the major 3 up in north lake are
1. Squaw valley, nice open bowls great terrain decent park
but there's the squaw scoul
2. alpine meadows, nice open bowls great terrain decent park, pretty awesome overall mountain.
3. northstar, more creative park, wouldn't say it's better than squaw or alpine though, much flatter mountain, lacks harder terrain, and is a total tourist mountain, 30-60 minute lift lines during weekends peak season
south lake
1. heavenly, really good parks, remainder of mountain isn't that exciting
2. sierra at tahoe, really fun mountain about 30 minute drive away from south lake tahoe
3. kirkwood, honestly one of my favorite resorts, gets really good powder due to elevation, about 45 minutes from south lake tahoe when the roads are clear.
south lake has the casino's though, so there's really good nightlife, and a lot of tourism during the summer so jobs can be easier to come by.
mammoth and june are about a 2.5 hour drive south, june is pretty sick on the weekends because everyone is at mammoth so lift lines are short, midweek, go to mammoth. Mammoth Lakes is a pretty small town though and is really isolated. At least in tahoe, if you want to escape reno and carson city are close by, and san francisco is about a 2.5 to 3 hour drive.