I’d heard whispers about Sugar Bowl, tucked at the end of Donner Lake, and how good it is for freeskiing, and how it’s mainly locals who dominate the mountain, not Aussies or hordes of internationals that head to other larger ski areas scattered around Tahoe. Finally, I made it here with my intro being a morning tearing into cord with the local crew on massive groomers, spying short steep spines from the chair. First impressions – uncrowded, unassuming and a sweet spot to skip the hustle and come back to play on a powder day.

Sugar Bowl is one of the oldest ski resorts in California, home to the state’s first chairlift, the west’s first gondola and a rich storied past with ties to Austrian ski culture, Hollywood and Walt Disney. It’s also one of the last independent ski resorts in North America and is owned by the village.

Bridget Legnavsky, the new (ish) President and CEO of Sugar Bowl has just launched Tahoe’s biggest freestyle park and training facility, filling a surprising gap given the vast number of resorts, the population and vibrant culture of freestyle in the snow industry in this part of the world.

“Sugar Bowl is a community for its kids that love to ski and ride. We are super proud of what that actually stands for, and what that actually means in today’s world.” And now, home to the most progressive freestyle program in Tahoe, thanks to the efforts and direction of Bridget and a passionate team determined to bring the vision to life.

I met Bridget in Wanaka back in the early ‘90s. She worked her way up from being an instructor, becoming the general manager of Cardrona and then further up the chain as the Chief Experience Officer for Real Journeys after the amalgamation of Cardona and Treble Cone. For numerous years Bridget was the NZ Extreme Skiing Champion and we’d often 

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Day in, day out there’s a myriad of questions the clients pepper Tucker and his team with; “What’s the weather doing, what’s the snow doing, what are we going to get to ski on?” And eventually everyone asks (probably as they reconsider their life choices and the desk job they are about to head back to…) “so, how did you get into this business?”

Tucker laughs heartily and says, “My answer is probably the same one you’d get if you asked any guide. We just want to ski!” 

“It started with an early introduction to travel, experiences and a love of surfing, skiing and being outside as a child. I studied business at college, achieved a degree and during that process I picked up an entrepreneurship. They said, “What are you excited about?” and my answer was “I have this idea of starting an adventure travel company.” I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have any clients and I didn’t know how to do it but that was the idea that stuck in my mind.”

“I wrote a business plan with these contingencies and I had to go and figure it all out. I found myself in New Zealand, South America, Japan and Antarctica – doing all the things I loved to do – surfing, fishing and skiing. The original idea for my own business probably started as a concept when I was 18, and maybe even earlier, but it hadn’t manifested itself into a clear vision at that point. And then once I got into it, I thought, ‘this is crazy… I can’t believe this could actually be possible.  To travel and do all the things that I’ve been dreaming about – and make it my life.”

“Alaska has been the one constant in my life for the last 20 years. It was one of those places that I just knew I was always going to go back to. No question. I realised I was going to base my season around this place and work everything else in my life around it. Once I got to the point where I was ready to really try to make my business dream happen, I said to myself “I’m going to focus on one thing and I’m going to put everything into it I can.” It was 15 years of work to get to the point where I was even ready to step off and say, “I don’t know everything, but I know enough that I want to try”. 

“I was also just newly married. [My wife] Molly was supportive and said, “you need to go and do it”. So, it got real and I started. I approached it by putting myself in the guest’s shoes in every aspect and thinking about how I could do it best, how I could create something unique and drawing on all those pieces of my experiences from over the years.”

“Running a heli ski operation is all about challenges. It’s continually figuring out problems. It’s running through walls. I don’t think I could do it without starting at the bottom where I washed dishes and learned to refuel helicopters, progressed into following and guiding and literally did every role. It was important to me as I worked up the original feasibility and business plan that I had a clear grasp on each role and how it’s done. I took it to the level that I would work construction in summers to understand building concepts and kept taking classes and courses to fill gaps in my knowledge about snow science and weather. It was a commitment to the process so that if the opportunity presented itself to build this operation I’d been dreaming about – I would be ready.  It was a commitment to working continually towards that goal.”

