Lake Tahoe - Last week

Manchester to Reno. Nice and sunny arrival on Feb. 12th. Little late to start skiing the first day. Warm near 60 in Reno, a little cooler lakeside in North Shore (Tahoe Vista).

Sunday 13th: Alpine Meadows: Bluebird skies, groomed trails, all lifts seemed to be running. Skiing was very good on everything groomed with Spring-like conditions. Corduroy, cruisers and corn. Off groomers was a bit chattery and bullet proof. All in all a good first day out and a little on the warm side.

Monday 14th: Day off as the wind was kicking up strong. Lake outside condo/cottage sounded like the ocean with the waves crashing against the shore.

Tuesday 15th: Homewood: Again high winds at peaks but figured this was a good place to be sheltered. Brother had never skied there before (or myself), so figured it would be a cost effective place to go just in case the skiing wasn't good higher up. VERY cool ski area that certainly gets shadowed by it's bigger neighbors. Again groomers were great and the views are second to none. Friend got in from Raleigh, NC late at night and had a fun drive across 80 and down by Northstar to get to us lakeside as the start of a multiple-day storm was rolling in.

Wednesday 16th: Northstar(-at-Tahoe): Woke up to a drift at the door about three feet high. What a difference a day makes... Buddy didn't bring his skis so we went to Tahoe Dave's and got some K2 AMP Rictors, though they tried to talk him into something wider. Great deals with boots of $113 for three days and the option of re-waxing each day or switching out skis. Headed up to Northstar and was a chain stop drive. Pathfinder rental wasn't a problem. Got annoyed finding free parking pretty far and hidden from village area so paid for $15 parking which was a couple hundred yards from the "village". The village area was busy with shovelling, snowblowing and Bobcats clearing snow. Prime concern seemed to be the rink? Got tickets, found there was only a small area with pay lockers and a couple benches. Not day-skier friendly as the "base" lodge was a short gondola ride upward. On to the skiing, a little bit heavy powder but by no means "Sierra cement". Groomed overnight trails were filling with snow and being chopped up badly. In the woods and the occasional "not groomed at all" trails were a better bet, but with knee deep in places you had to stay to steeper trails to keep momentum. Good day of skiing and found way back to village area. Good pizza and decently (surprisingly) priced beer at Rubicon Pizza. Blinding snow on the way back to accomodations.

Thursday 17th: Homewood: Back to the deal as Squaw, Alpine and others had problems at the peaks with wind affecting lifts and potential avalanche danger. Even Mt. Rose was closed for a couple days during the week with their higher elevation. Homewood was busier than Tuesday and a totally different animal with all the new, fresh snow. Amazing fresh, light, DEEP powder all over the mountain. Even most major trails were deep. Woods were amazing. between named trails and Hobbit Land in particular were amazing. Buddy took a fall in the woods after having one ski go over a buried log and the other going under. After finding his released ski three feet under him and righting himslef we finished an excellent run. My mid fats (82mm) didn't do as well as his similar dimensioned skis with some rocker. face shots weren't uncommon and steeps were needed.

Friday 18th: Squaw for NC buddy. I took the day off as three straight days of hard skiing hjad me tight and sore. Buddy was relegated to everything below high camp as winds were still bad on top of avalanche danger up high... He also said it was a little wetter snow that day as by the lake it actually let up a little down at lake level.

Saturday 21st: Heading home, took the Mt. Rose Pass towards Reno. Very slow and very few other vehicles on the snaking, snowy road away from the mountains. Even Reno had a couple inches on the ground, so was a really fun drive.

Saw something from one of the area sites saying 78" storm total for the base and 121" at the top. Crazy they had a big snow drought and then get a huge, multiple day storm like that.

Annoying part of the trip was all three ski areas (and guessing others) don't have much room set up for cubbies or even hooks to store stuff. Juts a few overpriced lockers.

Will try to post some pictures at some point...

Good TR Rushski. Inconsistent weather systems = precip ups and downs...even out there.

As people always say, Tahoe is certainly hit or miss...

I've hit it...and missed it...I don't go there anymore as its just difficult and expensive...I do like Squaw though...most insane place I've ever been...

I have never skied Tahoe.....I definitely want to, especially Squaw.

IMHO, Utah (esp. The upper cottonwoods, in particular lcc)is the best and easiest place to go if you have limited days out west as I believe you have the best chances for fresh snow.

All pics from Homewood. One sunny, warm day shot, the other deep bliss.

Rushski said:

Annoying part of the trip was all three ski areas (and guessing others) don't have much room set up for cubbies or even hooks to store stuff. Juts a few overpriced lockers.

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We experienced that in CO last year. Difficult to find a place to boot up and store anything at many areas. At Breck there was a small place at the base of Peak 8, though that building is no longer in use this year. Though we were riding shuttles in boots I didn't see a convenient place boot up in Vail. We managed to find a small spot in Beaver Creek. Keystone still has traditional old lodge, though I wonder for how much longer. The traditional day lodge is vanishing at the destination resorts in the West. We've theorized that it's just not an economical use of high-priced real estate. But the parking and lack of lodges at many places makes day tripping pretty inconvenient.

