By Suzanne S. Brown, Denver Post

He laughs. He yodels. He talks to everyone from the new kids just getting started to industry kingpins. At age 93, Klaus Obermeyer is a snow-sports veteran with no thoughts of retiring.

An estimated 19,000 people will file through the Colorado Convention Center this weekend buying and selling ski parkas and snowboards, boots and poles at the annual Snow-Sports Industries America trade show, and many of them will make a point of stopping by Sport Obermeyer’s showroom to show their respect.

While a brigade of sales reps shows the brand’s collections, Obermeyer acts as the company’s genial ambassador, greeting buyers with a hearty handshake or hug and honest interest in finding out what’s on their minds. Sometimes he’ll wear lederhosen or an embroidered shirt as a nod to his native Germany, where he learned to ski as a child in the Bavarian village of Oberstaufen.

Obermeyer’s now-legendary story goes like this: He was teaching skiing in Aspen in 1947 when he got tired of being cold during long days on the slopes. In those days, people skied in wool coats and suits. Looking for a solution, Obermeyer cut up a down comforter his mother had insisted he bring with him when he moved to America, and fashioned part of it into a crude parka.

“I looked like the Michelin Man and had feathers in my cereal for weeks,” he said with a laugh. But the jacket was warm. And one of his students paid the unheard-of sum of $250 to buy it off his back. “A new Buick was $1,250 in those days!”

Next, he had to design a better prototype and figure out how to manufacture it. Obermeyer persuaded a friend in Bavaria to do so. “But he told me I’d have to supply the zippers and knit cuffs,” Obermeyer recalled.

Sixty-five years and many innovations later, the crafty German is still in business in Aspen. The privately held company sells its men’s, women’s and children’s apparel at 600 specialty retailers in the United States and Europe, and is moving into such markets as Russia and China.

“He’s the patriarch of the industry,” said David Ingemie, who has known Obermeyer since the 1960s. Now president of SIA, Ingemie worked in a New York retail ski shop back then and remembers Obermeyer as a friendly guy who looked out for what would be good for the industry as well as his own business.

“He was funny, always smiling and yodeling,” Ingemie said.

But beyond the joviality, Obermeyer had solid plans for his company.

“He was looking long-range,” Ingemie said. “In those days there were a bunch of egotists, but Klaus wasn’t that way. He knew the importance of making the industry grow.”

Retailers today say the same thing.

“He is one of the most forward thinkers I’ve met — he’s always thinking of the retailer and what our needs are as well as his own business,” said Linda Klein, who with her husband and son owns six Willi’s Ski and Snowboard Shops in Pennsylvania and Virginia. She has known Obermeyer since 1970.

“When you have a meeting with him,” she said, “you don’t have to feed his ego. He just wants to know what he can do to make the line better and improve business.”

That simple philosophy continues to be a driving influence in the company, according to Robert Yturri, who joined Sport Obermeyer as senior vice president for product and brand management three years ago after working for such companies as Spyder and North Face.

“Klaus just wants to get all kinds of people outdoors, which is why we fit everyone from a kids size zero to adults size XX,” Yturri said.

The company is also staying current by using eco-friendly and sustainable fabrics, such as recycled polyester made from textiles and bottles, and Cocona, made from coconut shells. It has also instituted practices to be more environmentally conscious in its manufacturing processes, such as using water-based dyes.

Yturri describes Obermeyer as a big family and says Klaus often walks around the office with a basket of apples, which he hands out as he checks in with employees.

Obermeyer takes it all in stride and tries not to work so hard that he forgets to enjoy the mountains. In Aspen, he skis every winter day the weather is good, and company policy is that if it snows more than 6 inches, employees can hit the slopes in the morning and come to work later in the day. Obermeyer broke his leg in an accident on Buttermilk two years ago, but with surgery and physical therapy, he was back on the slopes the next season.

He swims in the company’s solar-heated pool and plays tennis in the summer, but skiing remains his first love. And you won’t find him on the gentle or intermediate runs.

