Tahoe Resort Review

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skiadikt

New member
chris,
we're heading out your way for a week during the president's thing. what's your recomendation on where to ski the sunday & monday of the holiday week. thinking of holding off on squaw until the tuesday. staying in tahoe vista. are homewood & northstar worth skiing? and how's the the drive to k-wood? thanks.
 
I will be up there for 4 days over President's weekend, driving up 395 and staying at Carson Valley Inn in Minden to save $ and avoid crowds.

I plan to ski Mt. Rose Friday, Heavenly from Nevada base Saturday, Kirkwood Sunday, Mammoth on the way home Monday.

I have detailed resort guides for 4 major Tahoe areas at http://bestsnow.net/insdtrak.htm .

If you're an expert skier, the major crowd issue at Squaw is traffic: get there very early. If there are intermediates in the group, avoid Squaw when it's busy.

Alpine's much busier now with the cheap tix, might want to avoid that on the weekend. Also shares Squaw's Hwy 89 traffic.

Marc would give Sugar Bowl a plug if you're on North Shore for a week. I would be inclined to agree, but you'll go through Squaw/Alpine (Hwy 89) or Northstar (Hwy 267, probably better) traffic to get there from Tahoe Vista.

Kirkwood is over an hour one way, but you should still do it once.

Homewood and Northstar are both sheltered intermediate mountains. Defintely go to one of them if you have a storm day. My Northstar report from Jan. 8-9 should be useful.

Diamond Peak and Mt. Rose are convenient to you. This will be my first time at Rose, but the buzz on the Chutes is pretty good. My guess is that Rose is now in the ballpark with Sugar Bowl for expert interest.

If you're up for a gourmet meal in Tahoe Vista, Le Petit Pier is excellent.
 
Just to add more to Tony's posts...

I have had a share in a cabin on the the North Shore with passes at Northstar/Sierra ($189 for students) and Alpine. And I have also done pricing/strategy work for Alpine for grad school.

Crowding in Tahoe:
The resorts that have become more crowded in recent years are:
1. those promoting/expanding intermediate terrain-- Sugar, Northstar and Heavenly. Meanwhile Squaw - despite 3 HS 6-packs, 1 Hs Quad, a new funitel, Silverado expansion, a new village - has lost skiers from a peak.
2. those participating in pricing wars -- especially season pass wars. Northstar/Sierra passes and Heavenly passes can be had for around $300 (with some blackout dates). Other resorts try other promotions -- like cheap day passes. Squaw does not really discount.

Squaw
Frankly, I will often ski here on the weekends over other resorts. It has reputation for being congested, but I find Northstar and Alpine to be worse. Why?
1.The following expert lifts rarely/never see lines: Olympic Lady, Cornice, Red Dog, Broken Arrow, Silverdao. Also, Headwall, KT and Granite Chief are generally around 5 min for most of the day.
2. Parking is good too - you can park near the Far East Express and never be more than 2-5 mins walk before 930. Even around the village is OK.
Eateries can be congested, generally table-finding is the issue.
The worst part is traffic -- especially at the end of the day -- going north or south on 89. Always take the Funitel or Squaw Express ws. the Cable Car. Beginners can create a 45min wait while the Funitel is never more than 10min.

Alpine
I think this is more congested on weekends. You can have a longer walk/and or shuttle ride than Sqauw due to parking lot layout. The experts also have to share their litts with intermediates here -- making key lifts like Summit Six and Sherwood busy (15 min). Scott seems to do OK and the Alpine Bowl. Eateries are very busy. However, the lift tickets are up to $49 during holiday periods so maybe some locales drop out.

Sugar Bowl
This is a good anytime mountain - never too crowded, laid-back, good lifts. The best skiing is Lincoln and Disney. Really nice chutes, trees, drainages, cliffs, open faces. I like it and would highly recommend it.

Northstar
Cheap passes and lots of intermediate terrain = problems on holidays. Although on storm days, crowds evaporate.
Chief issues
1. Parking. On a hill which can mean long, long walks. On President's, I have been forced to park at the Truckee airport (15-20 min away) and then bused.
2. Lift lines. Generally the longest in Tahoe on key lifts.
3. Density on trails.
A few positives:
1. Lookout Mountain. Most overlook. Legitimately steep. Moguls.
2. Trees. Good during storms. Perfectly spaced.

