Tahoe Area skiing- your favorites?

[Bene288]

By all means buy a pass if You're planning on skiing more than four days, most people like Kirkwood more, I'd agree. What kind of skiing do you like to do?

I like to do everything. If conditions permit I'll usually spend 70% of the day in the trees and the rest on the steeps . I've been told out of the two that Heavenly has better tree skiing. I don't know how true that is. This will be my first time skiing the West so I'm not sure what to expect.

 

[Savemeasammy]

My .02 on Heavenly is this: my college roommate (I went to college in Tahoe for a year and a half) had skied most of the Tahoe resorts. He wasn't into Heavenly - I think it was more of a vibe thing than a terrain issue - so we never went.

Kirkwood is legit. It offers Squaw and Alpine Meadows style challenge. Don't miss it.

 

[Edd]

I like to do everything. If conditions permit I'll usually spend 70% of the day in the trees and the rest on the steeps . I've been told out of the two that Heavenly has better tree skiing. I don't know how true that is. This will be my first time skiing the West so I'm not sure what to expect.

Only skied Heavenly and Kirkwood once each but there was a foot of fresh at Heavenly and the trees were magnificent.

Since you're talking about the South side areas, Sierra at Tahoe is loaded with trees, although smaller and less challenging than the others.

 

[snoseek]

I like to do everything. If conditions permit I'll usually spend 70% of the day in the trees and the rest on the steeps . I've been told out of the two that Heavenly has better tree skiing. I don't know how true that is. This will be my first time skiing the West so I'm not sure what to expect.

If you want a tour PM me before you come and I'll show you the side of Heavenly that most people don't realize is even there. Yes, the trees are good, very good

 

[snoseek]

Only skied Heavenly and Kirkwood once each but there was a foot of fresh at Heavenly and the trees were magnificent.

Since you're talking about the South side areas, Sierra at Tahoe is loaded with trees, although smaller and less challenging than the others.

I actually bought a Sierra at Tahoe pass this year to go along with my other pass, looking forward to checking it out

 

[C-Rex]

I like to do everything. If conditions permit I'll usually spend 70% of the day in the trees and the rest on the steeps . I've been told out of the two that Heavenly has better tree skiing. I don't know how true that is. This will be my first time skiing the West so I'm not sure what to expect.

Heavenly has more/better trees than Kirkwood but that's not saying anything negative about Kirkwood. The terrain there is amazing and they tend to get more snow than the places closer to the lake since they are the first in the area to get hit with the moisture coming off the pacific. At Heavenly, it's the space between the trails that makes it great. It's pretty much all skiable. I preferred the Nevada side. Much less crowded and seemed to have more space to explore. Motts canyon has some killer steeps. At Kirkwood, and especially if you have fresh snow, head over to the Sunrise quad and then take the 2 rope tows up to the top of the Wave. Ski that down across Fawns ridge and into the trees below it. Just stay on the skiers left of the fall line. It's an unbelieveable run.

 

[Edd]

I actually bought a Sierra at Tahoe pass this year to go along with my other pass, looking forward to checking it out

Caught a pow day there too but a good portion of the trees were still roped off. I was drooling looking past some of the ropes. I'll be curious to hear how you like it.

 

[dmc]

Kirkwood is by far my favorite place there... It's a crazy place with lots of inbound tree chutes and quick steeps... Great snow...
Alpine Meadows/Squawllywood comes in second.. It's vast and there's so many options...
Mt Rose is a great quick hit going to a form the airport in Reno..
Sugarbowl is a KILLER little joint... With great steeps easy to get to..


If you get hit with windholds - check northstar out...

And Diamond Peak sucks.. It's like a Poconos ski area to me.. I did 2 runs and went over the Mt Rose... So much bigger and better
Heavenly.. not my thing... Motts is nice.. I'd rather avoid it and drive the extra to Kirkwood if Im in South Lake Tahoe..

 

[Smellytele]

And Mt Rose sucks.. It's like a Poconos ski area to me.. I did 2 runs and went over the Mt Rose... So much bigger and better

confused by this

 

[dmc]

confused by this

Oh shti... I meant Diamond Peak.. my bad...

 

[dmc]

Mt Rose is cool... Haven't been since they opened up the slide face...

 

[frapcap]

If you want a tour PM me before you come and I'll show you the side of Heavenly that most people don't realize is even there. Yes, the trees are good, very good

Is this an open offer to anybody? We're all very good skiers, the other two guys a bit older than I am and thus, FAR more accomplished.

 

[frapcap]

Thanks for all of that! And thank you to everyone else who has posted up their findings and opinions. There is a definite consensus that Squaw and the surrounding areas are Grade A.

You need a longer vacation and someone to carry your skis > me

We're there for 5 days! The more the merrier- the condo gets cheaper that way, too!

Is the Tahoe Sierra pass a good value for us if we're sticking around for 5-6 days?
Thinking the Bronze pass might be of great value to us considering a typical lift ticket is close to $100/day.
http://www.squaw.com/the-mountain/l...=season+pass&gclid=CNu2vuPf1boCFad_QgodPWwAbA
For $519 it will allow us to go to Squaw, Alpine Meadows, and Sierra at Tahoe during our trip.

 

[dmc]

You're going to be kicking yourself for missing Kirkwood.. Seriously...

 

[snoseek]

Is this an open offer to anybody? We're all very good skiers, the other two guys a bit older than I am and thus, FAR more accomplished.

No sweat on the ability thing anyhow really. Anyhow I'm mostly down in South Lake although my Sierra pass is open to Squaw on Jan 12-17 so I'll be up there some that week. PM a couple weeks before you leave and I'll know better about my schedule as I may...gasp....work a job of some sort.

 

[crank]

I actually bought a Sierra at Tahoe pass this year to go along with my other pass, looking forward to checking it out

I worked a season there a long time ago. It was Sierra Ski Ranch back then. Really good trees and some decent bump runs. Drew a lot of locals and folks from Sacramento and fewer tourists.

My favorite is Squaw. Then Sierra ( fond memories), then Alpine Meadows, Heavenly, Mt Rose. I only skied Kirkwood a few times and just wasn't feeling the love everyone else does.

 

[snoseek]

Oh, I love everything about Kirkwood, from the steep stuff off ten, to the better drier snow, less people ect...All the good stuff is so obvious and in your face.

 

[frapcap]

You're going to be kicking yourself for missing Kirkwood.. Seriously...

My mistake for not being clear, I'm sure we'll make our way there during the trip, too. Hopefully Rose as well. A 2 hour drive, even though we'll all be on vacation, isn't going to keep us away. Hell, I drive ~4 hours to get to Sugarbush most weekends in the winter!

 

[frapcap]

No sweat on the ability thing anyhow really. Anyhow I'm mostly down in South Lake although my Sierra pass is open to Squaw on Jan 12-17 so I'll be up there some that week. PM a couple weeks before you leave and I'll know better about my schedule as I may...gasp....work a job of some sort.

Outstanding! We'll all be getting on a 3 way call this weekend to hash the specific date range out, but I'm having the gut feeling that the week of Jan 12 is when we'll be there. Not set in stone, but would be awesome if we could all have schedules that mesh and meet up!

 

[dmc]

My mistake for not being clear, I'm sure we'll make our way there during the trip, too. Hopefully Rose as well. A 2 hour drive, even though we'll all be on vacation, isn't going to keep us away. Hell, I drive ~4 hours to get to Sugarbush most weekends in the winter!

Go early in the week...
then you can go again if you dig it...