“The steeper, the better,” he says with a hearty laugh.

The annual fundraiser for Whittell and Zephyr Cove schools is Feb. 23 at 6pm at MontBleu.

It will feature a disc jockey, silent and live auctions, cocktails, food and more.

Funds will support technology upgrades, field trips, arts, science, reading, math, and sports equipment.

Tickets are $50 per person or $90 a pair. They are available at 100 McFaul Way (behind Safeway Round Hill), Forever Dance, Studio D Salon, Lake Tahoe Yoga, Hair & Nail Salon, and both schools.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is putting on two workshop about the updated Code of Ordinances.

The first Feb. 11 from 6-8pm, at the the TRPA office, 128 Market St. The Feb. 12 6-8pm meeting is at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Non-Profit Center, 948 Incline Way, Incline Village.

The updated TRPA Code is scheduled to go into effect Feb. 11.

For more information, contact Shay Navarro at snavarro@trpa.org or (775) 589.5282.

By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Sun

A Las Vegas ad campaign unveiled in June got a second wind after a national publication called attention to the city’s bid to attract gay and lesbian travelers, a lucrative market.

The Huffington Post ran a story about the “sizzling” Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority campaign. Several other media outlets followed.

The ads depict a conservative-looking heterosexual couple standing among a group of same-sex couples, with a tagline that reads, “Everyone’s welcome … even straight people.” Another similarly tagged ad uses the imagery of a station wagon parked among sports cars in a valet line.

The ads first ran in LGBT-specific magazines Curve, Instinct, Passport, Metrosource and Out.

The Post reported that photos of the campaign are making the rounds on online sites Buzzfeed, Towleroad and New Now Next, among others.

The LVCVA has worked for seven years to attract the gay market to Southern Nevada. Same-sex partners generally have higher travel budgets and spend more freely than their straight counterparts. The LVCVA even has a staffer dedicated to diversity marketing, which includes efforts to attract gay travelers.

In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 10 percent of the nation’s population is gay. At the time, there were 15 million gay adults in the United States, with a median age of 45. They had buying power of $690 million, and their average household income was $82,000 a year. About 35 percent made more than $100,000 a year.

Sixty-four percent are college graduates, compared with the national average of 29 percent, and 85 percent take annual vacations, compared with 64 percent of their straight counterparts.

Surveys have found that Las Vegas is one of the best cities at marketing to gay travelers. The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association perennially ranks Las Vegas among the top five domestic markets for gay travelers. The city competes with New York, San Francisco and Key West, Fla., for the top spot.

It’s Ground Hog Day! Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow and that means an early spring. But he’s only been right less than 40 percent of the time.

Surface condition are turning spring like and softening on southern exposures with recent daytime temperatures. There’s still pockets of chalky skier-rider packed powder in some north facing slopes and bowls.

Kirkwood is hosting the Rahlves’ Bonzai Tour today with finals tomorrow.

Here is the Feb. 2 ski report.

— Curtis Fong

Publisher’s note: This is reprinted with permission from the March-April 1990 Lake Tahoe Historical Society Newsletter.

By Lyn Landauer

The era of railroads within the Lake Tahoe Basin was short and no trains now run in any portion of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Every summer, beginning in the 1860s, engines, track-layers, and loggers labored to cut timber and move it to the lake, haul it to Glenbrook and thence to the Comstock Mines. The last of the railroads ran from Tahoe City to Truckee from 1899 until 1942. This was the only one that carried more passengers than lumber. All of these lines were narrow gauge except Matthew Gardner’s standard gauge near what is now Camp Richardson.

In 1884, George Chubbuck built a narrow gauge railroad running from Taylor’s Landing (near Bijou) up into the hills south of the lake. At first the wooden narrow gauge track headed southwest from the lake shore, across the meadow, Heavenly Valley, Trout, and Cold creeks. It passed Chubbuck’s headquarters at Sierra House and ended about four miles from the lake. As was the custom with lumber railroads, the line was extended as it was needed. As soon as a stand of trees was logged, track was laid to the next section. Eventually the Lake Valley Railroad line ran as far as Meyers and sent lumber on contract to the Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company of Glenbrook.

