Meet the Team: Our 2019 Tahoe Mountain Sports Ambassadors

New Ambassadors

Welcome new ambassadors, to the Tahoe Mountain Sports team!

Steve Buelna

Follow him @speed_goatee

Originally from San Luis Obispo, Steve started playing organized sports of soccer and baseball at the age of 6 and shifted to a focus of competitive soccer teams starting at the age of 8 through Junior College. Steve played Varsity soccer as a starter all 4 years while attending College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, California. After graduating from College Park in 1995, Steve attended Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill where he played two years of soccer making All Conference (at Los Medanos Junior College). Following graduating from DVC Steve transferred to Hayward State where he received a Bachelor of Science in Geography in 1999. Convinced there was more to life than selling fitness equipment (job that put him through college) he took an entry level job with Placer County and moved to Truckee in 2000. That “temporary move” was later solidified after purchasing a home in Truckee in 2004, which added another hobby of home repairs to the then list of fly fishing, and snowboarding and later mountain biking.

At the ripe old age of 40, Steve found myself continuing a career with Placer County as a Supervising Planner, but was suffering from the side effects of a desk job and needed to get back into that soccer shape. Never having been a runner (aside from the previously mentioned punishment for cutting up in soccer practice), Steve thought that running would be an “easy” thing to pick up. After several humbling experiences it became a challenge that he was convinced he had to overcome. Steve’s first year of running went from a 5K, 10K, half marathon, 30K, full marathon, and wrapped up with a 50K. The first year, Steve became addicted to attending the Salomon Run Club Tahoe, just so he could learn new trails to run in the area. Needless to say he was hooked, or “down the rabbit hole” as he often refers to it as. In an effort to help encourage others to springboard into running as well, Steve began leading the “Newbies Run Club” put on by the Donner Party Mountain Runners. A very casual and social weekly spring run series to explore new trails.

Natalie Bladis

Follow her @natalietreyz

Natalie’s love of being a beginner has pushed her to participate at a high level in almost every outdoor sport. Her outdoor journey began in high school where she ran cross country and spent her summers backpacking with the Earth Watch research group on Isle Royal studying the moose and wolf predator prey relationship. As an adult, Natalie has pursued the more extreme sports of rock climbing and backcountry skiing/mountaineering. Her most proud climbing accomplishment is climbing Prusik Peak in the Enchantment Range, WA, and skiing 3 of the 50 classic ski descents within her first two years pf skiing (Mt. Shasta, Terminal Cancer, and Bloody Couloir).

Winter is Natalie’s favorite season and almost every weekend you can find her skiing with her crew on the east side of the sierras. Ski descents of the Natalie’s second season (2018-19) include Kettle Peak (East Couloir), Kidney Chute, Pinner Couloir (Laurel Mountain), Devils Slide (Carson Peak), and Wahoo Gullies (Mt. Locke) to name a few. In the off season, Natalie trains for the mountains by doing long trail runs and big alpine climbing days.

During the summer season, Natalie teaches rock climbing summer camps for Tahoe Summer Camps and during the school year she is a middle school and high school math teacher for Tahoe Expedition Academy. As a teacher, Natalie hopes to inspire people of all ages to love the outdoors through a deeper understanding of the world. She has lead her students on many trips from orienteering through the trinity alps to canoeing the Colorado river. In her spare time, Natalie is a ceramic artist and yogi.

Johnny Lomas

Follow him @johnnylomas

I grew up as a weekend warrior splitting my time between skiing and snowboarding during weekend trips to Squaw and Alpine from the Bay Area. When I was twelve my dad let us take a week off of school in the middle of January for a ski trip to Snowbird and Alta and it ended up dumping 8 feet in 5 days. It was so deep, I quit snowboarding and I’ve been passionate about skiing ever since. These days I enjoy ski mountaineering, trad climbing, mountain biking, and plain old alpine scrambling on near-constant trips to the Eastern Sierra.

Veteran Ambassadors

The following ambassadors have been with us for one or more years.

Rachel McCullough

Follow her @rachelmcphotos

Rachel Arst McCullough is an avid runner, hiker, mountain biker, rock climber, yogi and skier living in Truckee, CA. She’s always up for an outdoor challenge and is willing to put in the hard work to tell you all about the process, learning experience, and adventure, even if it didn’t go quite as planned!

Rain or shine, Rachel will be outside at every opportunity she gets, whether a dawn patrol hike or photo session, an evening neighborhood ski (in the dark!), or on a quick lunch break run. On winter weekends you’ll find her at Northstar, teaching private ski lessons for all ages and ability levels, including children with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome or autism.

Being an entrepreneur herself, she co-founded the 501(c)(3) Tahoe Silicon Mountain, which has served since 2010 as the hub for entrepreneurs and other professionals in the Tahoe region. She’s also actively involved as a volunteer with Girlmade, running their Truckee programs that help women play big and create positive change.

Rachel founded her company, McCullough Web Services, in 2011 and has been helping clients ever since to improve their online presence through impeccably-designed and easy-to-use websites.

Be sure to follow @rachelmcphotos on Instagram for stunning images of beautiful Sierra scenery and to learn about her adventures.

Chris Cloyd

Follow him @_trashtalk

Working as a fitness professional since 2006, Chris has built a brand working with athletes of all backgrounds – from Olympians to aspiring youth. He currently works as a trainer and coach for over 2 dozen professional and nationally-competitive athletes, including world-class skiers, snowboarders, runners, and swimmers.

