Skiing Tahoe
 

Hey Lens...

I'm wanting to plan a trip to Ski Tahoe in Jan..

which would you recommend.. .North or South???

I'm used to Skiing Taos, Snowbird, Alta.. etc.. and love advanced terrain... but have never even been to the Tahoe area...

any other recommendations appreciated...

cheers

I'm hoping to get to tahoe after Vegas. I've never seen snow in my lefife, so it should be a lot of fun :)

hi greg

you love me

Greg,

I would recommend North, if you are looking for the best terrain, but South if you want some casino fun as well.

I worked at Squaw back in 93' and that place is the bomb diggity.

Poppy

You should stay at Lensman's house...:)

Squaw is very nice....

Katie's family has a cabin about 15 minutes away....

South Shore...for night life...
North Shore for skiing.....

Check out Kirkwood...it's out of the way though....
but niiiice....

I grew up in Tahoe.

Basically the only resort really close to the casinos on the south shore is Heavenly, which is pretty good, but it does get very crowded depending when you go down there. A few days after new years, and the new years crowd will be long gone, and it won't be that crowded at all. Just do NOT go from Dec23-Jan2, as it is rediculously crowded. Casinios in tahoe are exceptionally lame compared to Vegas though, and in my opinion aren't really worth going to.

Kirkwood is also pretty good, they have good snow there normally. Heavenly is still my favorite though, because I always lived like 5 minutes away from there so thats normally where I went. The Nevada side of Heavenly is better, in my opinion, than the Cali side, so go to Stagecoach or Boulder lodge to start your day, not the california base lodge. There is pretty much advanced terrain in just about any ski-resort you go to around there.

They're all pretty good hence I usually check the reports and pick the mountain with the most fresh snow for the day, but I'm a powder hound and a drive around the lake is only an hour. I used to have a Gold Pass, which is a season's pass to every resort so I've been to most of them a bunch of times. Best $1900 I ever spent! It's a transferable pass. My roommate and I each got one and when one of us had to work, we'd just give it to each other to take a friend out for free.

Here's a quick run down of the best parts of the ones i've been too.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE
Kirkwood: One of my favorites, it's like a mini-chamonix. Tons of snow, lots of chutes and cliffs and drops. Pretty damn steep too. Park jumps are HUGE for experts and there are a few smaller ones. Start with chair 6 (the highspeed quad) then when that's tracked out, go to 4 and finally the backside. It's a 1 hour drive from south lake so expect to get up early and I highly recommend you try to make first chair on a powder day.

Heavenly: Convenient cuz it's right in town, stay on the lower nevada side or do the face (lower cali) on the weekends cuz it gets crowded and nowadays the gondola drops everybody off on the upper side so everyone skis upper nevada and upper california. Weekdays are awesome cuz you can play the whole mountain. Quick groomers under sky. Waterfall has great bumps. Olympic has a good park. The face is unreal, go off to the sides on a powder day and it's heaven. The views are nice on the face too! Heavenly has lots of runs and lots of high speed quads so you get lots of runs. it's a medium challenge, not very steep except for the canyons and the face, so i recommend kirkwood if you're an expert looking for challenge over variety. I've had a pass there every year and i wouldn't go without. I never get bored when I come spend 3 or 4 hours here every day cuz there's always something different to do.

Sierra Tahoe: About 20 minute drive. Great a few days after a powder day cuz the trees are still untouched. Great on a powder day also of course! This is unofficially the local's mountain. They have the best Half Pipes around. Lots of boulders too so if you want to practice doing drops, this is the place to go! Tons of 5 to 20 foot drops one after the other in the boulder fields. STAY IN THE TREEES!!! The trails aren't shit. This is a small mountain but great terrain in a small package.

NORTH TAHOE:
Mount Rose: The backside is awesome on a powder day! Good place to meet reno girls.

Alpine: Awesome snow, awesome terrain. One of the first mountain to open in october/november and my vote for most likely to get 4 feet of snow and fucking unreal on those days if it doesn't close!

Squaw: same as alpine but popular so it gets tracked out really fast. Go very early and you have to do the K2! These two and kirkwood get the most snow around the lake.

Sugar Bowl: They were closed the day i tried to go but i hear it's like kirkwood (see above) so it must be awesome!! I can't wait to go!

Homewood: Right on the lake, small, great views. Also good a few days after a powder day.

Boreal: Almost always the first to open as soon as it's cold enough to make fake snow, they quickly make some parks, etc. Small mountain, small parks but fun when you're skiing in october!

Northstar: Best for parks. Lots of pipes and jumps and rollers and rails all one after the other. Your legs are dead by the time you get to the bottom. Didn't get around to doing much else cuz that was so good but it seemed pretty good.

anyway, that's my tahoe review. It's a lot of reading but if you take the time to read it you'll probably find what you're looking for and be glad you did!

maybe you idiots did not read, he was asking lens!

Sugar Bowl isn't like Kirkwood, IMO. I practically grew up at Sugar Bowl. We used to go for 10 days or so every year. I loved taking the gondola into the lodge and not seeing the car for over a week. :)

It's a beautiful bowl with lots of great terrain for all, but it's remote.

We liked staying at South Lake Tahoe when we'd go, but the better skiing is in North Tahoe. Just no good places to stay North. We usually ended up in Truckee or Reno when we skied Alpine or Squaw.

I say north also, its niiiiiiiiice

Anyone going to snowboard at Mammoth Lakes after Vegas?

ah anyones input is welcome....

thanks for the insite.. how far is the north shore from the south shore??? like if we stayed in the south... is there a shuttle that takes you to the north shore area.. ??

sounds kinda like the Salt Lake ski areas... a ton of different resorts within an hour or so of each other.. so you can hit different resorts each day....

I have a cabin in Tahoe city which is sorta the north side I would say. I have to agree with the north side of the lake is more for skiiing/snowboarding i perfer snowboarding. Squaw has a nice 2-3 mile run, and whats cool you can skii at night there for like $20 which isnt bad just bundle up :)

Northstar isnt bad either nice runs within trees but usually gets pretty packed on popular days.