I hear you, overall the North side is better skiing. From here Kirkwood is a very reasonable drive though and South Lake is a very very user friendly party town with lots of other stuff going on. Basically you don't need to drive at all (there's a bus to the wood) and that has to count towards something.
Oh and DMC if you're ever in town make sure to look me up and I'll show you what I know about heavenly. If the snow is decent there's is alot of awesome stuff that is overlooked by everyone but a few. I'm still learning but I've learned enough that I can find long shots of steep trees long after kirkwood is tracked.
