It’s a first for adaptive athletes who literally pushed the limits and themselves.  Congratulations!!

Grant Korgan, lead by Tal Fletcher and Doug Stoup, made it to the South Pole on January 17, 2012 on the 100-year anniversary when Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expedition reached the earth’s most remote spot.

The expedition originally included Grant Korgan of Lake Tahoe, a world-class kayaker and adventurer and John Davis, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist.  Both Davis and Korgan are athletes with spinal cord injuries.  Unfortunately Davis sustained an injury while training in South America that took him out of the bid for the South Pole, but he was there in spirit.

As he literally pushed himself 100 miles across the frozen Antarctic landscape, Korgan demonstrated the capacity of the human spirit to overcome life-altering injuries. And, perhaps more importantly, the team hopes to inspire people in all walks of life to help others achieve the seemingly insurmountable, to push their own everyday limits, and to live up to their ultimate potential.

Using custom-designed Nordic skis and sheer upper body strength, the specially crafted sit-skis will revolutionize the way parathletes participate in winter sports. The gear was as important as their technique, endurance and determination.

The expedition was lead by Doug Stoup and Tal Fletcher; they were accompanied by a three-person production crew. The team trained for a year with various missions in Alaska, Norway, Lake Tahoe and South America. The overall purpose of the project is to make strides for spinal cord recovery and to support California-based 501c3 non-profit High Fives Foundation, which helps adaptive winter athletes ideally get back on their feet and to their sport.

“My bones [were] clacking against each other. And you really can view this thing in any way you want,” Korgan said. “When I realized that I could see the beauty in any and all things, it brought another level of freedom.” Grant Korgan

It has always been Korgan’s goal to evolve from his sit-ski to stand and ski the last bit of mileage to the south pole. It was so cold and intense that until the last day, it didn’t look likely.  Korgan said it will be remembered as the greatest moment, second to his wedding with Shawna Korgan, who surprised him a quarter mile before the finish. “The Push” was streamed through live satellite calls daily from Antarctica in collaboration with SocialTyze, which can be viewed on Facebook Page “The Push: A South Pole Adventure.” It will also be featured as a full-length film in late 2012 and as a four-part television series on NBC.

Click here to learn more about The Push and High Fives.

Susan Frailey RN BSN from South Lake Tahoe recently published her breakthrough approach to nutrition in her new book, More Alive Now: Simple Nutrition to Change Your Life.

Through her innovative nutritional tools that make sense, are easy to follow, and will last a lifetime, Susan has joined Andrew Weil and Michael Pollan as a pioneer in the art of nutrition committed to help us achieve optimal health through simple daily decisions. As a mother of an autistic child, a full time health practitioner, entrepreneur and business owner, if Susan can do it, anyone can.

As a life long advocate of health and nutrition, Susan got serious about it when her son Dylan was diagnosed with autism at age three.  Deep inside she knew a cleaner diet would help Dylan, as well as herself, and she dedicated her life to find simple tools that she could easily integrate into both of their busy lives.

While on her journey, Susan realized that life changes change our lives, especially impacting our daily food choices.  With that in mind, she set out to simplify our nutritional choices and developed a breakthrough approach that is resonating with everyone.  More Alive Now: Simple Nutrition to Change Your Life focuses on nutrition and health as a living spiral, one we are on at all times, moving one way or the other. Life occurrences and daily nutrition choices dictate our position on this undulating mind/body/spirit continuum every day.

To guide us on our personal path to wellness, More Alive Now is designed to help us make choices that nourish our body and give us the necessary elements for cellular regeneration and, ultimately, health regeneration and movement up the living spiral of wellness.

Susan’s book includes the essential life-giving nutrients missing from the outdated FDA pyramid such as probiotic foods and beverages; oils, essentials fats and omegas, and minerals; and easy to follow steps for food combining to avoid gastrointestinal problems, and how to harness the pH power of foods to immediately improve our health and well-being.

In addition to a simplified discussion about nutritional choices that anyone can understand and implement, Susan has included useful charts that outline food combining, ph Balance foods and the More Alive Now food pyramid, as well as delicious recipes, meal planning tips, and resources for shopping.

Throughout the year, Susan gives demonstrations to make probiotic foods in Lake Tahoe and is also available for nutrition and body cleansing consultations.  She will be holding book signings and lectures for More Alive Now in the upcoming year.

In the meantime, to learn more about Susan’s story and to purchase More Alive Now: Simple Nutrition to Change Your Life, please visit www.MoreAliveNow.com. You can also find her book at Grass Roots Natural Foods in South Lake Tahoe and on Amazon.

