May 02, 2006

Biking, hiking and rock climbing

Yeah!!! Spring is finally here!!!

Tele girl is seven months pregnant by now... but still as active as before. This weekend we had a blast in Reno-Tahoe, America's Adventure Place!

Saturday we went for a beautiful bike ride with some friends. We started at Davis Creek Campground and rode gorgeous Franktown Road to Washoe Lake, where we had lunch while we enjoyed the sunshine and outstanding views of the Sierras . I was surprised to see so many people already camping at Washoe Lake State Park.

Franktown Road

Washoe Lake State Park

Sunday we hiked the Ophir Creek Trail with our friends who are also expecting a baby this summer. As much as I love skiing, it felt so good to be outdoors with no winter gear and just shorts on! We hiked until we hit snow and then turned around for another adventure... rock climbing!

Ophir Creek Trail

Getting prepared

My hubby climbing

Posted by tele girl at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2006

Phenomenal weekend

Last weekend turned out to be one of the most phenomenal weekends of the year at Mt Rose Ski Resort. Lake Tahoe performed a bit of magic and created a lake effect storm that deposited 10-12 inches of the lightest powder that I have skiied in a loooooooooong time. Interestingly enough, places like Alpine and Squaw received only minimal amounts. The picture is taken from the East Bowl lift.

Robert Payne

Posted by tele girl at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2006

Rocking Out in Sparks

Getting fitted for a climb.

First step.

Like a fly on the wall.

Reaching the top.

Just hanging around.

Making like "Spider-Man."

The kids wanted to try something new, so we decided to check out Rock Sport Indoor Climbing Center in Sparks. Being novices to the sport of scampering up walls, we discovered a helpful and experienced staff that told us everything we needed to know to get started.

The staff fitted both of my kids, Julia and Hank, with harnesses and shoes because they would be doing the climbing, and gave me a harness because I would be holding the rope.

The learning curve for rock climbing is easy. Basically, we were told that someone needed to climb and someone else had to hold the rope, which loops through a large metal pipe at the top.

A staff member explained how to tie the proper knots, the best way to hold the ropes, and how to ease the climber down gently after he or she is done (known as "belaying").

Julia wanted to go first, so we slipped the rope through her harness, tied the knot, cinched the rope to the anchoring person, which, in this case, was Hank, and wished her well.

She stared at the steep wall, which rises about 35-feet up. Little different-shaped, colored knobs, which serve as handholds and footholds, are bolted to the gray surface. She grabbed the lowest one and began pulling herself up the wall.

She actually did pretty well on her first try. She made it about half way up the wall before signaling that she was tired and wanted to come down. To descend, she leaned away from the wall, hanging on to the rope, and Hank gently lowered her to the ground.

Next up was Hank. While never having tried rock climbing, he found the going easy. After securing himself to the rope, he quickly grabbed a handhold and began scaling the wall. In short order, he had made it to the top and was ready to be lowered.

After that, the two alternated between which one would climb next. On her third attempt, Julia finally made it to the top of one of the easier climbs (it was in use earlier so she had started out doing some of the more difficult climbs). That particular wall has a bell at the top that beginners can ring when they reached the summit.

Hank made several assaults on the most challenging climbing walls--several are built outward, so you're leaning away from the wall when climbing while others have large shelves that must be climbed over--before sticking with the mostly diagonal climbs.

By the time they were both ready to call it quits, we realized that the time had passed so quickly that we'd managed to spend about half of the day rock climbing.

Rock Sport offers about 7,500 square feet of sculpted terrain, including some slabs with challenging overhangs. Daily rates are $12 per person plus $5 for equipment (shoes and harness). Monthly memberships are also available.

It's located at 1901 Silverada Boulevard in Sparks. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 775-352-7673 or go to www.rocksportnv.com.---Richard Moreno

Posted by Rich Moreno at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)

Only in Nevada

Only in Nevada you can go to the skate park one day and ski the next one, all of it with great sunshine!

The weather has been - as usual - amazing this last week! Friday was warm enough to golf (bike in my case) and Saturday was a gorgeous day of Spring skiing.

Here's my brother enjoying Rattlesnake Mountain Skateboard Park, the largest public skateboard park in the West!

And here we are, at the end of the day (5:30pm!) delighting ourselves with the backcountry...

And of course after a nice shower, we headed downtown for some more adventure!

Posted by tele girl at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

November 30, 2005

Fly Like A Bird

Below is a guest entry, submitted by Val.

There is a new adventure in town. I recently took my first intro flight lesson in a light sport aircraft (also known as an Ultra Light or Powered Hang Glider) with Sport Aviation Center in Carson City. It was a blast! We flew high over Tahoe, low over Washoe Lake and I didn't even have to run and jump off a mountain! I really liked that part since I have a bad back.

My flight instuctor, Samantha Moore, was very knowledable. After our smooth take off, she explained how the controls worked and let me take control of the aircraft. At the end of our flight, she smoothly and safely landed the plane and summarized the lesson. I learned that these aircraft are designed just for the fun and sport of flying. I might even think about becoming a sport pilot, with future lessons.

For more information, visit www.sportaviationcenter.com

This is a picture of my flight taking off:

This is an example of a light sport aircraft:

Posted by AdventureGrrl at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

Winter is finally here!

After a relaxing Thanksgiving day and a fun weekend spent with family and friends, we decided to check out the mountains on Sunday afternoon.

This is the view of the Sierras from our house.

We took Mount Rose Highway, passed Galena State Park, up a little ways, and parked our car on the side of the road. We hiked along this beautiful creek for a couple of hours and enjoyed the magic of the snow on our feet.

Not enough to ski -- but plenty to start dreaming about it...

