Having lived in Davis I can tell you right now, Davis is kind of boring as fuck. I had a great time there in high school but I wouldn't go to university there. Also, over 50% of the students at UCDavis are asian. We use to call the campus chinatown. Even though I hate frats, if I went to Davis I'd join one, only way you're gonna party. Davis cops fucking suck. Academics at Davis are overrated. Their student body is made up of asians who got bullshit 4.4 GPAs in high school and who have no social skills. One of my friends from davis high got denied with a 4.1 and multiple sports.
That being said Davis is almost always a solid 2 hours from Tahoe, we use to go all the time and its really not that bad of a drive. Doesn't compare to the 40 minute drive from Reno though. However, I never really wanted to chill in Reno again after witnessing a guy nearly die from being almost stabbed to death by his roommate at a house party I went to while I was very high. And like they say in Top Gear, "Reno is like Las Vegas, only smaller and worse".
Don't base your decision off of bullshit U.S. News Top College ranking reports. Go to both campuses, check out both cities, make your decision from there. If you want to ski more often, go to Reno, you'll meet alot more people that ski or snowboard and are actually good at it. In davis you'll meet a lot of people who say they do, but really most of them fucking suck at it.