Lake tahoe?

M

massm

New member
im headed to the lake tahoe area for springbreak 3/2-3/8, whats a good place to ski? what kind on runs am i gonna run into?

ive never been to the area before so i really have no idea what to expect. i was gonna go to j-hole but my friend ended up having to get shoulder surgery so tahoe it is.

 
If you like big mountain stuff, definitely check out Squaw, Alpine, and Kirkwood.. for the steepest, most technical, crazy amazing terrain ever.

The places with the best park situation so far are going to be Squaw, Boreal, Northstar, Heavenly, and Alpine Meadows.

Some of the other resorts in the area are pretty nice as well. Sugar Bowl has some fine terrain, as well as a fairly conditioned park, and Mt. Rose has been stepping it up as well.
 
Take back what you said about Alpine...they are trying to get rid of the park, so don't go there by any means. Don't ride alpine until the parks are back to full force so that they realize they aren't going to get people to come.
 
I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt for the time being...

when they announce that they are going to cancel all terrainpark activities, thats when I'm going to officially boycott the place and make all the BOYCOTT JMS VENTURES! stickers...

 
yeah im not to big on the park. and i found out squaw has a student discount which is pretty sick so i think i might stick there for awhile, maybe head over to heavenly for a day or 2.

any must ski runs?
 
Don't go to Heavenly. Stick at Squaw. Definitely hit up KT-22 lift, Headwall, Cornice II, Silverado (great later in the day, north facing), Granite Chief, These are all lifts, but you will see what you need to hit. There are cliffs and cornices off virtually every lift. If you are in the hiking mood, then you should hike to the Palisades on a good day which is a hike straight off Headwall.

If you are more of a Big Mountain guy, you will be in heaven. You will know why Shane McConkey has said, "I would rather ski a powder day at Squaw than anywhere else in the world."
 
Take this for what it is worth, i travelled there last year. It is th eonly time i have been there and they did not have a good snowfall yet. My buddy and i tried a different place everyday just because we could, that was one of the main reasons we went there. we stayed at thej hampton in just off the freeway by truckee.

We skied squaw day 1 and it was great. lots of different terrain and so much more that i couldnt ski because there wasnt enough snow. this was true for pretty much everywhere we skied.

day 2 was alpine, stayed on the frontside all day because my buddy wouldnt hike the little bit to get to the other side. overall i enjoyed.

day 3 was heavenly probably wouldnt have skied it because of cost except my buddy had a buy one get one ticket. tons of trails, very picturesque, very fun, and very crowded

day 4 we stopped at a smaller resort by the name of homewood. it was pretty small but had some definite potential especially if there was more snow. the hill is literally right on the lake which is pretty neat and best views of the lake by far. there was no one there, there was also really no base area to speak of . this was a great resort to hit in the middle of the trip.

day 5 we took the long journey to kirkwood. they had much better snow conditions than anywhere else which may be a large part of why it was my favorite place. there seemed to be everything i ever wanted there, plenty of varying terrain, good amenities, great views (not of the lake). the only cons here were the drive and a slight bit of crowding but well worth it in my humble opinion.

now when i return to the area again i will definitely go back to kirkwood and squaw. heavenly i would return to if i had plenty of cash and not on a weekend. homewood was great for an easy day on the legs and the eyes. alpine i wasnt overly thrilled with but that was also the only day we had clouds and temps below 35, the day after my buddy busted himself up and was being a wuss and the last day of skiing in my old broken down boots(i bought a new pair on the way back to the hotel).
 
President's day weekend...they tore down the jumps for the gapers and won't build them back up again.
 
squallywood is your resort of choice, amazing terrain, huge area, good park this year and it eats crowds alive. There are so many lifts at squaw if you do it right you'll never wait more then 2-3 mins in a life line.
 
Alpine Meadows is a dream for those who dont want to hike far to big terrain.. a 5 minute hike can basically get you about 100 turns in sick wide open powder... or lead you to some rocks to hop off.. or other amazing natural terrain.

Squaw has more of the same kind of stuff, but more of it is lift accessed, so more of it is tracked faster.

Homewood is great when you want ZERO lift lines... ever...

Kirkwood rivals squaw and alpine in how sick the terrain is... a favourite of SLT skiers who want awesome terrain but either cant, or dont want to go around emerald bay... or dont like heavenly.

Heavenly is gaperworld.. lots of relatively flat shit everywhere. Sick parks though.. especially after SSS comes through.. they do have awesome tree skiing and some sick stuff in Kill/motts.. best bump run in the world too with the barrel.

