Tahoe and Mammoth, How to allot the days?

G

Gpaul

New member
Hola all! First post in this excellent site. And a warm hello to Sr. Crocker, who's provided so much info for our up-coming California trip!!!!!

We like Long, Steep and standard GROOMED blues and blacks (sounds familiar?).

Current itinerary 12/27-1/10:

Overnight in Sacramento after day at Universal Studios on 12/26.
12/27: arrive in SLTahoe by 7:30am to rent our equipment, then on to Sierra at Tahoe for 1 day.
12/28,29 Squaw
12/30 Sugar Bowl
12/31 Alpine Meadows
1/1,2,3 Heavenly
1/4-10 Mammoth

Not interested in Kwood, Nstar, Rose, etc.

So, is this a good schedule, or add/remove days to each?

Due to financial constraints, will lodge in Reno for North end skiing, then book a package with Heavenly for walk-to-gondola lodging. Also, lodging/skiing is cheaper in Tahoe first part of trip, Mammoth cheaper at the end.

Much obliged!
 
:D I might see you there -- I will be the guy on the green run that you pass -- zoom--- ! on your way to the lift. :D

I was glad to read of your plan to lodge in Reno for the north side resorts. I jumped into the trip I am taking without having much experience.

Do you plan to rent a car or use the ski shuttles from Reno?
 
Snow situation has improved since my dire warning two weeks ago. But there is still some ways to go. Sierra areas are now 1/3 to 1/2 open with minimal advanced terrain, thanks to about 3 feet of snow this past week.

Your Mammoth time is looking fairly safe now. Most groomed terrain is opening this weekend, and with anything close to normal snowfall and Mammoth's excellent preservation, you should be OK.

Tahoe is still speculative, given the possible toxic combination of heavy crowds and a thin snow base. With a thin base you want to avoid the "famous" areas that get the most traffic, specifically Squaw and Heavenly. More time at the more out-of-the-way places, Kirkwood, Sugar Bowl, Mt. Rose, Sierra-at-Tahoe, listed in likely order of snow conditions. Alpine Meadows is generally one of the better places for snow, but now has a reputation for congestion at peak times due to the cheap lift tickets.

If the Sierra gets a big dump in the next 3 weeks and everything is open you can stay closer to your current plan. I would point out that Squaw during the holidays is very poor fit for your desire for long groomed runs, as that is not what Squaw is about, so the ones they have will be excessively congested.

If there is little new snow in the next 3 weeks (and none is predicted next week) I would bug out of the Reno part of the trip and do something else, like drive up through Big Sur, Monterey, San Francisco. Then go into South Tahoe at New Year's when the crowds have lightened up some and do most of your skiing at Kirkwood before moving to Mammoth.
 
Maxwayout, you're in for a great time! We will drive to the resorts, unless conditions warrant the buses. I like to be parked and in some line at least 1/2 hour before first round bell, especially during holidays.

Maybe we can meet someplace; my itinerary is not etched in stone, except for the Mammoth part. In fact, if things in Tahoe are not rosy, we may just shoot down to Mammoth on 1/2.

Monsieur Crocker, much obliged as usual. Will certainly pay heed to your suggestions on Squaw and avoiding the biggies (as much as possible). As mentioned, we may mosey on down to Mammoth earlier, que sera, sera.

Cheers all!
 
Gpaul,
My suggestion is fly to Boseman and rent a car there instead of Sac-a-tomatoes. Hit Big Sky on the way to West Yellowstone, take the kids to see Imax and the Griz/Wolf park. Bile into the Park? Slide down to Grand Targhee and maybe hit the Tram before they yank it. Finally, to the Dowager Queen of American skiing: Sun Valley. No better place for those long, steep groomers you desire. Fly out of Boise for home. Sure it's a lot of driving but you're sure to hit it good this year.
Why not Mt. Bachelor? Too far out of the way and too stormy. Today we had another 11" overnight and 8" during the day. They were reporting 76" at the base and 84" mid-mountain. No groomers here...
 
Tks schubwa, but we're locked into LAX already! Plus, we're combining Disney and skiing! Montana is on my to do list, probably when our son is older so he can appreciate mother nature. Agree with Sun Valley, fantastic LOOONNNG groomers!
 
GPaul,

Your comments give me confidence that I am on the right track. Sounds like there may be a high enough percentage of good weather days to make the car rental worthwhile for the extra hours skiing.

