Lake, River, or Ocean Views From Ski Areas

[jamesdeluxe]

Lake Pend Oreille (Pond-der-ray). Perhaps the most impressive lake view I've ever seen from the 100 ski areas I've visited.

Better than Tahoe from Homewood, Diamond Peak, Heavenly or even Palisades and Northstar?

You may have noticed that I'm a big fan of skiing alongside bodies of water. I lined up these pix a couple years ago during off-season and never got around to posting them but since Tseeb seems to be throwing down the gauntlet above to jimk above, maybe now's the time.

Following are mine taken from lift-served mountains during ski season. Feel free to add your one best shot from specific ski areas. It's likely that Tony has the most exotic one, from the bottom of the earth.

Thollon les Mémises, France: Overlooking Lake Geneva

Stoos, Switzerland: Overlooking Lake Lucerne

Rigi, Switzerland: Overlooking Lake Lucerne

Klewenalp, Switzerland: Overlooking Lake Lucerne

Zwölferhorn, Austria: Overlooking Wolfgang Lake

Axalp, Switzerland: Overlooking Lake Brienz

Corviglia, Switzerland: Overlooking the tip of Lake Silvaplana

Corvatsch, Switzlerland: Overlooking Lake Silvaplana

Bezau, Austria: Overlooking Lake Constance

Schweitzer, ID: Overlooking Lake Pend Oreille

Owl's Head, Quebec: Overlooking Lake Memphrémagog

Le Massif, Quebec: Overlooking the St. Lawrence River

Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec: Overlooking The St. Lawrence River and the northern tip of 20-mile-long island Orléans:

Mont Orford, Quebec: Overlooking Lake Memphrémagog

La Reserve, Quebec: Overlooking Ouareau Lake

 

[MarzNC]

Quite a collection!

Got my first lake view in Idaho from the top of Tamarack.

 

[Skieric]

Blue Mountain, my home mountain on the shore of the Georgian Bay (Lake Huron)

 

[jimk]

12 years ago I wrote an article on this subject.
I guess I'm way overdue for an update.

My wife retired from skiing about a dozen years ago, but skied for 40 years before that. Recently at Schweitzer she took a chair lift ride with me for a scenic lunch in the SkyHouse Restaurant. Here's a fun photo I took of her taking a photo of the lake from the summit.

 

[Tony Crocker]

tseeb said:

Better than Tahoe from Homewood, Diamond Peak, Heavenly or even Palisades and Northstar?

In JimK's dcski article he ranks Homewod first and Heavenly fourth. I've only skied Homewood one day but agree it has the best Tahoe views.

While we are promoting home areas, here's a late afternoon view from Mt. Baldy illuminating ships outside L.A. Harbor with the full length of Catalina Island in the background.

It's likely that Tony has the most exotic one, from the bottom of the earth.

Would that be this one?

That is a leading candidate for the best ski picture I have ever taken.

In North America I am impressed with Alyeska's view down to Turnagain Arm.

This was our 2015 Christmas card picture from Arctic Heliskiing on Iceland's Troll Peninsula.

Though I often tout the scenery in the Alps, I don't recall any where bodies of water were prominent. There was just a peek at the Mediterranean in the distance from Auron, nothing like the sweeping Pacific view from Baldy.

 

[Sbooker]

Some great shots above.

Edit. I think the spots that @jamesdeluxe posted are easiest for me to bag.

 

[Sbooker]

That is a leading candidate for the best ski picture I have ever taken.

Can you comment on snow quality please? Obviously it is not high elevation but I assume the temp was low.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The Antarctic Peninsula is a marine environment and mid-November is spring. Temps were very average for resorts, say -5C to 0C. We didn't have much sun, but when we did it could melt/freeze sunny exposures. Wind effect was another factor, as the Antarctic can be very windy. That pic is from the third day, which was the only real powder skiing. Much of the time it was like groomed skiing with a thin even layer of soft snow over whatever the base was. If terrain was steep, edging would often cut through to a more hardpacked base. But of course that’s just my trip. YMMV.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

12 years ago I wrote an article on this subject.