Other places you want to check out are Mt. Rose and Sugar Bowl... both have some sick terrain and at least halfway decent parks with some fun features.

 
hevanly is alright but if you want some really nice pow skiing and if you like cliff drops you deff need to go to kirkwood
 
so heres the deal with that. I talked to Pete the other day (the guy that made that thread) and jonas.
And first of Jonas had to delete the thread because he was afraid Pete would get fired.
Fortunately enough they actually did get on newschoolers and read it. They read the whole thing and printed it all out actually.
Well Pete almost ended up getting fired for it. he had to talk to a bunch of different people about the whole situation and luckily still has his job.
But Alpine finally realized it and actually is letting Jonas do his thing.
They are starting to push Nicks Run back and all the jumps on kangaroo.
If you have visited their website in the past few days they also started to update their park information in their snow report. Instead of leaving it the same for like 2 months. Yesterday it said they are rebuilding the park and today it says... "New features have been built and Alpine's park will open today with a brand new setup."
They havent done that in forever, which is starting to show that they are caring about the park a little bit and saw how angry people were getting.
Check out Alpine within the next week. Jonas rebuilt the park and im pretty sure it should be pretty sick.
 
Uhm they built Nicks run over presidents weekend and in order to do that they had to make the kangaroo jumps smaller. Really had nothing to do with all the gapes being there.
Oh well if you dont wanna go back there this year and boycott an issue that might of been resolved go for it.
Although i do not see Jonas working there next year.
 
Thanks for clarifying that I am juiced its a good thing that they are rebuilding and its good to see that they pay attention to our emails and such. I respect Alpine a whole lot more because of that.
 
Yeah some people got really heated on that thread and stuff and it definitely helped.
A lot of the park staff and stuff were saying basically what we were but in a more professional and sort of nicer way and it got through to them a little more.
I guess we will just have to wait and see how it all turns out.
Im headin over there tomorro to shoot some with my jib boom on Nicks. Ill let fellas know if it really changed back.
 
Thank god...

still not happy about the 800 dolla pass...

but at least they are going to rebuild the park with all this new, glorious snow...

I hope they build Nicks and Roo sicker than ever now.
 
if youre in to steeps, then go squaw valley or mt rose, squaw valley has a lot of steep runs and pretty good park, and mt rose has some of the steepest terrain in tahoe, within the chutes, look at mtrose.com and go to the chutes info.
 
Because they are still trying to downsize the park and dont want to pay the bank for a good park manager or because of other issues?
 
Mammoth is amazing indeed, but I'd ski the crazy cliffs and shit and backcountry at squaw any day of the week before i ski mammoth
 
which mountain has the best/most easily lapable pipe in tahoe. im going out there march 22-28 and looking to get some runs in a pipe baked in california sunshine
 
hmmm well boreal and northstar have the best pipes around the lake i believe.
Someone can correct me if im wrong, but i think like last year in transworld boreals pipe got rated above northstars. Both are lapable and both will be hell on the weekend or holidays.
I would say hit up boreals pipe at night cuz eric will usually groom it right before the night session, but that might be too late in the year, you will have to check right before you head out here.
 
Every time I've been up there they groom it during the night session, and keep it closed. On Boreal's website it states night operation stop at the end of March as well.
 
...So he will be here for night ops if he wanted to do that. sorry, hit enter before I finished typing.
 
whers the best park? Mammoth or northstar, i wana say mammoth but never been. Think im headin out for break in march. like the 18th
 
Have you ever been to squaw? or its immediate backcountry?

Mammoth is sick, but last time I checked, it had nothing compared to KT22...

And this year, both of their parks are probably about equal... both super legit... Mammoth's might be a little bigger right now, but both are equals in my book...
 
I dont know man.. I have been to both...

Lets just agree on something here... Squaw and Mammoth are both gnarly and both super sick. The end.
 
i dunno, chair 22 in mammoth is comparable to kt22 at squaw, although there is a bit more terrain accessible off of kt. having skiied at both, i would say squaw definitely has better terrain, but mammoth has the better park
 
Not to mention... Squaw also has Granite Chief, and Silverado area.. which is basically like lift accessed backcountry terrain...

as well as the squaw backcountry itself... endless, endless insanity.
 
Meh... gets tracked immediately, lots of wind, and of course, becomes one giant icy bump field...

and they never even run cornice II.. ever.. same with Oly Lady. There is zero reason for them to even have those two lifts anymore...

 
hahaahah dude this is practically the exact same thing we're doing next week for spring break...

we're even staying at hampton inn...i think we're just gonna hit up northstar, squaw, and homewood though, not trying to haul all the way around the lake to go to the further spots
 
I just cant understand why people think mammoth is so much better than squaw. Anyone who appreciates actually skiing would choose squaw. Squaw is on par with Jackson as the best mountain in the lower United States and I have skied in most areas. Squaw is absolutely unreal. Yes, mammoth generally has a better park but Squaw's is not bad. At the end of the year this year they opened a rediculous jump line on mainline. These jumps were easily bigger than middle jump at mammoth and built just as well. But the point is, there is no reason to ski park on most days as squaw because the mountain is so good. It is worth the price.
 
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