Very nice. A year ago my wife and I met up with her sister and brother for a week at Squaw and Homewood. Homewood is very underrated and delivered some fun and cheap skiing. My ticket on a Sunday was $25 because I had a pass to Sugarbush (bring another pass promo). The HSQ is nice and the backside had some good terrain. We did not make it over to their slackcountry above and to looker's left of the Madden Triple, but it looked fun. The trees were fun. Liked the vibe a lot.

Squaw is amazing but when everything is closed above High Camp that sucks. Then again ski Red Dog....some gnarly terrain there. I spent a powder day there and was wiped after lapping it. Some steep technical stuff and a nice slow lift to allow you to recover. Oh yeah and lost my ski in the drifted pow as well at Squaw!

I'm heading our there next Thursday, staying in Tahoe City. Current plan is to on mountain Friday-Monday, with a possible day off Sunday. My plan is to do Squaw, Alpine Meadows, and Homewood though one of our guys is pushing for more time at Squaw and dropping either AM or Homewood. Any advice you can give would be extremely helpful.

soulseller said:

I'm heading our there next Thursday, staying in Tahoe City. Current plan is to on mountain Friday-Monday, with a possible day off Sunday. My plan is to do Squaw, Alpine Meadows, and Homewood though one of our guys is pushing for more time at Squaw and dropping either AM or Homewood. Any advice you can give would be extremely helpful.

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I haven't skied Homewood (I would like to) but I've skied the others. If it were me I would spread it around and ski all 3 unless one of them gets snow the others don't. They are all pretty close to each other and Tahoe City is a cool place to chill out. Have fun!

soulseller said:

I'm heading our there next Thursday, staying in Tahoe City. Current plan is to on mountain Friday-Monday, with a possible day off Sunday. My plan is to do Squaw, Alpine Meadows, and Homewood though one of our guys is pushing for more time at Squaw and dropping either AM or Homewood. Any advice you can give would be extremely helpful.

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What do you want to ski?

I also agree with watching the weather. If it is windy at Squaw you can lose Granite Chief, Siberia, Emigrant, Headwall, and KT-22. If it is really bad you can lose Shirley Lake. That leaves the blah run from Gold Coast to the base and Snow King. And last season Silverado was closed midweek. We were there the same week you are going to be and we noticed that lifts were closed for "wind hold" when it seemed that coincidentally there were few people around. At any rate, new management and new ownership this season. Maybe things are different this season.

Alpine Meadows: I can't comment because I did not ski it. I do know that the local's take on it was that it was very easy to ski. Interestingly enough the guy who owns Alpine Meadows just bought Homewood a few years back and wants to connect the two. Maybe they run joint deals...I think they do...might be worth looking into.

You can also find the rich guy who built his own ski lift up the backside of KT-22 and ski at his private place. I am completely serious. We saw that someone was building a lift up the backside of KT-22 and it was not Squaw. I was told that it was a private rich guy who wanted his own private area. Go figure....

And somewhere I posted some Squaw/Homewood pics on here...

Here is the link with the pics from HW and Squaw!

http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?t=11289&page=2&highlight=Homewood

thetrailboss said:

Alpine Meadows: I can't comment because I did not ski it. I do know that the local's take on it was that it was very easy to ski.

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Does that mean they think it lacks challenge? If so, I'd have to disagree but that is certainly subjective.

Edd said:

Does that mean they think it lacks challenge? If so, I'd have to disagree but that is certainly subjective.

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From what I heard it does not have the same calibur terrain as Squaw and was known as a softer resort with cruisers, etc. Again, I have not skied AM.

thetrailboss said:

From what I heard it does not have the same calibur terrain as Squaw and was known as a softer resort with cruisers, etc. Again, I have not skied AM.

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I agree with the comparison but that mountain is a blast and the challenge is certainly there.

Don't overlook Mt Rose and Sugarbowl. A little further from Tahoe City but both are solid in their own right...

Though watch the winds as Rose, Squaw and some others are highly affected by gusts.

last Wed-Fri were sick off the charts deep snow, some of the deepest we have ever skied, it was a great change after 5 weeks of dry. More is to come tomorrow and Friday to a tune of 2 to 4 FEET.

I've found that a lot of area have zip for day trippers. Steamboat was the worst, with no eastern-type "lodge", this tiny little place that held about 10 people and felt like a bathroom. No storage. Dining was only in restaurants. The presumption seemed to be that you stayed on site and walked to the lifts.

I'd trust Tahoe Daves with my best skis; I never bring skis and they always have fitted me up with the right ski for the day's conditions. All the TD guys I met ski every day.

AM can ski as good as Squaw, but Squaw has more acreage. I have skied them both and would marry either one!

Northstar always gets dissed, (much like Kmart). I've always avoided it, because I've never met a soul that likes it. Having never been there, I'm a declared ignorant, so discard my opinion on this one.

Edd said:

I agree with the comparison but that mountain is a blast and the challenge is certainly there.

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It looks like the backside of AM is interesting. I could not get over how close it is to Squaw. You look over the backside of KT-22 and there is AM.

No day lodge: that was something that was weird about Squaw and Homewood in my experience. Although we used the base area on the eastern side of Homewood.