tour, Feb. 19-22! Building on the success of the five-stop AST Summer Dew Tour, a 3-stop nationally televised Winter Dew Tour has been created and will begin this December in Breckenridge, Colo. and travel through Mt. Snow, Vt. before crowning Tour Champions at Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort.

The Winter Dew Tour will bring the top athletes in skiing and snowboarding to Northstar for four days of high-level competition, as well as extensive spectator entertainment and activities on the mountain and in the village.

For those not able to make it to the event, ABC, the USA Network, and MTV/MTV2 will be broadcasting the 3-stop tour. Check out this tour preview:

Last year marked a record-setting ski season for U.S. resorts with 60.5 million skier visits, according to the National Ski Areas Association. As travelers begin thinking about where to find the best deals and the most snow for the upcoming season, Orbitz predicts Lake Tahoe will be this year’s most popular destination.

“While ski vacations are more popular than ever before, the current economy presents new challenges for travelers on tighter budgets than in past years,” said Heather Leisman, senior director of merchandizing for Orbitz. “Travelers looking for ski season savings need only a bit of expert advice on when and where to travel, and Orbitz has the insider knowledge to help them hit the slopes.”

2008-2009 Orbitz Insider Ski Index (Ranking* and average daily hotel rate**)

1. Lake Tahoe, CA/NEV    $116
2. Breckenridge, CO    $225
3. Park City, UT    $239
4. Vail, CO    $286
5. Aspen, CO    $227
6. Keystone, CO    $149
7. Winter Park, CO    $193
8. Whistler, BC    $292
9. Banff, Canada    $189
10. Steamboat Springs, CO    $204

*Based on hotel and vacation package bookings from 11/1/08 to 4/30/09 for bookings as of 10/14/08
** Based on average daily hotel rates from 11/1/08 to 4/30/09 for bookings as of 10/14/08

Reports of amazing winter weather are coming in from all over Reno-Tahoe. Our first hand investigators confirm EPIC powder everywhere you turn! And the powder on the ground is being rapidly covered by even more POWDER!!!!!

• “I can’t believe how hard it’s snowing right now,” said Alpine Meadows spokeswoman Rachael Woods. “This kind of snowfall definitely sets up the Sierra for great spring skiing conditions and really helps with our water situation.”
• “Everybody’s ready to ski,” Kauffman said. “They missed out last year, and this last Saturday and Sunday were excellent. The snow is very deep, powdery dry, like Colorado and Utah,” Kauffman added. “We don’t get that too often.”
• “We did get hammered up here,” said Greg Murtha, spokesman for the resort [Sugarbowl], which has 71 inches of snow at its base, 104 on top. “It was hard to tell when one storm stopped and the next one started.”

Reno Tahoe is about adventure. And that’s not a name just drawn out of a hat to appeal to itchy mid-west executives in corner offices (although we hope it does…). Real people live here who love adventure and actively pursue it every day of their lives. Below is a video trailer made by SummitSide a group of Reno-Tahoe locals which shows some of that pursuit via skiing, snowboarding, kite-boarding and mountain biking.

Here’s the home of a team of downhill mountain bikers. These guys live and breathe bikes. The trail shown here is the start of the first real, legal and purpose-built competition downhill mountain biking course in all of Northern Nevada, right here in Reno. It’s called the Entrail, or the “N” Trail because is runs from the big white N on a hillside above town. The trail is conceived, built and maintained by dhReno.com, The Poedunks (the northern Nevada IMBA affiliate), and Washoe County Parks. If you love summer more than winter, hold tight, biking is going to be big in Reno this spring!

Just examples of the many Reno Tahoe locals with the passion and drive to make adventure their life and their life an adventure.

-MTB

see more passion

Lake Tahoe Is looking prime for White Christmas adventures for Locals and Travelers. Our reporters on the front lines are calling in data as we speak: over a foot in the last 24 hours @ Squaw Valley. More coming down!!!”

So you’re sitting in your cozy office in East Whereversville USA and want to know if this is the weekend to hike, fly or drive out to Tahoe for some rip roaring skiing or snowboarding. But you’re worried that your trip will be ruined by LACK of nasty, cold, stormy weather with HEAVY snow followed by STUNNING bluebird views of the lake…

Well never fear, here are some links to make it easy for you to pick a day when the heavy snow falls, and you can wake up and rip sick powder face-shots in the sun!

• Weather.com: easy to read and lots of good tools.
• Noaa.gov: kinda techy, but you can get storm animations. this is where local TV and most websites get their data.
• Snotel: A network of automated weather and snow monitors around the country. Marlette Lake is a few feet above Tahoe on the East Shore.
• TahoeCam: see current weather conditions all over Tahoe!
• MagnifEYE: Want to SEE the traffic, snowcover (or lack thereof) on I-80 before you head up to the lake? Check out the Kingvale pic…

-MTB

Here in the Reno-Tahoe Region we pride ourselves on the fact that no matter the season or weather, our landscape ain’t no one trick pony!Case in point: These guys, who live a stone’s throw south in Carson City won’t let a little snow cut their mountain biking season short. Although the gentlemen in this picture seem to be gazing a bit lustfully over at Heavenly…Still, once the snow melts down on the valley floors it will be perfect for road and mountain biking, hiking and golf if you like to get more than one sport in for your holiday season vacation.All of the ski resorts are open now with a good and growing base, and the backcountry ski season is off and running!-MTB

Cloudy skies, freezing temps and FROZEN precipitation: It’s a beautiful day in Reno!A few weeks ago our friends JT Holmes, Shane McConkey, Miles Daisher and Jesse Hall did a little Snow Dance Ceremony in Downtown Reno to show those delicate flakes just how to go about floating down to the ground. It worked. IT’S SNOWING!!! Here’s a short video Dan Dominy made of that little ritual…

-MTB

Downtown Reno was a killer place to celebrate Warren Miller’s movie, Playground, the beginning of winter and the Make a Wish Foundation, Northern Nevada Chapter with warm temps and sunny skies… WAIT!?!?!? Reno ain’t no sissy Caribbean cruise town! We want freezing temps and gobs of fresh powder! Well, precip is on the forecast, and SKIERS ARE FALLING OUT OF THE SKY!!!

The first EVER urban skiBASE jump: Shane McConkey, Miles Daisher, JT Holmes, and Jesse Hall hit the jump @ the top of the Silver Legacy casino in Reno and plummeted then glided down to land in the Eldorado parking lot to a crowd of 1000 whooping spectators.The video above was professionally shot and edited by world renowned adventure videographer Dan Dominy, with music from Reno’s coolest local band, Sol Jibe.Stay tuned! More pics and vids to come…MTB