Thanks!
 
Tony Crocker":2enevle9 said:
...With a thin base you want to avoid the "famous" areas that get the most traffic, specifically Squaw and Heavenly. More time at the more out-of-the-way places, Kirkwood, Sugar Bowl, Mt. Rose, Sierra-at-Tahoe, listed in likely order of snow conditions.
Click to expand...

The itinerary looks like fun, but in view of your preference for groomers, I would probably trade the second day at Squaw for a day at Alpine or Sugar Bowl.

Around Tahoe weather has a way waylaying the best laid plans. After copious snow that impedes travel, low clouds can obscure good views and lead to vertigo. These clouds can hang over the area for days. When confronted with this problem, Squaw is a really bad idea. In our experience Homewood and Alpine Meadows are the best bets. Although Alpine can get large crowds on foggy days, the slopes remain uncrowded as most skiers seem to hang out the lodge. Your biggest problem will be finding lunch table space. Otherwise, you can ski the lower lifts and enjoy the day. Homewood is a nice, very cheap area with good, groomed cruising terrain, but it suffers from slow lifts.

Cheers,
Jeff
 
On those socked-in days, you want to be below treeline -- I agree with Jeff that those aren't days for Squaw. On the north shore, Northstar, Mt. Rose, Homewood and Diamond Peak all offer lots of tree-lined groomed trails. Down on the south shore, so does Heavenly.
 
Overnight in Sacramento after day at Universal Studios on 12/26.
12/27: arrive in SLTahoe by 7:30am to rent our equipment, then on to Sierra at Tahoe for 1 day.
12/28,29 Squaw
12/30 Sugar Bowl
12/31 Alpine Meadows
1/1,2,3 Heavenly
1/4-10 Mammoth
Click to expand...

The last (and only) storm was a warm one: Sugar Bowl got a ton of rain (instead of the 5 feet snow equivalent), there was very little accumulation below 7500, and Heavenly was the big winner due to its 10,000 summit despite sitting in snow shadow beyond the Sierra Crest. Go figue. All the moisture was there, but it just did not come together right.

I think your Heavenly skiing will be fine. The coverage up high seems good. Most people just ski the high cruisers anyways (Dipper, Sky, Canyon, Tamarack)- alternating between CA and NV. It's what Heavenly does best. Combined with good snowmaking, you'll be fine. Of course it will be busy.

North Tahoe is a big question mark. Unless another significant storm comes, it might be really awful. Crowds, no snow and limited snowmaking. Yuck.

Sugar Bowl with their massive 12-24" base should be avoided. I have hiked around Mt. Judah and Lincoln in the summer -- and there are boulders on many of the groomers bigger than this base could cover.

Northstar -- might be an OK bet since they have the best snowmaking system in North Tahoe. They should be able to open a decent amount of terrain.

Squaw -- OK for a day. Eseentially, the only skiing will be around the Gold Coast/High Camp areas at the 8200 elevation.

Alpine - Not quite high enough. The lower parts might get pretty boney.

Mt Rose - High elevation. Claims 80% open. I would check it out.

Homewood - Low elevation and little snowmaking. They are closed.

Of course this could all change.
 
And I guess it's all changing starting today. So cold and rainy in SF.

GREATER LAKE TAHOE AREA-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PORTOLA...SUSANVILLE...WESTWOOD..
SIERRAVILLE...SOUTH LAKE TAHOE...TAHOE CITY...TRUCKEE..
MARKLEEVILLE...GLENBROOK...INCLINE VILLAGE
230 PM PST SAT DEC 17 2005

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 11 PM PST
SUNDAY..

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 18 TO 30 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ABOVE
7000 FEET AND 8 TO 16 INCHES AT LAKE LEVEL


In fact, the whole week looks good. Now that the evil high pressure has moved on...


Monday: Cloudy. Slight chance of snow. Probability of measurable precipitation 30 percent. South wind 10 mph. High 41.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy. Low 29.

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. High 46.

Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Low 30.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow. Probability of measurable precipitation 30 percent. High 42.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow. Probability of measurable precipitation 40 percent. Low 29.

Thursday: Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow. Probability of measurable precipitation 40 percent. High 38.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of snow. Probability of measurable precipitation 20 percent. Low 29.
 
