Give me the low down on tahoe

rach

rach

Member
my fam just bought a condo at heavenly.i've skied alpine meadows, and liked it better than squaw. I haven't done the rest of tahoe, especially the south end. tell me what you like, what you don't, and why. what and where should i ski?
 
Probably the wrong place to buy a cabin if you want a more core group of skiers, steeper terrain, and better parks. The best parks are on the North end (Squaw, Alpine, Northstar, and Boreal). However, Sierra has a real good park and it's in South Lake, and if you know where to go, there are some super dope trees at Sierra too. Heavenly is all about gambling, luxury, and lake view- it is a tourist trap. Kirkwood has some gnarly terrain and gets shat on when storms roll through, so it is definitely an ideal place to be on a pow day in South Lake, but I think it's kind of out of the way compared to most Tahoe resorts. I would just be ready to make lots of drives up to the North end, because overall, the skiing is far better in North Lake than South Lake.
 
I would have to say that that is not really true. Northstar has a decent park but that is the tourist trap of tahoe. The only reason to got to boreal is that no one else is open. Squaw and Alpine are likely the best resorts near the lake but in South Lake Kirkwood, Heavenly, and Sierra all have exceptional skiing. heavenly has some of the best steep stuff but its hidden, but thats a good thing. Kirkwood has the best all mountain skiing but there park isnt as good as the rest. Sierra is ok, i personally dont care for it unless its a pow day. There are tons of good trees and they have the best park on South Shore but its also a drive to get there.

But if your new place is near heavenly just go there for the majority and learn the place cause there is tons of stuff to be found.
 
Northstar is terrible. I hate Northstar so much. I'm not crazy about the park, but there is no doubt it is better than any South shore park. So far, my favorite Tahoe park is Squaw. Heavenly does have some steeps, but you cannot compare them to Squaw, however, Kirkwood could easily challenge Squaw when it comes to powder says and steep terrain. I've never been to Sierra, but I've heard the park is cool and there are some dope pillow lines.
 
you always hate on South Tahoe for some reason??How many times have you been to tahoe?? it seems to us that you just go by what other people say rather than experiencing it yourself!!
 
Thinking the same thing.

Anyways. South Lake is Legit. Super fun at all the resorts. All 3 are fun towards the different aspects of skiing. All three are killer on pow days, but Kirkwood usually gets a bit more the Sierra and Heavenly. Heavenly is a good tourist spot, but it is large enough that it isn't to hard to avoid depending on what you want to ski. Sierra is super fun. One of the best parks in south lake. You will find a lot more park skiers and borders here then at the other two.

if you have any other questions just pm me
 
I've been to South lake twice. I'm not hating on South Lake, I'm just saying that North Lake is better, which it is, there is no doubt about that. I have no reason to hate on South Lake, I ski at fucking Sierra Summit in central CA. I would die to ski a pow day at Kirkwood, you have no clue. I'm almost positive North Lake has better parks, although, I've never been to Sierra. Skiing anywhere in Tahoe is so nice for me.
 
Sierra is one of the funnest places in tahoe, most people there are pretty cool and not uptight(unlike squaw), the park is top notch too. Northstars park is super good probably one of the best if not the best in tahoe, but the people can be kind of uptight. Boreal is just fun everyone is nice and no one is uptight, but it may be far from where your condo is. If i was you i would get the double whammy and go to both sierra and northstar because sometimes it's nice to mix it up. Those are the resorts that i mainly ride at so i can't speak for alpine and others.
 
Definitely. I'm blanking (it's like the vertical plus or something) on what it's called, but the special pass that lets you get ahead of the line. I hear that's like $100 extra, and I would totally do that because, the thing that ruins Northstar for me is the crowds. It gets fucking packed, especially at the Vista chair.
 
yeah, vertical plus is awesome, so is the whammy. i drive from sac every weekend and chose between north and south lake. sierra is my favorite resort, it has everything.
 
