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North Tahoe winter film series to feature iconic snowboarder Jeremy Jones, other athletes for 10th anniversary

Kaleb M. Roedel
kroedel@sierrasun.com
Dave Nettle's Nov. 19 presentation will kick off the film series with his show, "Climbing in India: From the Ganges River to the Rooftop of the Himalaya.”
Courtesy Dave Nettle |

If you go

What: 10th annual Alpenglow Winter Sports Film Series

When: Nov. 19 (Dave Nettle); Dec. 17 (Jeremy Jones); Jan. 28 (Adrian Ballinger/Emily Harrington); Feb. 25 (Kelly Cordes); March 17 (Kate Rutherford)

Where: Olympic Village Lodge, Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows

Cost: Free

More online: alpenglowsports.com

TAHOE CITY, Calif. — Dave Nettle and Brendan Madigan didn’t know what to expect when they launched the Alpenglow Sports Winter Film Series 10 years ago.

They knew they wanted to showcase athletes giving slideshow presentations aimed to educate, entertain and inspire the North Lake Tahoe skiing, climbing and adventure community.

At the heart of it all, though, their primary objective was to bring people together and raise funds for local nonprofit organizations.



To say they’ve hit their marks would be an understatement.

Not only has the annual film series grown from intimate shows to standing-room-only events, over nine years the series has also raised nearly $60,000 for the North Tahoe community.



The Alpenglow Winter Sports Film Series, presented by 101.5 KTKE Truckee Tahoe Radio, kicks off its 10th anniversary series on Thursday, Nov. 19, at the world-famous Olympic Village Lodge at Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows. The series is free to attended for all ages.

“We’re psyched to reach double digits,” said Madigan, owner of Alpenglow Sports. “The first few years (at Tahoe City’s Sawtooth Café) there was like 30 to 40 people a show, so it was really like seeing a show in someone’s living room. Word got out that it was a cool event and more non-profits showed interested in it.”

Now, roughly 500 people fill up the Olympic Village Lodge for each show and an average of $3,000 is raised for local nonprofits through raffle prizes from the event sponsors.

“It’s such a win-win for the community,” Madigan said. “It’s entirely free, and anyone — from the community ski bum to the Bay Area executive — can come and enjoy a free show from a world-famous professional athlete.”

And Madigan said this year’s lineup of presenters is perhaps the best yet.

The headliner is Jeremy Jones, an iconic professional snowboarder and Truckee resident. Known for his big mountain freeriding, Jones will give a presentation about the influence Tahoe, specifically Squaw Valley, has had not only on his life, but also the sport of snowboarding as a whole.

“I want to highlight some key moments over the last 25 years of snowboarding that happened locally that really changed the world of snowboarding,” said Jones, who will be making his debut as an Alpenglow Winter Sports Film Series presenter. “Just because of the quality of the athletes in the room — and I’ve talked all over the world — it will be one of the more nerve-racking talks that I’ve given because so many heroes of mine will be in the room.

“I think we have a wonderful community and it’s amazing getting everyone together in one place, the energy of that. I look at it as a celebration of life; it’s powerful stuff having a gathering like that.”

Other athletes presenting include climbing couple Emily Harrington and Adrian Ballinger who will speak about their travels up Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, on Jan. 28.

Avid climber and writer Kelly Cordes will detail his first book “The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing and Controversy on Cerro Torre” on Feb. 25.

Capping the series, Kate Rutherford will give a presentation on her memorable rock climbing exploits all over the world on March 17.

And Nettle, as he’s done every year, will serve as the tone-setter for the new season.

The local, legendary climber will present “Climbing In India: From the Ganges River to the Rooftop of the Himalaya” at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19.

The story captures Nettle and his three friends’ sacred pilgrimage in Northern India — “basically all Hindu Indians strived to do this pilgrimage,” he said.

The nonprofit beneficiary for the show is the Donner Land Trust’s Save Donner Climbing initiative. Raffle prizes from Millet, Leki, Mountain Hardwear and Jones Snowboards are to be given away.

Nettle, who’s been presenting slideshows in the Tahoe region since the 1980s, way back before the Alpenglow Sports Film Series came to fruition, feels that, above all, there is a palpable power in uniting a group of likeminded athletes and adventurers.

“One thing it does is bring the community together and it gives people that opportunity to catch up with friends, to have real face time,” said Nettle, a local legendary rock climber. “And also there’s real value in the tradition of telling stories; to keep legends alive; to keep the dream of wanting to go out alive.

“People walk out of these events hot and bothered — they’re like, ‘I need to go out.’ They get reinvigorated with the thought, the trip they’ve been saying they’re going to take; they say ‘I got to take it now.’


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