Chubbuck’s first steam engine had a saddle tank on top to supply the water. Logs were stacked on flat cars pulled by the engine which had a diamond shaped stack, oil-burning headlight, and wheels that drove furiously to move its load of logs to the lake. The engineer stopped the cars next to a ramp and the logs would be rolled off into the lake by lumbermen. This slow, heavy monstrosity of an engine was distorting the wooden track so it was relegated to use as a donkey engine. A new engine, new track and other changes were then made.

Chubbuck’s operation was slow to fulfill this contract in good time and William Bliss, son of Duane Bliss of Glenbrook, was sent to manage the laying of new 35 pound narrow gauge steel track, extend the line to Meyers and building of the trestle pier into the lake. When the latter was in place, the train ran out onto the pier and logs could then be dumped directly into the lake ready for the tug that would tow them to Glenbrook. In operation by this time were a ten-ton locomotive called the Santa Cruz and fifteen flat cars. Other engines were barged over from the Glenbrook line when necessary. The engineer drove the cars out onto the pier, off-loaded the logs and then moved to the other end of the cab where a headlight faced the rear of the train. He then made the return trip in reverse, with engine and empty flat cars backing into the timber forest.

At its height, the Lake Valley Railroad had eleven miles of track but the operation became unprofitable as lumber reserves diminished. In 1899, along with the other Bliss enterprises, the LVRR moved to Tahoe City. All that was left in Lake Valley was a sagging round house at Bijou and miles of lumber slashings, bark stumps, and sawdust alongside the rotting lumber chutes. A portion of the right-of-way can still be seen just off Al Tahoe Boulevard, as can pieces of track, ties, and other artifacts in various places in the woods. The track was taken up in some places and left where it was or buried in others. Several miles of it were deposited with the Historical Society in the 1970s.

The Lake Valley line was an important part of the history of Lake Tahoe – but it is no more. Only the echoes remain in traces of the the-of-way and in the remaining worn steel ices of track at the museum. They are a tangible vestige of the days of the railroads in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

To the community,

Saint Joseph Community Land Trust wants to thank the St. Theresa Catholic Church Knights of Columbus for hosting its 10-year anniversary celebration with a free spaghetti dinner in Grace Hall. The excellent food and ambiance was appreciated by the board of directors and the many community land trust members in attendance.

Thanks also to Interstate Realty Management (IRM) who organized a free raffle for the event. IRM manages sierra Garden Apartments in South Lake Tahoe, one of the properties owned by Saint Joseph. America and Edher Sanchez, managers for Sierra Garden Apartments, obtained raffle prizes from the following local businesses: Starbucks, Key’s Cafe, Jalisco Grill, Taqueria Jalisco, 7-Eleven, and Big Daddy’s Burger. IRM also donated a free turkey for the event.

Saint Joseph Community Land Trust is a democratically-controlled nonprofit organization founded in 2OO2 to address affordable housing and life skills training needs for residents in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Lyn Barnett, president Saint Joseph Community Land Trust

The South Lake Tahoe arm of the El Dorado County Search and Rescue team is looking for volunteers.

Applicants must be 18 years or older.

While the primary focus is backcountry response, no special skills are necessary to join.

Candidate training academy prepares volunteers to safely execute a wide variety of missions. The academy includes search theory, lost person behavior, helicopter operations, man tracking, GPS/land navigation, wilderness survival and downed aircraft/emergency locator transmitters.

After initial training, volunteers have the opportunity to participate in specialized teams including technical rope rescue, alpine mountaineering, Nordic rescue, snowmobile/off highway vehicle team, swift/still water rescue and incident command.

South Lake Tahoe teams respond to an average of 65 calls annually. In 2012, the team provided emergency response to approximately 140 victims.

