Diamond Peak Celebrates 60 Years
January 7, 2026 | Kayla Anderson
Originally published in the Holiday Issue of IVCBA’s LIVE.WORK.PLAY. Magazine, written by Kayla Anderson
Sixty years ago, back when Incline Village was becoming a town, 655-acre Ski Incline was taking root as a community-owned ski resort. It celebrated a lot of “firsts” in the Tahoe ski industry at the time, it was one of the first resorts in the area to have original moving magic carpets, the first to have a manmade snowmaking system, and I believe it was the first to have a mascot (Penguin Pete—that was the brainchild of New Zealander Ski School Director Bee Ferrato). In 1985, when it installed the Crystal Ridge quad, it opened a whole new world of black diamond terrain, hence the resort changed its name to Diamond Peak.
Twenty years ago, I was working in the wakeboarding industry in Orlando, Florida, and soon missed having four seasons—I had to buy a sweater every time I came home for Christmas. As an avid snowboarder, I applied for winter ski resort jobs at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Diamond Peak, and Sunriver in Bend, Oregon, in October 2006. Diamond Peak called me back first.
By December 2006, I had moved to Carnelian Bay with three guys who also secured jobs at Diamond Peak (I spent my first night in town going to the ICBA’s Christmas Tree Village Pray for Snow party, where I met one of my bosses, Mike Bandelin). As a lift operator, I worked with fellow chair bumpers from New Zealand, Australia, South America, and beyond, on J-1 visas during their summer breaks.
Ed Youmans was the general manager, and Mike Bandelin was the mountain manager at the time, and they were both great to work for. Mike had worked at the resort since he was 17 years old, and hailing from Vernon, New Jersey, I believe Ed became the GM in 1995.
Ed used to tell unbelievable stories of his time working at Action Park, now fondly remembered as “The World’s Most Dangerous Waterpark.” Diamond Peak Ski Operations Manager Jay Rydd used to work with Ed at Action Park, and I’m sure he has his own stories to tell.
The Lift Op Life
Before Diamond Peak renovated its ski school, there used to be a locker room facing out to the Lakeview chairlift that we used to call The Bunker because it was partly underground. Every Friday night, we had little impromptu rail jams outside The Bunker, where we would drag a barbecue out into the snow and find things like trash cans, fences, and unused railings that we could slide off on our snowboards (the whole freestyle skiing scene hadn’t come into existence yet). In January, after we got several storms that dumped feet of snow, the cat drivers pushed piles of it under the Lakeview chairlift and behind The Bunker. Ski School carved the snow piles into a gigantic sea turtle and the other a 10-ft. long whale with pinecone eyes. Tourists who didn’t ski came to Diamond Peak just to take pictures of the whale. At one of our Friday night rail jams, we tried to jib off the top of the whale and touch its tail without breaking it off.
The Beginning of Diamond Peak’s Iconic Events
In April 2007, the IVGID marketing coordinator position opened. I applied for the year-round position and got it. I worked at Diamond Peak as the IVGID marketing coordinator from 2007-2009. During that stint, our marketing team created some signature events that are still in place today. The marketing director at the time, Milena Regos, came up with Last Tracks, and it’s crazy to think she struggled to sell the concept at the time, while there’s now a waitlist for it. We also put on quite a few successful Dummy Downhills, the Luggi Foeger Uphill Downhill Race, and new events have come on the scene, like Ullr Fest and Pi Day.
My favorite event happened only once, though, and that was Bruce Spring Skiing Day. My late coworker Jay Abdo and I came up with it to celebrate the first day of spring and drum up some business after the holidays. Despite Ed being from New Jersey, he was not a Bruce Springsteen fan and hated the idea of us celebrating The Boss. But we did it anyway…we brought in a Bruce Springsteen cover band and gave everyone named Bruce a discounted lift ticket (we were liberal about who qualified). About a hundred people showed up to ski and dance the afternoon away…a few Bruces but mostly season passholders.
The Memories Continue
Thanks to Diamond Peak hiring me as a lift operator when I wanted to move to the West Coast, I have lived in North Lake Tahoe for almost 20 years. Over that time span, I’ve known people who’ve met, fallen in love, and raised their families based on some Diamond Peak connection. And every time I ride the mountain, not only do I recall dozens of other stories, but I see new memories being formed, consistently proving that the community connection has remained strong. Cheers to another 60 years!