Chris is a competitive runner for Salomon Running and GORE Wear, and focuses on the 50-100k distances. His enthusiasm for rock climbing and mountaineering is stealing more and more of his time, and the “trails” he’s running keep getting steeper every day.

Chris is an avid “lifestyle” cyclist and a full-time bike commuter, and has applied his love of cycling to the greater good. In 2009, Chris founded the TakeYourBike project, a non-profit committed to spreading commuter-cycling advocacy in metropolitan areas here in the United States. Chris and a handful of other TYB teammates pedaled from Vancouver, BC to Tecate, Mexico – a 3-country bike tour – to help illustrate the viability of the bicycle as a vehicle of transportation and the amazing experiences you can find on two wheels.

Of course, as a full-time resident of the Lake Tahoe community, Chris is hopelessly addicted to snowboarding and backcountry touring, and spends as much time as possible out in our great Sierra wilderness in the winter months.

Coral Rose Taylor

Follow her @c-ros

Coral is passionate about the environment and doing her part to make a better world, by mitigating the impacts of humanity while contributing to sustainable approaches of living on this earth. She loves learning and sharing knowledge with others, in a growth-oriented arena. She’s also motivated by health and wellness, and enjoys helping others be the best version of themselves. In addition to being uber smart she’s also an incredible athlete. In addition to doing her favorite sports like snowboarding, road biking and mountain biking she’s a certified yoga teacher and bike guide. She teaches yoga in Truckee and Reno and leads bike rides with Tahoe Mountain Bike Girls. She’s also an ambassador for Coalition Snow, an all girl ski and snowboard company. She’s a huge advocate for women in the outdoors and creates a welcoming and encouraging atmosphere in all of her activities. Fun fact – She LOVES food – pretty much all of it. She can’t eat gluten, but is able to enjoy pretty much all other foods! Her favorites include sushi, tacos, pho, fresh juice, hand-crafted cappuccino and anything made with love. ​

Kyle Railton

Follow him @coachtmud

Growing up on Lake Tahoe, Kyle spent his formative years outside with his father – running, climbing, building, playing. Echoing the words of John F. Kennedy, his father taught him to be an athlete, not a spectator. “We don’t watch sports,” he would say, “we play them.”

This perspective stuck with Kyle, and fitness became a natural part of his lifestyle. But as it happens so often, when hard times came, fitness was one of the first things to fall by the wayside. After losing his father to cancer in 2003, Kyle found himself on a downward trajectory that lasted for years. Most days Kyle found himself not running and climbing, but sitting and drinking. Feeling depressed and adrift, the energy he had once felt seemed a world away.

His journey back to a healthy lifestyle started in 2008, with a snowmobile. Speeding around the mountains of Tahoe, he began to feel that spark of energy and drive again. Next he traded his snowmobile for a dirtbike, and his passion grew. As he began racing, he realized he’d be a lot more successful if he got his body back in shape, which led him to CrossFit. Passion built on passion, and he became not only a CrossFit athlete but a Certified Trainer (Level 1), with additional certifications in Endurance, Olympic Lifting, Strongman, and Kettlebell.

Once again living a fitness-focused lifestyle – and feeling healthier and happier than ever before – signing up for Tough Mudder NorCal 2010 was an easy choice. Since then, Kyle has become a Legionnaire, a Warm-Up MC, and a Tough Mudder Training expert.

Cooper Honeywell

Follow him @cooperhoneywell

Core Activities: Nordic skiing, backcountry skiing, trail running, paddleboarding, surfing
Most Epic Adventure: Probably doing the Great Ski Race last year in a blizzard, or a 10-mile paddleboard race around Alcatraz, next to huge tanker ships.
Who Inspires You? I have multiple inspirations but mainly they are my older teammates. I see them succeeding and I really look up to them.
Local Community Organizations: Lake Tahoe Watermans Association, Tahoe Cross Country Ski Education Association, Far West Nordic

Kim Yamauchi

Follow her @kimyamauchi

Core Activities:Trail running, mountain biking, road biking, skiing, Nordic skiing, backcountry skiing, kiteboarding (new sport), triathlon (occasionally), crossfit, yoga
Earliest Outdoor Memory: We were always outdoors, playing in the woods, playing in the snow (Buffalo and Minnesota), swimming in the lakes, skiing…I remember the first time my brother took me down a “mogul” run while skiing in Northern Minnesota. I think I fell after each mogul. At the bottom, I looked at him and said, “That was fun. lets do it again!”
Favorite Workout: I love being on the trails, whether mountain biking or trail running. In the winter months, either Nordic skiing or backcountry/skinning.

Mone Haen

Follow her @monehaen

Core Activities: Running, swimming, skiing, cycling, yoga
Most Epic Adventure to Date: Trekking honeymoon in Patagonia
Who Inspires Me: My husband – he’s one of the most athletic and adventurous people I know. I actually wrote it into our wedding vows that I’d try to keep up with him!
Local community organizations: former Treasurer for Donner Party Mountain Runners (2 years), currently a volunteer coordinator and coach for Buddy Werner Truckee Ski Team
Life Motto: Newton’s First Law of Motion – An object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Stay in motion.