Lake Tahoe Reno and Mammoth info please

[SLoMo]

I live at 7400 foot above/between Stagecoach & Boulder lift lines.

Skinned up to about 8600 yesterday and switched to rain, turned back.

Snowing heavily here today. Storm regrouped, storm warning extended to Sunday afternoon and 3-6 feet above 7000 feet.
However after the 24 hours of rain it's a mess here. Lots of flooding and roof collapses. My next door neighbors siding and deck got crushed this afternoon in a wet slide avalanche. Think I'll be sticking to resorts for a bit!!

 

[Hawk]

My week was epic. More thigh to waist deep skiing in one trip than ever before. Aside from that one day of change over the rest was deep and light. I think we hit it just right.

 

[NHDad]

Skied Northstar, Heavenly and Squaw this last Wed-Friday. Conditions were great, had everything from snow to a bluebird day at Squaw. Would skip Northstar in the future but my buddy wanted to start off with a lesser challenge. Will definitely be back.

 

[lerops]

It looks like more is on the way!


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[bushpilot]

I was planning on heading to Lake Tahoe the 2nd week of March. Staying in Reno and was planning on picking up a 4 day pass for Squaw Valley. Now with Squaw being on the Ikon for spring this year in April spending 400 bucks for a 4 day pass seems silly when I can just put that 400 towards the ikon for next year. Where should I go instead?

 

[jaytrem]

I was planning on heading to Lake Tahoe the 2nd week of March. Staying in Reno and was planning on picking up a 4 day pass for Squaw Valley. Now with Squaw being on the Ikon for spring this year in April spending 400 bucks for a 4 day pass seems silly when I can just put that 400 towards the ikon for next year. Where should I go instead?

Probably not what most people are looking for in a western trip, but I'd buy the Ikon early and use it for Big Bear Lake and hit a couple other SoCal places. The good years aren't that common, but this would be one of them. The off trail stuff between the peaks at Bear Mountain is really nice, scored a nice powder day there once. Worst snow driving people on the planet though.

 

[snoseek]

I was planning on heading to Lake Tahoe the 2nd week of March. Staying in Reno and was planning on picking up a 4 day pass for Squaw Valley. Now with Squaw being on the Ikon for spring this year in April spending 400 bucks for a 4 day pass seems silly when I can just put that 400 towards the ikon for next year. Where should I go instead?

Honestly its such a big year out there all the little guys are probably skiing great. You could find deals for homewood, diamond peak, rose and sierra and avoid all the crowds. Not every year you can ski a place like homewood wall to wall. I would take advantage of that personally.

 

[Hawk]

I was planning on heading to Lake Tahoe the 2nd week of March. Staying in Reno and was planning on picking up a 4 day pass for Squaw Valley. Now with Squaw being on the Ikon for spring this year in April spending 400 bucks for a 4 day pass seems silly when I can just put that 400 towards the ikon for next year. Where should I go instead?

Just came back from an epic 7 days the week before vacation week. Snosneek is right. We skied Homewood on a 2+ foot day. Because I-80 I was closed, the place was empty. We skied untracked all day, woods and trails. Everything is now buried under10 feet of snow there right now. It is a nice little mountain. Staying in Reno can be problematic. On a good day it is 45 minutes to Squaw. When we were there it snowed a ton and I-80 was closed for 3 days. We would have been shut out if we stayed there. Also the entrance to Squaw and Alpine backed up at 8:30 for about 3 miles causing a 1 hour wait to just get through the light. Leave Reno Very early. I would look at Tahoe City or Truckee instead.

 

[rtjcbrown]

I was planning on heading to Lake Tahoe the 2nd week of March. Staying in Reno and was planning on picking up a 4 day pass for Squaw Valley. Now with Squaw being on the Ikon for spring this year in April spending 400 bucks for a 4 day pass seems silly when I can just put that 400 towards the ikon for next year. Where should I go instead?

