The Story Behind Diamond Peak’s Run Names

It’s another beautiful bluebird day at Diamond Peak Ski Resort and you click in and head to Lakeview Quad. As you gaze at Lake Tahoe from the chair there’s no doubt why this chair was named Lakeview. But what about the other chairs and trail names? Here’s a little history from current and former Diamond Peak employees.

Chairlifts

In 1966 Ski Incline opened with four lifts – one T-bar (in the location where the School House chairlift is now) and 3 double chairs: Blue Chair (now Lodgepole), Red Chair (was renamed Coyote then taken out), and Yellow Chair (now Lakeview).

“It was very common to name chairs by colors or numbers back then,” said IVGID Director of Community Services Mike Bandelin.

Two more lifts were added in 1969: Upper Yellow (now Ridge) and Upper Blue (where the Spillway trail is now located). In the late ‘70s the T-bar was removed and replaced with B Chair and Red Fox was added. All the other lift names were changed to animal names including Yellow Bird (now Lakeview), Blue Bell (now Lodgepole), Blue Dolphin, Coyote, and Yellow Jacket (now Ridge).

In 1987 the Crystal Quad was installed to the top of Crystal Ridge and the resort renamed to “Diamond Peak at Ski Incline” because of all the advanced black diamond terrain added. All existing lifts were also renamed at that time to what they are called today.

Ski Trails

Penguin

This trail was “Bunny” from the late ‘70s to late ‘80s when all the trails were named after animals. It was renamed “Penguin” in 1987 because the Bee Ferrato Child Ski Center was built, and their new mascot was a penguin. 

“It was a penguin because Bee’s heritage is from New Zealand, and it’s overwhelmed with Penguins! Bee loved penguins,” said Lee Koch, former Sales & Marketing Director. 

Dusty’s Delight

In the early ‘90s the trail known as “Delight” was renamed “Dusty’s Delight” to honor the late Dr. Dusty Trembley, a former ski patroller. “He was one of the original patrollers,” said Dennis Griffiths former Diamond Peak patrol director. “Dusty was also a sailor. He sailed around the world by himself.” 

“Seven times he sailed around the world and between the ages of 65-80. He also had five master’s degrees and was the humblest guy I’ve ever met,” said Lee Koch

Flume

“A lot of the trails, including The Great Flume, were named to capture the spirit of the Comstock era, the environment and the heritage of the land,” said Bandelin. 

When they were building the upper mountain (by hand) they found a collection box from the flume and a lot of parts of the flume were still intact.

Battle Born

This trail was named after Nevada’s state slogan, “The Battle Born State.” Nevada achieved statehood during the Civil War and the words “Battle Born” also appear on the state flag.

Diamondback

This steep groomer was named after the Western Diamondback, one of Nevada’s five venomous snakes. “The name actually came from my brother, Ed Weber, who was the Food and Beverage Manager at the time,” said Lee Koch. “He recognized the snake of the run and thought of a Diamondback.”

Golden Eagle Bowl

“Every so often we had sightings of the majestic Golden Eagle when we were cutting trails up there,” said Bandelin. “You might still see some up there to this day.”

Thunder & Lightning

During construction of the upper mountain, all the new trails were referred to by number… number one to five. “Thunder and Lightning were named after a thunderstorm that rolled through the area during the expansion. Lightning actually struck several trees on the run. The trails split left and right, so we thought it was perfect,” said Lee Koch.

Luggi’s

Luggi Foeger, the original designer and Ski School Director for Ski Incline, was known as “one of the true complete mountain men.” When they brought Luggi to the originally planned site of Ski Incline, way above Mt Rose Highway, he said “the business of skiing is to provide a fun, pleasurable experience in the wintertime for the whole family. And if you take a housewife on top of a cliff and ask her to ski that, I’ll leave it to your imagination to hear her reply.” 

Luggi then studied the Incline area by plane, snowmobile and on foot and chose the present location of Diamond Peak, just above the northeastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Incline Village. Luggi was an icon in the ski industry and had the foresight to develop the first snowmaking system in the West. 

“He found old army surplus invasion pipe that had been unused to build the snowmaking system. It was installed during the initial development in 1966. They laid the pipe in the natural ravines and covered them up,” said Marty Koch, former Mountain Manager.

Sunnyside

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s Diamond Peak hosted the Collegiate National Championships on Crystal Ridge and Sunnyside. The G.S. and super-G races took place on these trails. 

F.I.S.

F.I.S. is short for Fédération Internationale de Ski, or International Ski Federation. This trail has a strong racing heritage with a world-class slope angle and length, perfect for FIS races. It was one of the few runs in the United States that met the standards for official FIS competitions at the time.

G.S.

“Ski racing was in its heyday when all of these trails were named,” said Bandelin. G.S. stands for “giant slalom” – a technical event in alpine ski racing.

Corkscrew

Named for its winding terrain, this trail can be very fun on a powder day.

Popular

“Popular was a very popular trail, and to this day is still the most popular trail on the mountain,” said Bandelin.

Freeway

This is the easiest way down on the lower mountain and the only beginner trail accessed from Lakeview Chair. The one caveat currently is that you have to ski down Ridge Run, an intermediate trail, to get to it. But that may be changing – potential future resort plans include re-grading Ridge Run to make it into a green beginner run, which would allow beginners to enjoy Snowflake Lodge, then ski/ride down Ridge Run to Freeway to Lodgepole and see more of the mountain. 

Crystal Ridge

This iconic trail has been named one of the “World’s 100 Best Ski Runs” by CNN Travel and one of the “9 Most Stunning Places to Ski on Earth” by Red Bull. Skiers often comment that it feels like you are going to ski right into the lake since Crystal Ridge has somewhat of an infinity pool effect. 

“We ran a community contest to develop names for the ski resort and the two of the top names that were selected were Crystal Peak, because it overlooked Crystal Bay and Diamond Ridge because of the diamond runs added. Marty Koch actually suggested those two names,” said Lee Koch. The ski resort was named Diamond Peak and then the ideas were merged together to call the ski trail Crystal Ridge.

Powder

Because of the exposure of the trail, it’s a “great bowl on a powder day. That’s where it collects,” said Lee Koch

Cappy’s Corner

Cappy Cook was the Mountain Manager in the 1970s. “One of the greatest bosses anyone could have who inspired the staff every day to be innovative and have fun,” said Marty Koch.

Spillway

All the upper mountain runs filter into this run.

O.God

Oh god, this is steep! O.God is the steepest trail on the mountain. It starts off with the steepest pitch but after you dive down into the terrain you’re rewarded with beautiful views of Lake Tahoe.

Show Off

This trail faces the Base Lodge so you can ski down and show off to everyone at the lodge or in the chairlift lines. If you see a group of similar jackets arching perfect turns down this run it may be our Ski & Ride Center instructors doing clinics.

Lodgepole

The Lodgepole Pine is a predominant tree in the Tahoe Basin, and many were logged out during the expansion of the upper mountain.