Here we go, finally!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all of you addicted skiers/boarders; I'm sure now we'll have a fantastic base and blue skies as of 12/27. I'll make certain to make notes for my TR.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
 
I will file a detailed report later, but Mammoth this weekend was much better than expected, even Saturday before the storm arrived. So that part of your trip looks secure. I would say the same for Heavenly/Kirkwood. Chris C.'s comments confirm my fears that North Tahoe was in trouble, and that my advice before this weekend to blow off that part of the trip was sound.

The current storm started off cold but is predicted to get warmer. I would wait and see how it turns out, but if it ends up that much of it has the predicted snow level in the 7,500 foot range North Tahoe should still be avoided during Christmas-to-New Year's. At the moment there is also a prediction for a warm storm Christmas Eve. However, the weather forecasters completely missed the boat on the current storm. They called for only 1-3 inches as late as last Friday. Therefore you need to look and see what actually happens over the next week. Result is likely to be strongly positive (lots of snow) or strongly negative (rain up to some elevation). Check Squaw's upper and lower daily snow log http://squaw.com/winter/snowfall.html every day and you'll know. Normal ratio of lower to upper snow is 60%; this year so far it's 30%.

If you need to get out of your Reno reservation, there are many other interesting places you could go in California your first week, and you'll still have over a week of good skiing starting at New Year's.

If Scott Braaten reads this post, I would be interested in his explanation of how a storm this big developed in a way that no one say it coming until about 12 hours before it hit. I made some incorrect decisions of what gear to take to Mammoth this weekend. But it's always nice to be surprised on the upside.
 
Hey Gpaul

If I were you, I might consider starting/ending the Tahoe leg in South Tahoe.

This storm was warmed up too. I think snow is secure at the 7000-7500 ft level.

Kirkwood probably has the best conditions in Tahoe. And they even have a steep grooming report. Generally, the groom a few high blue/low black off the Cornice chair. I would look into it.

If not, look into Mt. Rose in the North Shore. Very high.
 
Storm totals: Mammoth 37, Kirkwood 33, Heavenly 18-24, Squaw 10-20, Mt. Rose 32-42. A small storm is expected tomorrow/Wednesday with snow levels 8,000+.

I would lean to cancelling the North Shore part of the trip. Mt. Rose is the only area up there that rates to be decent. But on the plus side Mammoth, Kirkwood, Heavenly have improved a lot.
 
Hola amigos! Incredible the way mother nature puts the crystal ball to shame!!!! I'm sticking to my original plan, possibly arriving earlier in Mammoth. One more week before day 1, who knows?

Thanks for all the advice, it's noted on various pieces of paper and pretty well :D memorized.

Cheers!
:D
 
Very warm storm again. North Tahoe should be really bad. No snow until 7500.

Squaw should be very bad. KT22, Red Dog will be unskiable. Around 8200 will be OK. But the verticals are poor (no long steep cruising here). It's like skiing in Ohio on Emigrant, Gold Coast, Shirley Lake (500 to 750 vertical - boring/short).

Sugar Bowl will be bad too.
 
ChrisC":2fr8y9ds said:
Very warm storm again. North Tahoe should be really bad. No snow until 7500.

Squaw should be very bad. ...

Sugar Bowl will be bad too.
Click to expand...

Yep! I'd cancel the Tahoe part completely and go to the high country, e.g., Mammoth and perhaps Kirkwood. A couple years ago my wife and I got caught in similar weather at Squaw. It became an expensive day of skiing in near-Zen fog on a 650' chair. There was new heavy snow. Even on phats, if you weren't jumping, you weren't turning! Miserable!

But again, such crummy conditions can turn around quickly. The next day at Alpine Meadows was OK. Two days later it was great. But that was during mid-season? Go to Mammoth!

Jeff
 
I think there is a clear consensus on advice now from several of us who know these areas. The Squaw link I put on page 1 of this thread shows a few inches new snow at 8,200 today but no new snow and "wet-packed" conditions at 6,200, so we all understand what that means.

Bug out of the Reno part of your trip now and go enjoy Big Sur, Monterey, SF, etc. before New Year's. Then do the 3 days at Heavenly/Kirkwood and the rest of the time at Mammoth as you have planned.
 
Thanks friends for this earnest advice, which I should by all means heed.

I'm going to wait it out until 12/26, maybe the weather gurus are wrong, again!!! :cry:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top