About Susan:

Susan Frailey, founder of More Alive Now and OSANA Publishing, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, and has been a practicing registered nurse since 1984. A self-help advocate and researcher since her early twenties in the conventional and complementary healing realms, Susan has accomplished in-depth reading and practice into the alternative health regimes of Bernard Jensen, Harvey Kellogg, and Paul Bragg, along with studies of massage therapy, shiatsu, and reflexology.

She holds practitioner certifications in Matrix Energetics®‚ EMF Balancing Technique©, and is a level IV colon hydrotherapist who applies these experiences and modalities of health care in combination with her traditional nursing career. As a graduate of the Cathy Shea International School of Colon Hydrotherapy, and owner/operator of Evolutionary Healthcare, a digestive health and detoxification business for four years, Susan has acquired a tremendous amount of knowledge in nutrition, cleansing, and healing from herself, her clients, and clinical experience.

And she’s headed to the 2012 Winter X Games along with Sierra-at-Tahoe team riders, Hannah Teter, and Maddie Bowman.  Go get em girls!

It’s clear that Jamie dominates slopestyle and big air competitions all over the globe. From grom to female snowboard domination, we’ve followed Jamie through X Games Golds, TTR Championships, Signature Billabong outerwear lines, Rider of the Year, Dew Tour Championships, and Burton Open Championships. In the midst of a hectic travel and contest season, we’re happy to know that Jamie keeps it real right here at her home mountain.

She was even awarded Female Rider of the Year by both TransWorld SNOWboarding and Snowboarder Magazines in 2009.

Jamie is training hard these days, hoping to stay on top of the competition and win a place on the women’s halfpipe team, as her main event, slopestyle, is not an Olympic event. “The level of women’s riding is insane these days,” commented Jamie during some recent downtime in South Lake Tahoe . “This summer, all of the girls were going so big in New Zealand doing bigger tricks than ever. The competition is going to be intense this winter and I can’t wait.”

Jamie is a member of the Sierra-at-Tahoe Elite TEam.

Click here to learn more her home mountain.

Wearable art is her way of connecting with the natural world. Recently published in a national magazine, she has attained recognition deserving of her amazing talent.

Meet Nancy Louise Olson, multi-media fiber arts and hat couture.

Nancy has called the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range her home for 20 years, during which she has enjoyed climbing, skiing the high peaks, wandering the valleys, and running many rivers. Employment opportunities in the Sierra, Alaska and other western states offered her an open canvas; a camera always by her side, she won awards in slide shows. Her natural world, she remembers, was wild inspiration for the artist within.

Before the landscapes of the west dominated her lifestyle, she created sculptural pottery while exploring the disciplines of botany and ornithology. Her footsteps have traversed many bridges between the wonders of the natural world and the contributions made by human cultures. One of her earliest fiber art adventures was a class in creating a tule duck decoy. Following, the Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian) requisitioned her to weave a tule mat for the museum’s ancient artifact exhibit (New York City, Heye Center, “Creation’s Journey” 1994).

While commuting via helicopter to job sites in Alaska over 20 years ago, Nancy learned to knit to take her mind off flying. It was her “mind over matter multi-task” that blossomed into functional art pieces with style. She also desperately wanted something else to wear other than ski garb in wintertime which led to her passionate endeavor in creating felted hats.  And, since one must have a scarf to wear with a hat, she made room in her life for silk painting and scarves and Hat Couture was in its infancy.

“Creating with fibers is a tactile pursuit resulting in unique attire. However, engaging in the process is the pleasurable reward.”

Besides hand knitting and felting wool into hats and other wearables, she also creates chapeaus of silk, straw and cotton. She hand weaves raffia into colorful sun hats. Many of her current explorations include dye painting and surface design on silks, creating handmade paper, and expanding her repertoire in wearable works of handcrafted felts. The use of natural fibers is her specialty and currently she is infusing recycled natural and man made materials into her artwork.  Nancy creates and has published her own patterns.

Nancy’s work is on display at the North Tahoe Arts ARTisan Shop, and can be reached at (530) 308-0028 or nancylou@ltol.com.

This delicate art form requires meticulous skills and talent due to the fragility of the precious materials used in the settings.

Looks like Molly is a pro!

It was 15 years ago when Molly fell in love with fused glass and wire wrapping and Tahoe Fire Glass was born in her art studio in South Lake Tahoe.

Molly’s distinctive style and innate talent lies in her ability to balance the glass and intricate wire wrapping to showcase the beauty of the fused glass piece without overpowering it, creating a total work of art.

She starts with a piece of dichroic glass, then layers it with various colored glass (up to 8 layers in some pieces) to achieve the design she is seeking. Many of her pieces are adorned with swarovski crystals like the Dichroic glass pendant pictured here that also includes pink and blue glass. Finally, each piece is wire wrapped in sterling silver or 14 karat gold-filled wire.