Yes, I live in Fresno. I just said I skied Sierra Summit. Have you not paid attention at all? Just because I live in Fresno and have taken ski trips to Tahoe, doesn't mean I can't have my own view on Tahoe.
 
South Lake can be alot of fun, although I do find myself driving over and shredding all the truckee resorts alot. Heavenly should be opening pretty soon, and hopefully they actually put some effort into the park again this year. Sierra is awesome to shred tree lines as well as just lap through the parks on a nice day, overall I really love living in South Lake.
 
Okay, anyone can feel free to disregard what I have said about Tahoe if they want, I'm just basing my opinion off my experiences.
 
If you're a park rat and like waiting in long lines filled with gapers, go to Northstar.

If you like waiting in long lines filled with assholes, go to squaw.

If you like waiting in long lines filled with drunks and gamblers, go to heavenly.

If you don't like waiting in lines, but want to be a drunk gambler in the evening, ride Heavenly's mott and Killbrew canyons. Fun stuff.

If you don't like waiting in line, but want to see some hilarious gaper fails, go to Homewood. Homewood is sick on a day with shallow powder--less than 1'6"-- in the trees, but when it gets deeper, it gets really slow.

If you like really fun small tree jibbery on pow days, go to Sugarbowl or Alpine Meadows.

If you like dicks, you'll find plenty to suck in San Francisco.

If you like some pretty fun chutes, check out Mt. Rose.

If you like gapers like you like your own right hand, go to Diamond Peaks.

If you like good mexican food, there's this tiny hole in the wall right next to 7-11 and the Backcountry in Truckee.

If you like other good mexican food, check out the Blue Agave in Tahoe City.

If you like sushi, be wary of some of the more dubious restaurants-- I know plenty of foodsick people after sushi. That's not to say it's all bad, generally you can trust Squaw's sushi place in the villiage. Not sure about others.

If you don't like waiting and lines and want to shred some of the funnest terrain in the area, go to Alpine Meadows. You won't find much really really really cool stuff at first, but when you start exploring, it'll blow your mind

I don't know much about Sierra or Kirkwood, other than that Kirkwood gets more snow than anyone else, and that it has some rather steep terrain. Sierra's supposed to have a really cool park and some fun pow day jibbage.

BOREAL = park heaven. Nothing but park, pretty much everywhere you look, there's a jib, bonk, jump, rail, etc. It's really small, but the pipe's great, and it's got some really cool night skiing. They put in a speaker system so they can pump the tunes now, but I haven't been there yet this year, so I can't testify to how it'll sound.
 
Brutally honest is more like it I think. Most of that is the truth.

All I can add is don't drive anywhere the day after a holiday, or the Sunday after a big weekend if you can avoid it. People who don't live here, don't know how to drive here. TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE!!!
 
Thank you. And you're totally right about the traffic thing- go up on Saturday morning, not Friday night. If you're going from the east bay, leave at 5:30 or even 6:00 and you'll get there before any traffic, and you'll get a good spot in the parking lot (for north lake resorts).

Friday nights are HORRIBLE for going up to the hills, unless you leave really early (around 2 pm) or really late, and don't Sac until after rush hour. Generally, when Sac has rush hour, so does the rest of the road from Sac to Truckee.

Sunday nights are also bad. Finish your day early and leave at 3:00, or stay till the end, hang out in Porters or someplace else, and then leave around 6:30 or 7:00. You'll get back the same time as you would if you left at 4:00 or 4:30.

The ONLY exception you should make to that is when its dumping. If its dumping, you have two options. Go REALLY early (1:00ish on the way back to the valley) or REALLY late. If you go REALLY early, expect traffic, if you go REALLY late, accept the possibility that you'll have a 3day weekend. Not usually all that bad when its dumping.

However, these are not definite times that are always accurate, they're just general observations I've made in the past 4 years.

Also, watch out for u-haul trucks on the road in the foothills, especially if it's snowing. Most people don't know how to drive them properly.
 
^you give a pretty good amount of accurate information, but you sound so much like a self righteous know-it-all that it's almost impossible not to dislike you on principle. just tone it down a little.
 
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