I knew I'd come across that piece a while back. Had no idea that it was you!

Interesting that the only water pic jimk and I have in common is Le Massif, which IMO still wins -- not as the most scenic view, but no question the most impressive. The vista is 16 miles to the other side of the river and approx. 30 miles left to right. You'd need to stitch together several photos into a wide-screen shot, which would seriously compress the pic and diminish the effect you get in person. Freighter ships moving amidst the ice floes complete the austere, overwhelming sensation in the middle of winter.

I'm breaking the "rules" of my own thread but here are a couple pix from my B&B a few miles north of the ski area. Gorgeous views to the east and south out the window:

You can't tell from my isolated photo at the top of the thread, but the left-to-right panorama from Thollon les Mémises is similar to Le Massif: 30 miles. As mentioned in my 2017 trip report, the most interesting part for me is seeing the town of Montreux on the right end of the lake and imagining "smoke on the water" from that 1971 casino fire during a Frank Zappa concert.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Got my first lake view in Idaho from the top of Tamarack.

I've always been kinda fascinated by Tamarack -- how it went bankrupt (removed the lifts, I believe?) and was brought back to life a few years later.

You should repost the reports from your recent Idaho visit here. I'm sure that the FTOer who lives there @snowave will be interested in your takeaways. It's easy to do the whole thing, text and photos, in one copy/paste which you can then edit.

 

[jimk]

With respect to Tony and James' ski-lake experiences:

 

[tseeb]

Lake Tahoe from Crystal Ridge Run at Diamond Peak. Looks like more than a couple miles of the Lake although not all 21x12.

Next photo is from their Lakeview Lodge where we attended a couple of their Last Tracks event. Wine tasting, heavy hors d'oeuvres followed by a freshly groomed run. Was $34 when I last did it in 2016. Now $120 and there is a lottery to get in.

 

[tseeb]

In this thread, @Tony Crocker says "Homewood’s views of Lake Tahoe are rivaled only by Heavenly (in background here)".

Some of Homewood is too close to Lake so you don't get view of whole Lake.

This is friend on Headwall at Palisades with KT22, Alpine and Tahoe in background. Heavenly and more of Lake at far right.

Found another one of Lake behind skier trying to get into what I think is Extra Chute in Palisades at what used to be called Squaw Valley

Will have to search for my best Tahoe photo(s) from Heavenly.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Some of Homewood is too close to Lake so you don't get view of whole Lake.

Will have to search for my best Tahoe photo(s) from Heavenly.

So Heavenly is your favorite Tahoe view? The one above from Diamond Peak is nice.

 

[tseeb]

I don't have time to look through all my photos of the Lake from Heavenly, but I do think Heavenly's lake view's have some advantages:
1. Top is over 1K' higher that all other Tahoe ski area except Mt Rose, which has some Lake view's but generally looks towards NV
2. Since Heavenly is at SE corner of Lake, you can see most of the Lake except not all of the E shoreline or NE corner
3. You can easily see Tahoe and the Carson Valley 5,000' below you at the same time

A couple of scenics with people in them. First is my wife, probably at beginning of Skyline Trail to NV and second is a friend where Ellie's Swing Trail splits off from Ridge Run splits.

The next two were both taken on Dec. 2, 2024, my first day at Heavenly this season. First is view from top of Dipper, the highest NV chair.

Next is a panoramic taken downloading Gunbarrel chair, the lowest of three levels of skiing on CA side of mountain that was not yet open.

A couple of more photos I saw when looking are first is my wife and I on Lakeview run at Palisades. It must have been a warm day.

Next is my friend and I at the top of Northstar's Comstock chair. North Tahoe's Stateline Point behind my head. NE Shore behind us.