Molly is also well known for her intricate wire wrapping designs using sterling silver or 14 karat gold-filled wire. that can be performed on most precious stones (as long as they are not too soft) turning them into wearable jewelry.

Molly and her husband Mike attend several shows throughout the year, in Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Foothills.

To learn more about Tahoe Fire Glass, please visit www.tahoefireglass.com.  Or better yet, make an appointment to see more of Molly’s work or for custom wire work at (775) 772-6165 or mollyb@tahoefireglass.com

If they are fortunate enough to end up into the hands of Truckee metalsmith Jessica Hall, they will be worked with love and devotion as she resurrects them into a stunning piece of hand-crafted jewelry.

Meet Jessica at Truckee Thursdays June 16, 2011.

“It’s not only important for me to use recycled and re-claimed materials in my jewelry,” says Jessica, “but it challenges me to take something that was previous discarded or already existing and turn in into a piece of wearable art.” Jessica recently opened her studio, Bluebird Designs, at 10059 Palisades Dr #3 in Truckee with regular store hours for eco-friendly quick gifts, custom jewelry consultations, and jewelry repair.

You can see her intricate pieces and cute birdie designs at her booth at Truckee Thursdays on 6/16, 6/23, 6/30, and 7/7. Or visit her during ARTour to see some of her custom pieces and get a glimpse of her workstation July 8-10 and 15-17 from 10am-5pm.

About Jessica Hall

As a certified jewelry technician with a credentialed background in metal-smithing from Seattle, Honolulu, and San Francisco, Jessica uses the utmost precision in her pieces. Her desire to make things beautifully perfect and unique is fueled by her life long passion of jewelry making. “I started making jewelry sometime around age 5 which included collecting beads and usable objects even back then,” states Jessica. “At the age of twelve I went on a road trip from Florida to Alaska where I collected anything and everything I could to make jewelry with.”

In 2004 Jessica pursued her life long dream by attending a metal-smithing course at North Seattle Community College. The skills she gained there eventually lead to her creating a nationwide jewelry company. Unsatisfied with the monotony of re-producing these small wholesale pieces, she decided to further her skills as a jeweler. “I truly love my work and am passionate about what I do. I wanted to push myself and learn more so that I could create and fabricate anything I or a customer could imagine.”

Jessica attended classes at the Honolulu Academy of Art and then returned to California to complete the Jewelry Technician Program at Revere Academy in San Francisco. “I wanted to provide a full service jewelry option for community members,” says Jessica. “The training I received allows me to not only create small, artistic pieces, but also gave me the skills to competently create, repair, set, and clean and polish very fine, custom jewelry.”

About Bluebird Designs

Located in Truckee just a 1/4 mile from historic downtown, Bluebird Designs offers a wide variety of Jessica’s earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings. Jessica offers her pieces in a variety of recycled and precious metals and selects fair-trade gemstones.

Though she works in everything from diamonds and gold to copper and enamel, her favorite gem stone to work with is Tourmaline: “I love to work with Tourmaline because of the variety in colors and natural brilliance it exhibits. It’s generally a very affordable gemstone (with the exception of the rare and expensive gorgeous blue/green Paraiba strain), and I like to make things that anyone can afford and appreciate.”

Bluebird Designs offers something for everyone, including custom wedding rings to graduation gifts, to everyday earrings and her signature enameled bluebird necklace. This allows Jessica to work a little in each direction each day.

“I love the variety of my work right now. I can start the day on a diamond wedding band, and finish it with a whimsical enameled pendant that I just fired in my kiln.” Her wedding rings take her longer to create with a recommended 2 month timeline, while her small earrings and necklaces may take only a few hours to days.

Additionally, Jessica offers jewelry repair and cleaning through Bluebird Designs. Located next door to Blue Coyote at 10059 Palisades Dr #3 in Truckee, Jessica is offering a free jewelry cleaning per new visitor. Her studio hours are Wednesday through Sunday 11 to 6 or by appointment by calling 775-338-3880 or emailing her at jessica@bluebirddesigns.com.

He’s one heck of a writer too.

Inside Tim divulges the secrets of the Tahoe Rim Trail, the 165-mile trail that circles Lake Tahoe along the crest. In his second edition, Tim gives the latest conditions of the trail, including the new Mt. Rose trailhead. Updated topographic maps by noted cartographer Tom Harrison depict the entire route in eight separate segments. Along with the easy (and fun) to read trail directions, the book includes fascinating information on the plants and animals you’ll see along the trail, plus essential advice for planning a hike on the TRT, whether it’s a day’s outing or a 2-week circuit of the entire lake.  You’ll also learn where to find water on the trail, where to photograph the best wildflowers, how to plan a backpacking trip and what shuttle options are available for day and thru-hikers.

