Tahoe and snow quality question

uT.

uT.

Member
Just wondering about a few things, a few friends and I are coming from aus for a month to tahoe and staying in the south east shore area near heavenly. Firstly on a good powder day wheres the best place to go with smaller crowds, kirkwood seems pretty legit is it worth the drive? Also what is the snow quality like as ive seen heaps of stuff talking about sierra cement, after going to japan for 6 years in a row, is the powder quality significantly worse or not really that different. Finally where are the best places to go out to and drink etc.
Thanks +K for help
 
If you want nightlife then South Lake is probably your best bet. Kirkwood is awesome on pow days along with Alpine. Squaw is legendary but packed, so I'd stay away. Sierra Cement is our way of keeping people in Colorado and Utah.
 
exactly what he said for nightlife and such. Last year though was a lot less cement then normal. a ton of nice champagne pow. also check out sierra at tahoe, and heavenly has some good stuff if you are with the right people to show you.
 
Well, that's what I was getting at with the snow comment. People have this idea that all snow in CA is this heavy, wet cement snow. California has better snow than everyone says. It holds really well too, which means less snow is required for the larger terrain.
 
Is California's snow heavier than Utah/Colorado? Sure. Is it the mashed potatoes everyone seems to think it is all the time? Hell no.

It tends to stick better and hold longer than that dust out in the Rockies. Tahoe gets much larger dumps on average, too... So you'll see a 12"+ powder dump far more often than at least Colorado. Out there, you tend to have this situation where you get powder because the clouds just turn into snow and fall overnight, and leave you with 6-8" of new stuff quite often, but they'll get a really huge dump only once in a while, whereas in California, every time it snows its because of a Dump.

Utah's a bit more like California in the way it dumps, but still gets light snow.. but at the same time, then you have to live in Utah. lol.

As for South Tahoe...

You have Heavenly, Sierra, and Kirkwood. Heavenly's almost always crowded because it's right there in town and heavily marketed. It gets alright snow, but not as much as just about any other resort in Tahoe, and sometimes, I swear.. only half as much as Kirkwood. It has insane views and bomb tree skiing, but the top lifts also tend to be closed during the sickest storms because of wind, and the cables freeze up. For some reason, this doesn't seem to happen at a lot of other ski areas in Tahoe... I've hit Kirkwood where 50 mile an hour winds and snow were blowing over the ridge without issue.

Sierra's kinda a secret stash of a place now, and even though its not as close as Heav or as big and steep as Kirk, it's still got just about everything to offer, and has always had a pretty legit park for when theres no new snow. It also has expanded its gated area sidecountry access a lot over the last few years and has opened up a lot more sick terrain to explore... Most of which I haven't even had a chance to check out.

Kirkwood is just madness. Arguably the best snow in Tahoe due to its elevation, and some of the steepest and gnarliest lines. The only issue is that it can take half an hour or more to get there if its really dumping out, and is surrounded on 2 sides with high elevation highway passes that are closed on the reg. in such situations. It's an amazing mountain, but yeah kinda annoying to deal with if you're not able to get in ahead of the road closures.

 
^Everything Dingo is saying is fact.

Southlake is pretty commercial compared to Northlake. Place to drink? Without a question whiskey dicks. 2 Dollar Pbr, Hamms, Schlitz, Old style dude you name it. They often have live bands and it's a real local vibe. Want food? Fasta pasta for infinite amount of calories before you go get drunk. South lake is pretty mad on holidays too. Jesus new years was a shit show.
 
Whiskey's pretty good. Another hidden gem is the Turn 3... which is a funny nascar/peanut bar and their prices are sometimes cheaper than anywhere... ridiculous happy hours... least when I was there more often.

Taco mondays at Steamers.

And... New Years is ALWAYS a shit show in South Lake... I was there again last year and I don't even think it was as crazy as years past. 2008, there were people crowdsurfing and climbing on shit and stuff... it was mental.

Also, you can ALWAYS catch awesome music at the Fallen Angel, and they have ridiculously awesome deals on booze too. All day Happy Hour on Monday? what? Plus, its at the bottom of the Heave, which is pretty sick... I went there instead of hanging out with all the chavs who ended up at the casinos, and it was a blast. Place was packed to the brim...

 
if your comin out from Aus, you ever ski with chris dillenbeck? if so he spent some time up here and can tell you whats up.
 
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