“There’s a tonne of moving parts in a heli-ski operation. Everything has to be dynamic, just like skiing itself. You have to continually make clear and detailed plans and be ready to shift and change them up when weather or logistics or any number of factors can throw it all up in the air.”

“What we get to take our clients out to ski is based around two key things – what the mountains will give you and what the snow-pack is doing. We’re always watching the weather, we’re always watching the snow. There’s no one size fits all, but we’re going to make it as perfect as we can for the guests on every run with what we have.”

“When booking a heli ski trip, my advice is that the ideal scenario (and this isn’t marketing) is to pull together eight people and buy it outright – then it’s just you and your buddies in a private ship. The next best would be a group of four and then you have a guide and it’s essentially you roll as a semi-private. If you come up as an individual, we’ll work to fit you with the right group, so you have a great time. What’s really important to us is that we want the right people coming on the right weeks with the right expectations and the right group dynamic.”

And Tucker’s closing thoughts, “To me, Alaska is the pinnacle of skiing, and I would take one day in Alaska over a week anywhere else. There’s no place in the world to ski like here, the feeling simply can’t be replicated anywhere else. In my opinion it’s the ultimate ski destination on the planet”.   Which is probably why he’s built his life around it.  If you’re curious, maybe you should think about joining him sometime.

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Chamonix France is a zone that tends to deliver on the promise of snow, but that’s just the half of it.  There are many reasons I am in awe of this place and if I had to choose one spot in Europe for the rest of my life this would be it. 

Chamonix France may not be the most family friendly, nor the most inter-connected ski destination in Europe, but it is the most dramatic and inspiring ski zone for my money. It’s a real town, with schools, ice hockey matches and the everyday stuff of normal life going on as well as a pulsing culture of alpinism up and down this majestic valley.  For me, and many skiers who seek out this place for their adrenaline dose, the fact it is not a ‘resort’ is part of the appeal.  Then there’s the terrain. It’s taken no prisoners here once you head beyond the managed pistes.

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One of the bucket list ski lines you’ll find here is the legendary Vallée Blanche which stretches from the top of Aiguille du Midi down to the valley floor into Chamonix France.  The vertical drop is almost 3 kilometres and you’ll have skied around 22kms by the time you reach the base – however doing the whole Vallée Blanche has been a pipe dream recently as the lower altitudes haven’t held snow.  A telecabine (gondola) was built at what used to be the base of the ice field in the 1980’s and would return skiers to the Montenvers station where the famous little red train would link back to town.

This iconic destination provides a stark example of what’s happening to glaciers in the Alps.  In the early 1990’s three steps were added to connect the bottom station of the lift from the ice field as it receded.  By the early 2000s 118 steps were needed to bridge the yawning gap and as climate change has accelerated so has the rate at which new steps were required with the total growing to a staggering 550+ steps by the early 2020s.  These changes underline what my own memories and eyes have been telling me – we are losing fragile ice fields at a rate that is anything but ‘glacial’ in pace. 

In February this year a new ‘La Mer de Glace’ gondola opened as part of a 53 million euro investment by the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc to enable skiers, snowboarders and sightseeing visitors to access this magnificent natural wonder.  The new lift extends to the bottom of the valley where it’s hoped the snow-pack will remain, allowing a ski connection to the base station for years to come.  

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So the good news, “hot laps” (for those fit enough) are now back on the table without a massive hike back up. It’s now technically possible to do 2 or 3 runs in a day.  

Although the Vallée Blanche is skied without guides by those with the knowledge, a ski partner and a plan, guided tours are available and are a must for those not well versed in off-piste glaciated terrain. It’s a very long descent, with numerous routes that can lure you into dead ends. You will be skiing over crevasses with sometimes very fragile snow bridges and this is a wild and untamed place.  A great day skiing can become lethal or at the very least turn into a scary-mad line.  It’s worth remembering most locals and pros here can tackle terrain better than you ever could. Staying humble and making smart choices will mean you get to share your story over après and do it again. Google “extreme ski” and “ Chamonix France ” to see what people get themselves into here. 

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