Accessible by hikers, equestrians, skiers and mountain bikers (for the non-wilderness portions), the world renown Tahoe Rim Trail crosses through six counties, three national forests, and two states and was completed in 2001 largely by volunteer labor.

The first and only how-to guide to this popular trail, this is the official guidebook of the Tahoe Rim Trail Association, whose mission is to improve, maintain and promote the trail.

Tim Hauserman has been a resident of North Lake Tahoe since 1960. He has hiked and biked in the area for many years and has been a guide for the Sierra Club, the North Tahoe Hiking Club, and the Tahoe Rim Trail. A member of the Tahoe Rim Trail Board of Directors since 1998, he became the 11th member of the Tahoe Rim Trail 150-Mile Club in 1999.

Meet Michelle Murdock, printmaker, artist and owner of Quail Lane Press in Tahoe City.

Michelle’s intention is to make relief prints about the environment that do not hurt the environment.

Using linoleum plates, all of her linocuts or prints are hand-pulled and printed on 100% cotton fiber paper with non toxic oil-based inks.  Every linocut and detail in her printmaking technique is handmade at her tiny art studio located inside a ski lodge on Quail Lane in Tahoe City.

Michelle used to think she had to choose between a career in science or art, especially having earned a M.S. at Yale.  Today she has reached a happy medium by fusing the two into her prints that help her express her fascination with the intricacies of the natural world.

After living in Rome during her undergrad, Michelle got involved in the Italian graphic novel scene. There, the artists she met inspired her, both artistically and professionally, showing Michelle that it was quite possible to make it as a professional artist.

Michelle’s talent as an illustrator, photographer and printmaker undoubtedly helped!

While in school Michelle studied environmental science focusing on ornithology, and also took a number of art courses.  She soon discovered a way to combine her passion for art and science by incorporating science into her artwork.  Michelle would either draw flora and fauna or make it the subject matter of her photographs and prints.

Michelle’s favorite subjects include birds of Tahoe and our majestic trees such as the Jeffrey Pine and Sugar Pine.

“A lot of my prints come out of my daily life in Tahoe taking walks with the dogs and looking around the forest at the trees and birds. I use single plate, multi-plate and the reduction technique to allow me to express how I perceive the changes that the forest, and the creatures within it, undergo through seasons, or just day to day.” Michelle Murdock

In addition to the environmentally-friendly printmaking process, all of  the prints are shipped flat in a biodegradable cello sleeve, and cards include a  brown recycled paper envelope.

You can reach Michelle at Quail Lane Press by calling (530) 581-2203 or visit her website at www.michellemurdock.com

You can find her prints and cards online or in person at these fine shops:

Drake & Lulus Art Shed

Truckee Book and Bean

New Moon Natural Foods (Truckee and Tahoe City)

Growing up in Kings Beach you see, Bob always shared something in common with his neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Bear.

Trash.

Yes, Bob loves trash.

However, Bob quickly realized that trash was killing his fellow Tahoe natives.  So he got to work collecting scraps of metal, discarded pieces of whatever – old car pieces, wood, anything – and he started to weld and create some beautiful one-of-a-kind bear boxes that made Smokey proud.

Bob calls his recycled bear boxes “an amalgam of the past, a multi-layered quilt of metal that lived a former life in a completely different context.” Considered art, Bob’s Bear Boxes are completely functional and not only help reduce the waste in our landfills, but they may just help keep our Tahoe bears alive by keeping them away from last night’s dinner.

To learn more about Bob’s Bear Boxes and to see his custom, intricate designs, click here.

When driving down the road of life, often we don’t know how good we have it, until we see it in the rear view mirror.

To help us remember the beauty of the past and the magic of the moment, Hillary Dembroff and Heather Kovac of South Lake Tahoe have created crystal hangings and jewelry charged with metaphysical and healing properties they call RearView Miracles.

The composition of crystals, natural stones and handmade beads in each Rearview Miracle piece is distinctive and designed by Hillary and Heather in their little art studio in South Shore.

Since miracles come in all shapes and sizes, so does the extensive collection of crystal hangings which is divided into three classes and sizes to give you that extra edge. There are smaller rear view miracles for your car (shown here). Garden bells perfect for your yard. And, larger Major Miracles suitable and often necessary for your home and office.

But, the creativity doesn’t stop with their wide assortment of whimsical and enchanting crystal hangings.  Hillary and Heather also create one-of-a-kind necklaces and earrings so you’ll be blessed with miracles wherever you go.

Click here to learn more about RearView Miracles, or you can find them in South Lake Tahoe at Gaia Licious on Tallac Avenue and Aprés Wine Company on Ski Run Blvd in the Ski Run Center.