TAHOE CITY, Calif. – On a windy summer day at 3001 Polaris Road in Tahoe City, local skiers, supporters, project partners, residents, and local officials gathered at the site of the new Tahoe Cross-Country Lodge Project (TXCLP) to celebrate the groundbreaking of its Phase 1: Trailhead Relocation construction. This first step of the two-phase project will aim raise funds to support moving its main trailhead to the site of the new lodge that will be more accessible, ease neighborhood congestion, and be near improved parking. The trailhead is a mile west of the old lodge, next to the North Lake Tahoe middle and high schools.

“All right, I want you to take one step away from your neighbor,” says Tahoe XC Executive Director Ben Grasseschi outside at the site of the new Tahoe XC Lodge. As gusts of wind blew through the trees, the 25-year ski coach continued. “Stick your butts out. Lean on your heels. That’s in the past. Now lean onto your toes, lean! Like you’re falling forward, into the future. Now get centered, in the present, where we are now.”

With the 30-person audience in athletic stance, Grasseschi described that now we’re in the summer heat and the flowers are blooming, it’s time to get to work on building the new trails and lodge.

Grasseschi then took us on another exercise, asking the audience to talk to the person standing next to them (someone they don’t know) for a minute or two about their connection to Tahoe XC. Next to me, Claudia from Cedar Flat had kids who attended the school next to the site of the new Tahoe XC lodge and had been cross-country skiing at Tahoe XC for years.

“Now, what words came to mind when you talked about the Tahoe XC center?” Grasseschi interrupted. People shouted out words like “nature”, “community”, “kids”, “family”, “solitude”, and “skiing since 1977.”

“These words galvanize what this place means to us,” Grasseschi explained. He read Tahoe Cross-Country Ski Education Association’s (TCCSEA) mission, “to provide affordable access to outdoor education and year-round recreation, building enduring connections between community and nature.”

“The new lodge will continue to make Tahoe XC a warm and inviting place to be,” he added.

So why build a new lodge?

“To provide more storage and space. Provide a physically grounding hub where volunteers, staff, coaches, and skiers can foster that feeling,” Grasseschi answers. Tahoe XC is the stomping grounds for more than 20,000 visitors annually on its multi-use trails as well as offers free and affordable programs for people of all ages.

He talked about the satisfaction of seeing a young boy jumping a small rock on his mountain bike for the first time, or when a chica learns how to cross-country ski and it becomes her lifelong passion. The new lodge will allow for more programming, a staff room, more parking, a space for meetings, conferences, events, and a café. Plus, “I think this will be a popular place for students at lunch,” Grasseschi adds.

Once again, the audience got into athletic stance.

“Lean into where we are going, and now bring your weight back to the arch, where we are now. Let’s build on that,” he says. Grasseschi gave a land acknowledgement to the Wašišiw people, thanked the Tahoe City PUD, the US Forest Service, the Schilling family, and all the other private donors. He mentioned that the North Tahoe Community Alliance, Placer County, Tahoe Fund, Truckee Tahoe Airport, and Kiwanis Club of North Lake Tahoe are big supporters.

Then TCPUD Board President Judy Friedman spoke.

“In 1999, Tahoe XC and the PUD signed a concession agreement, and now Tahoe XC offers an abundance of year-round recreation to enhance the quality of life for the people who live here,” she says. “We started this process in 2017 and have committed over $2.5 million in planning [the lodge]. TCPUD is proud to be a supporter.”

Placer County Superintendent Cindy Gustafson added that back in 1999 she remembers meeting with Bob Duffield and a few other residents to bankroll the original deal to buy ski grooming equipment that “brought us here today.”

“I’ve always been in the right place at the right time to get to vote to support this project. It’s an incredible experience to see friends and family supporting the outdoors,” says Gustafson.

TXCLP is also partnering with Tahoe Fund to do a matching campaign to raise more money for the project. To celebrate Tahoe XC’s 50 years of trail grooming, Tahoe Fund is doubling all donations to the project up to $50,000 to help TXCLP reach its $100k fundraising goal.

“We need to get this lodge built,” Gustafson adds.

“Time slows down here a little bit when you’re out on the trails. Tahoe XC provides a container for connection, a supportive community. We are at a time when we are craving more tangible connections and heartfelt unity; Tahoe XC has been a purveyor of this for 50 years,” Grasseschi says.

For more information about the Tahoe Cross Country Lodge Project, visit https://www.tahoexclodgeproject.com/.