Volunteers are also needed in non-fielding roles, with a focus on planning, operations, logistics and administrative support.

For more information, contact El Dorado County sheriff’s Deputy Greg Almos at (530) 573.3058.

By USSA

PARK CITY — Olympic champion Shaun White, who rides for Northstar, led a U.S. sweep in the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix at Park City on Friday.

Olympic bronze medalist Scotty Lago (Seabrook, N.H.) was second and Luke Mitrani (Mammoth Lakes) third in the FIS World Cup.

Chinese rider Jiayu Liu took the women’s title over FIS World Champion Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) with Kaitlyn Farrington (Sun Valley, Idaho) third.

The finishes for Mitrani and Gold were enough to clinch the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix season title, along with the U.S. Championship crown – plus a payday of $20,000 for the series win.

White left the door open, falling near the bottom of his first run. Lago and Mitrani both rode at an extremely high level, putting the pressure on White for his final run.

Favorite Kelly Clark (W. Dover, Vt.) struggled in her two runs, crashing both times. Gold, who recently won the FIS Snowboard World Championship halfpipe, rode strong and picked up the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix series title and $20,000.

By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee

James Leslie Karis Jr., a convicted killer whose court case became so tangled in death penalty politics that he was sentenced to death twice, died early Thursday at San Quentin’s death row.

Karis, 61, was found unresponsive inside the cell where he was housed alone and later pronounced dead at 6:40am, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.

The cause of death is not known, and an autopsy will be performed.

What is known is that he did not die from a state-ordered execution. California has not executed an inmate since January 2006 because of legal fights over the death penalty.

Karis was sent to death row Sept. 20, 1982, after his conviction in the rape and murder of 34-year-old Peggy Pennington. He abducted Pennington and another woman in July 1981 as they took their daily walk around their workplace at the El Dorado County Welfare Department.

He took them at gunpoint to a remote area near Placerville and forced both to remove their clothes.

Karis raped one of them, then let them get dressed, marched them to another spot and shot both of them.

Pennington died, but the other victim, a 27-year-old woman, survived and later testified at trial.

Karis was sent to death row, but a federal judge overturned his sentence in 1998 after finding that evidence of Karis’ tormented and abusive childhood had not been presented as evidence during the penalty phase.

Karis faced a second trial in 2007 in Sacramento and refused to allow his lawyers to offer evidence of his childhood abuse or anything else that might win him a life sentence.

He was returned to death row and, until Thursday, was one of 729 inmates awaiting execution.

Karis’ public defender in his original trial, Stephen Tapson, recalled his client as a “big, gruff guy.”

During the death penalty phase, the judge did not allow the abuse evidence to be used and ordered Karis sent to death row, said Tapson, now one of El Dorado County’s most prominent defense attorneys.

Appellate lawyers later returned to court to try to present the childhood abuse evidence, but Karis refused to allow it, taking over the case himself and telling the judge that the evidence didn’t “amount to a hill of beans.”

“They spent hours digging up all these terrible things about his childhood to present to a jury in hopes they would not send him to death and he basically said ‘(Screw) you,'” Tapson recalled. “So he chose his own death penalty.”

A federal judge in Sacramento overturned the death penalty in 1998 because evidence of his childhood trauma had not been presented, and Karis faced another penalty phase trial in which jurors again concluded he should die.

Tapson said the millions of dollars spent and years of legal wrangling “is a classic example of the need to abolish the death penalty because they just die there, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“It’s much cheaper if they die in prison rather than trying to kill them,” he added.

California voters so far have not agreed with that stance. They rejected a ballot measure in November that would have eliminated the death penalty, and victims’ groups have launched efforts to overturn impediments to restarting executions in California, among them an effort to switch to using one drug instead of three to execute inmates.

“It’s a shame that a monster like Karis was permitted to die of natural causes,” El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said. “Obstructionist tactics and weak representatives in Sacramento allowed this to happen.

“It’s time for the governor to enact real reforms to the death penalty system.”