Mount Rose
Personally, I think it under achieves. Why?
1. Front side/original side -- every run follows the same exact path. Nothing different really besides steepness. A numbing sameness.
2. Slide Mountain side. Snow can be weak because it's in a snow shadow.
The new Chutes might give some spice, but I am not sure. Many seem to follow the same path. Again, sameness issue.

Homewood
Good stormy day place, but I think it underachieves too. The trees on the north side are too tight to ski - leaving only trails. The best are the south facing runs which are pretty open. But I would pick Northstar on a storm day over Homewood -- greater variety and faster lifts.

Kirkwood
I would allow almost 1.5 hrs from North Tahoe.
Great hill. Great snow. It has everything you could want. My issue with the place - lift system. The mountain is generally has slow lifts. Personally, I recommend sticking to the Cornice and Wall chairs -- do not spend as much time on the backside.
 
I was at Tahoe for 4 days or more nearly every season in the 1980's. Now it's more like every 3 seasons, so Chris' observations are likely more up-to-date and make sense.

I definitely agree that Squaw is not a problem if you can stick to the expert lifts Chris mentions. It might be worth a couple of the big weekend days with the deep base it has now.

I have not been to Homewood but Chris' comments are consistent with what I hear.

I will have my own opinion of Mt. Rose after Feb. 18.

Kirkwood is the Alta of the Sierra: snow, terrain and tedious lift system. I agree that's its backside is overrated. I will be there Feb. 20.
 
thanks guys. chris you talked me out of doing alpine on the holiday. think we'll hit squaw on pres day as we plan to mostly ride the expert lifts and maybe the weekenders will get out of dodge early that day.

sugar sounds great but we're staying in tahoe vista and it seems like the drive on the holiday weekend might be a bit much.

looking at rose's trail map, you're right. there's a sameness to everything. the chutes if open, may add a bit of spice. for the sunday, our day 1, we're looking for something a bit mellow and low impact since we're arriving after midnight and will be on eastern time. homewood or rose? least crowded probably most important since we just want to get our ski legs and make a few turns.

i'm thinking wed or thurs for k-wood. whichever day has better weather.

though closest, northstar seems to be on the bottom of our list. don't know if we'll have time to hit heavenly which i guess is an hour or so from where we're staying.
 
Don't miss a chance at Sugar Bowl. I adore that place. The traffic will be heading in the opposite direction, anyway.
 
I would avoid Sugar Bowl on Monday, the day the weekenders are headed home. Any other day should be OK. It's empty midweek.

If you can get in there early try Squaw on Sunday. Then if you are tired leave early and beat the traffic.

In terms of total lack of crowds my guess is Homewood is best, though you will have traffic from Tahoe Vista to Tahoe City.
 
RE: Sunday.

If you are deciding between Mt. Rose vs. Homewood, I would go with Mt. Rose.

Homewood is probably less crowded and the views of Tahoe are great, but... The Quad Chair runs are not that great - simply a ridge which all of the following the same path. The Ellis chair has the best skiing, but it's old and slow. Quail Face (the steep stuff) requires a long hike in and out for a shorter (though steep) pitch.

Mt. Rose now has two High-Speed Six chairs, longer runs and The Chutes are probably much better than the Quail Face.



RE: Sugar Bowl

I would really make the effort to get there. It's a good place.

You can just go up 267 (good road) - go by Northstar - get on I-80 in Truckee. Maybe about 40 minutes. I think it would take you almost the same amount of time to get to Squaw (30 minutes). Driving around the Lake can be slow.
 
this original thread should be renamed to "Tahoe resort review" or
something along those lines. some good info in here, and it'd be helpful
to know that this info is in here for other users interested in the Tahoe
resorts and not just Alpine Meadows. i don't know. just a suggestion.
 
hamdog":akooqt2d said:
this original thread should be renamed to "Tahoe resort review" or
something along those lines. some good info in here, and it'd be helpful
to know that this info is in here for other users interested in the Tahoe
resorts and not just Alpine Meadows. i don't know. just a suggestion.
Click to expand...

And a good one. Done.
 
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