Tele girl is getting excited. Winter is finally here!

Posted by tele girl at 08:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2005

Another fall weekend in Reno

I can't believe how blessed I am to live in this area - this is truly America's Adventure Place! This weekend was another fun fall weekend. We hiked Snow Flower Peak on Saturday with a friend. We drove to Timberline Road, then followed the dirt road all the way up to Thomas Creek and started our hike at the Mount Rose Wilderness trailhead.

We were planning to do the entire hike to the trop of Mount Rose, but since we started at noon, we soon realized that we wouldn't have time to make it all the way up.

But reaching the top of Snow Flower was perfect! The view of Boca and Stampede on one side, and Reno on the other - was incredible! And again, the fall colors... just so beautiful!
We drank mate (green tea from South America), relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of the Sierras. Of course, we finished the hike in the dark - but it was so worth it, we didn't mind it at all!

On Sunday we went mountain biking and took some friends with us who haven't done much moutain biking -- so we took it easy. We had a blast! We did the Whites Creek-Thomas Creek loop again. I just can't stay away from this trail -- it's the coolest single track only 15 minutes from my house! Here's a picture of our group:

This is me pretending to be working hard...

And this is my friend Carolina, smiling at the camera:

Posted by tele girl at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

August 08, 2005

Pyramid Lake Triathlon

On Saturday, I woke up at the unGodly hour of 5:40 am to participate in a relay triathlon at Pyramid Lake, which is about 70 miles North of my house. I was the designated swimmer.

I put on my swimsuit, grabbed some breakfast, and piled into my Trans Am for the drive. One good thing about being up before the crack of dawn is that there is no one on the road, and I could actually drive my Trans Am like it was meant to be driven. Man, was that fun! There is nothing like an open desert road in a sports car. But I Digress.

Even though I arrived at the race site at 7:00 am, I couldn't find my teammates until 7:56 am. FOUR MINUTES BEFORE THE RACE START. Needless to say, I was a bit stressed at that point.

The race course was a triangle, with two sharp turns. At the race start, we had to run in from the beach, then run through knee high water to get to where you could push off and begin swimming. It was pretty much mayhem, with arms and legs everywhere. After the initial adrenaline rush, I was able to slow down and get myself going at a pace I could maintain for the remainder of the race.

The pack thinned a bit, but once we hit that first sharp turn, we were all over each other again. I was having to use my elbows and well placed kicks to defend my space. Then, some girl cut me off, swimming in front of me in the complete wrong direction. So, as a part of my downstroke, I grabbed her waist and moved her out of my way. I then took a breath towards her, and saw a look of shock on her face. She should have been thankful that I got her moving in the right direction!!!

Anyway, I felt strong the entire race. I picked up the pace as we swam into shore, and swam as far as I could in the shallow water, knowing it was faster to swim than walk through the shallow water.

Then, came the hard part. There was a good 1/4 mile run UPHILL to the bike transition area. You had to run up the sandy beach, then onto asphalt, and then on a dirt path, all going steeply uphill and all whilst BAREFOOT!

The second I turned onto the dirt path, I got a bit light headed. I had to slow to a walk, but then got mad when I got passed by a girl who was still running. (It figures that the run would get me and not the swim!) I then managed to run the rest of the way to my biker teammate. My teammates said I was about the 8th woman swimmer to make it to the transition area. I'd guess there were about 75 women competing, so that's not too shabby...

After our biker took off, I decided to head back to the water for a cool down. By the time I got back to the water's edge, there was no one in the water. It was beautiful -- glass water that was the perfect temperature. I got in and swam for another 20 minutes, thinking that I'd at least finish off my workout while I was waiting for my team.

We ended up getting second out of the relays. Pyramid Lake was absolutely beautiful that day, and the drive out there had some breath-taking scenery. Pyramid Lake is known for water sports and fishing, and is only a 30 minute drive North of Reno. Click here for more information on Pyramid Lake.

And now for the pictures!

This is Pyramid Lake, right after I got out from my refreshing cool down.

Here I am right after taking my cap and goggles off. Hence, forgive my hair.

Here is my biker, Carol, after she finished her leg of the race.

Here is our runner, whom I met just minutes before the race start.

This is our team, just before we headed to the bar-b-que where they announced the awards.

And here is one of the rock formations in Pyramid Lake that gives it its name.

Posted by AdventureGrrl at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

July 29, 2005

Scenic Flight Over Lake Tahoe

Today was an amazing day. A friend and I were treated to a scenic flight with Advantage Flight Solutions in a Cessna Turbo 206 plane over Reno and Lake Tahoe. Our pilot was Jon McNamara, who not only was an excellent pilot from my judgement (flight was smoother than most commercial airlines!), but he was very knowledgable on the area geography and sites.

We took off heading South from the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, and we then headed towards Mt. Rose, where we could clearly see the ski runs, including my favorite -- the Chutes! We then popped over the rim into the Lake Tahoe basin, where we flew South via the East Shore, curved around over South Shore, and then headed back via the West Shore, then north of Lake Tahoe into the mountains and over the Truckee River, and back into Reno.

The views were so incredible... It's really hard to put it into words. Let me tell you, if you want to see some of the most beautiful geography in the world, you really need to take this tour! I was amazed at how much more you could see in a small aircraft versus a commercial plane. You can get so much closer to the mountains and the lake that you can really make out the details of what you're looking at.

I just can't say enough positive things about this experience. Hence, if a picture says 1000 words, view this slide show for an entire novel's worth of descriptions of how beautiful Reno-Tahoe is!

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

If you don't want to view the entire show, here are a couple of pics:

Posted by AdventureGrrl at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)