so my family has been in the tahoe city area since 1975... i grew up skiing alpine squaw and the occaisional run up to boreal for nights... sugar bowl, basically lived at ASI and donner summit through the late 90's, and would say im pretty familiar with tahoe skiing. i absolutley love it. if i had to pick one ski area for the rest of my days it would be alpine meadows, hands down...
that said... there is no way tahoe snow can compete with utah snow. ive lived in utah for the last 6 years or so, and have put in a good number of days out here. tahoe areas have one, or maybe two days a year where the snow quality is comparable. this is just fact. you dont ever roll up to alta and worry about getting rained on, since the base is higher than high camp at squaw. not to bag on tahoe, cause i love the north shore/donner areas, and have from the time i could put on a pair of skis 24 years ago.
all this said, you just cant beat the greatest snow on earth. theres no argument here.