Local mountain lifestyle brand moves from ski and snowboard masks to face masks

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Now that people are wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a change in masks can become a fashion statement instead of just a health statement.

Local South Lake Tahoe company, Mountains Calling, has kept busy sewing at their home studio, but instead of making ski and snowboard masks, they are making face masks to fill a safety need in the community. They have donated cloth face masks to Mammoth Hospital and Barton Health frontline health care workers as well as sent masks as far as a nurse in Georgia. The small family business has also donated fabric, elastic and thread to Tahoe Mask Makers and the Barton Foundation, enough to make over a thousand masks.

Mountains Calling owners Alex Hammerlein and Marge Cossentini have found that staying productive and relevant to the community has helped them maintain a bit of normalcy in these uncertain and challenging times.

"We wanted to be a determining factor! This is what we do. We make items that are a necessity in the snow industry, so to switch our workshop to making masks was a natural crossover. We have the materials, it's a no brainer. We feel privileged to help," said the owners.

The logoed masks can be found for sale on the Mountains Calling website https://mountainscalling.com/ and they will also be participating in the virtual Made in Tahoe Festival over Memorial Day Weekend. They are located in South Lake Tahoe and deliveries can be made to your home without any extra shipping fees. All of the different fabrics can be found on their facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/MountainsCallingtahoe/.

As well as donating masks where the need arises, Mountains Calling now has the washable and reusable masks for purchase on their website. Purchasing masks is a great way to keep supporting this local company and family and comply with recommendations from the Center for Disease Control if you haven't made a face covering of your own yet.

Per recent CDC guidelines, cloth face coverings are highly recommended for grocery store shopping or other errands, and now that businesses are opening up, for everyday shopping.

Tahoe Mask Makers is a local group of volunteer sewers making masks for essential workers in the area, they have self-organized through a Facebook group. The Barton Foundation has also organized locally to stock the Tahoe Warm Room and local grocery store and other essential store employees with masks.