Robert Payne’s Blog

The High Sierra Ski Tour is often described as one of the most spectacular ski tours in the world.  It is certainly an awe-inspiring journey through California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains and is composed of towering peaks, incredible vistas, and vast terrain. You will encounter steep traverses, long ski descents, and various mountaineering challenges one […]

Anyone that knows me or visits this blog from time to time has a pretty good inclination that I like to ski. Fortunately for me, I also get involved with a certain amount of ski resort marketing as part of my job. One resort in particular that I work closely with is Heavenly Mountain […]

My frequency of blog posts has been utterly pathetic as of late.
It is not like I haven’t been getting out and about. In fact, in the past three weeks I have surfed in Sebastian, Florida, attended an art show and an oyster roast in Charleston, South Carolina, and worked and skied in Reno-Tahoe.
Certainly plenty to […]

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I have a certain affinity for Reno and Lake Tahoe. After all, I lived there for almost ten years. The area is big, beautiful, and full of fun things to do. It also happens to be home for a handful of hair ball hucking base jumpers who like to […]

I don’t know if it is global warming, or simply the fact that the Tahoe region is one of the most climactically diverse areas in the United States. Either way, it is one of the major reasons why I moved here almost ten years ago. I mean, where else can you bike, kayak and ski almost […]

It is indeed a strange ski season here in Lake Tahoe. We have received less than average snowfall this year, and in many locations around the Sierra Mountains it looks as if it should be late May or even June. Nevertheless, this past weekend I ventured over to the West Shore of Lake Tahoe with […]

There are several peaks above Reno, Nevada that offer excellent terrain for backcountry skiing. Here is a little video from this past Saturday that sums up the fun.

What a fantastic weekend of skiing in the Lake Tahoe region. In the past week we have received more than 50 inches of new snow with more on the way.
It all started Friday morning at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. Check out a little video I made to give you a sense of the conditions.
Turn […]

On Saturday it was cold, snowing, and the light was flat, but I still managed to begrudgingly pull my hands out of my gloves, and fire off some video of backcountry skiing in the Mt Rose Wilderness Area.
Despite the fact that it did not make for very good video conditions, I am absolutely overjoyed to […]

This past week we received some snow, with much of it visibly sticking to the ground in the upper elevations around Lake Tahoe. Coupled with beautiful fall foliage and the smell of winter in the air, I am definitely getting the itch for some Sierra skiing.
This is a picture I took a couple of years […]