Palisades Tahoe gearing up for big crowds, more snow ahead of Saturday's World Cup race
This weekend, one of the biggest ski races in the world is coming to Tahoe, but more snow might not be the best thing for it.
Palisades is preparing for the bad weather and big crowds. The world cup is coming to Lake Tahoe, bringing the highest level of skiing outside of the Olympics and the best skiers, but also the possibility of bad weather.
"We've had beautiful conditions over the last day and a half and just as we enter the final days the weather changes and we have to come up with a new adjusted plan based on that weather," said Phillip Galanfarr, a Palisades official.
There's plenty of snow in the forecast, which doesn't make for ideal racing conditions that require more ice for top speeds. The flat light can make the Palisades course even more difficult than it already is.
"Nobody wants to ski that stuff. We're skiing at our absolute limits all the time. But the more you embrace that the more people you have beat before the start so I'm prepared for what happens this weekend," said Team USA skier River Radamus.
However, Palisades officials are still excited for the race and feel they'll be able to adjust to the weather as they always do.
"That's always an advantage you have when making a race course is for it to be cold so we think we'll be able to get off, sweep off the little bit of power that we get and get down to a little bit of ice for these races," said Palisades Director of Ski Activities Bill Hudson.
The world cup course received approval from the International Ski Federation today, clearing it for competition. The first set of races begins on Saturday.