 

[EMSC]

While I think some of James' pics are more spectacular, I have a soft spot for Heavenly when it comes to lake views. Once upon a time when I worked there for the Race dept we also ran Nastar way up on Liz's run. 30 minute, 3 chair commute uphill to work to Heavenly views of the lake all day long when we were assigned to that duty. I used to have a 8x10 picture of that view on my wall for years afterward. I always liked that the jagged terrain of the Desolation Wilderness always seemed just nearby along with the lake, visually speaking.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The vista is 16 miles to the other side of the river and approx. 30 miles left to right. You'd need to stitch together several photos into a wide-screen shot, which would seriously compress the pic and diminish the effect you get in person.

This comment applies to Homewood. The entire lake is visible, but because you're so close it doesn't fit in one picture the way it does at Heavenly.

Since Thunder Mt. at Baldy is 8,600 feet, the vistas to the Pacific at sea level are close to unique for a ski area. The closest coastline in that pic is about 45 miles away. At least 50 miles of coastline are visible. Catalina is 75 miles away. On rare occasions I can see San Clemente Island 105 miles away. Even in the Alps the lakes are probably no more than 4,000 feet below the ski area, similar to the elevation of my Iceland picture.

Thanks to Google Earth, I have found a rival for Baldy. I knew where to look due to an earlier discussion when Liz and I were in Monaco about high mountains coming very close to a coastline.

The top of Gréolières is 5,800 feet but since it's only only 16 air miles from Nice, the view off the backside to the Mediterranean is only 1/3 the distance of Baldy to the Pacific. On a clear day Corsica 130 miles away should be visible, particularly since Corsica itself has 6,000 foot peaks and two ski areas. One of these years James will surely provide us with real life pictures.

There is also Sierra Nevada, Spain. Top is 11,000 feet and 30 air miles from the Mediterranean. My educated guess is that this is the largest vertical view from a ski area. I believe Jason has been there? All the 12,000+ foot lifts in the Alps and Colorado are surrounded by other mountains. Santa Fe and Ski Apache in New Mexico have horizon views from 12,000, but the plains in either direction are still at 4,000+ feet, so Baldy's vertical view is a bit more and Sierra Nevada's much more.

While on the subject, here's a low resolution film pic scan from August 1982 of the Rakaia River from Mt. Hutt, New Zealand.

The horizon is the ocean 40 miles away. Picture was taken from about 6,500 feet.

So then I was reminded that New Zealand also excels in lake views from ski areas. Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu from the back of The Remarkables:

Lake Wanaka from Treble Cone:

These are from my first digital camera in 2006.

 

[Sbooker]

Above is a cloudy day at Sapporo Teine. You’ll have to take my word for it that the Sea of Japan is in the top left of the pic.

A couple of not impressive ones from South Island of NZ.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

New Zealand also excels in lake views from ski areas.

Nice shots

A couple of not impressive ones from South Island of NZ.

I like the photo from Treble Cone. That would be the perfect place for an eight-foot-tall French-style #TREBLE CONE.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Thanks to Google Earth, I have found a rival for Baldy. I knew where to look due to an earlier discussion when Liz and I were in Monaco about high mountains coming very close to a coastline.

Gréolières was supposed to be the final stop on my 2019 Maritime Alps road trip while returning to Nice airport.

Maritime Alps, France
This was a memorable trip due to the region having such a wide range of ski areas and alpine snow culture in close proximity to the Mediterranean.
-- Medium/large: Isola, Auron, and Valberg
-- Modern and expansive: Seignus and Espace Lumière
-- Intimate and old-school: Roubion and Gréolières (above Cannes -- unfortunately not open while I was there due to low snow)

One of these years James will surely provide us with real life pictures.

A return to this region is near the top of my medium-term to-do list. In the meantime, scroll down to the 2013 report from German ski forum super user Starli for photos of the Mediterranean taken at Gréolières.