Some good advice above, that I totally agree with. I wouldn't fly across the country to ski Big Bear. IMHO, the southern Cal resorts are good, but certainly not worth flying across the country for, and having to deal with the LA area bullshit. As mentioned, some of the lesser named Tahoe resorts are fantastic in their own right. Homewood, Rose, Donner Ski Ranch, Diamond Peak etc... All have great ticket deals, and lesser crowds. I know it's not my money, but this is the year to make sure you get to ski Tahoe, even if it costs a few more dollars. I also recommend staying at the Lake, and not Reno. The roads into Tahoe are closing constantly this year. The last thing you want is to be looking out your window at the Silver Legacy in Reno, at all the snow piling up on Mt Rose, and not being able to get there! Plenty of cheap places to stay at Lake level or Truckee.

 

[Hawk]

I was planning on heading to Lake Tahoe the 2nd week of March. Staying in Reno and was planning on picking up a 4 day pass for Squaw Valley. Now with Squaw being on the Ikon for spring this year in April spending 400 bucks for a 4 day pass seems silly when I can just put that 400 towards the ikon for next year. Where should I go instead?

I assume that by your user name you are a Bush Pilot at Sugarbush and have a full pass. If so Sugarbush is a sister Mountain Collective resort. You are entitled to 50% off any day ticket. The catch is that you buy day specific passes. So if you buy 4 days, they give you four separate RFID cards specifically dated. Since the mountain closed a couple of days when we were there, we did not risk it and bought our passes each day we skied. Still at 50% of $165, it was the best deal.

 

[bushpilot]

I assume that by your user name you are a Bush Pilot at Sugarbush and have a full pass. If so Sugarbush is a sister Mountain Collective resort. You are entitled to 50% off any day ticket. The catch is that you buy day specific passes. So if you buy 4 days, they give you four separate RFID cards specifically dated. Since the mountain closed a couple of days when we were there, we did not risk it and bought our passes each day we skied. Still at 50% of $165, it was the best deal.

Used to live in central Vermont and skied sugarbush. Moved out to southern Oregon a year an a half ago. I’m about a 5.5 hour drive from Tahoe. Sugarbowl has some decently priced tickets and Mt Rose is definitely an option. Will plan at least a trip or two to squaw once the ikon pass becomes active in April.

 

[Bandit2941]

Figured I’d reply again because as it turns out we’ll be going to Reno and Mammoth for spring break after seeing how much snow they’ve been getting.

JFK has direct service to Reno on JetBlue. We’re flying out Sunday evening Apr 14th. Will stay Sunday and Monday in Reno at Harrahs, ski mt rose Monday then head to Mammoth on Tuesday. Will decide whether to ski or just drive Tuesday when we’re out there. The ride from a Reno to Mammoth is only about 3 hours, not the 4.5 I mentioned earlier....it’s shorter than I remember!

The flight was $371 the other day, now it was $412 when I booked this morning. Using chase sapphire points so it’ll be free. That price includes one checked bag. What my wife and I do is take one large suitcase with both of our clothes, and a ski bag that fits 2 pairs, so we each have one checked bag. The transpacks with boots are the carry on. Boots come out on the plane and are our “personal items” because the transpack with boots in it won’t fit in the compartment but fits fine with no boots.

Will stay in Mammoth probably at an Airbnb from tues-Friday nights, then head back to Reno Saturday evening for the flight back. Looks like there is and will be lots of options for places to stay.

I thought I’d update my above post.

Have Sunday and Monday booked at Harrah’s Reno on a comp, our friends have a room as well, no comp but it was like $70 Sunday and $39 Monday. We booked a 2 bedroom plus loft condo for all of us for Tues-Sat near Mammoth Village, walking distance from the gondola. $980 for 4 nights with all fees.

Lift tickets are $371 for 4 days on Mammoth’s website, but it looks like it makes senses to opt for the Ikon Base pass. Then instead of skiing our first day at Mt. Rose we’ll go to Squaw since it’ll be on the pass. Figured if we spent $471 on tickets for this trip it makes sense to get the Ikon for less than $200 more. We’ll use it at Killington at a minimum and hopefully another western trip next season.