Sugar Bowl 2/4

We skied Sugar Bowl on our last day to shorten the drive back to L.A. This place is totally empty midweek, not that there was any powder a week after the last storm. There was a light breeze, and I was surprised to see more wind-exposed ice patches than at Squaw or Alpine. There was also more spring snow on the west and east exposures. However, 2/3 of Sugar Bowl faces north, including all the double black terrain on Mt. Lincoln. So the snow on the steeper runs was very comparable in quality to Squaw and Alpine. The groomed runs were better due to so few people.

SugarBowl has been very icy over the last couple of days, the storm tomorrow should change all of that.

I would say Sugar Bowl was 70% packed powder vs. 90% at Squaw/Alpine. I would not characterize it as "very icy" or dissuade anyone from skiing there under current conditions. My understanding is that all the Tahoe areas were hardpack/icy before the 3-foot dump of Jan. 26-28. If there were a difference between Sugar Bowl and Squaw/Alpine I would have expected it to be in Sugar Bowl's favor due to higher snowfall and lower skier density. But that was not what I observed.