Just hop a chairlift in the High Sierra and ride it to the peak of Palisades Tahoe, the ski resort formerly known as Squaw Valley, where, at 8,600 feet above sea level, a snow golf tournament takes place each year.
Golf at altitude is often ego-boosting, with shots that arc majestically through thin air. It’s more humbling, though, with skis (or a snowboard) strapped to your feet, mittens on your hands and layers of outerwear around your torso that restrict your otherwise pro-model turn. Getting limber in the cold adds to the challenge. But at least there’s zero risk of a frost delay.
Though snow golf in Tahoe is not an ancient game, the Palisades event has been around a while. Its roots reach back to 1986, when a member of the mountain’s trail maintenance crew roughed out a routing with a grooming machine, planted flags in the ground and painted hula-hoop sized circles that passed as cups.
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