Sierra Snow conditions/suggestions?

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Hello all you Sierra guys. Last fall my wife and I were going to take a trip to Carson City, NV to visit my son, but she broke her clavicle and it never happened. I now have tickets to go visit him in early March. What's the snow like up by Lake Tahoe this year? He's told me snow is very low so far. I was hoping to do a day of downhill skiing at one of the places surrounding Lake Tahoe as well as perhaps a day of snowmobiling in the area. You have any recommendations on which ski resort to try and where to snowmobile/rent? We are intermediate skiers used to the hills in Michigan's upper peninsula. We've snowmobiled the upper midwest all our lives but I have only experienced mountain riding once in Wyoming. We'll be out there from Friday through the following Thursday. We fly into/out of Reno. Got any other suggestions on things to do and see in the area in March. Jeff

 

[JoesXJ]

Best skiing in the area is Heavenly, next would be Squaw Valley, they both make their own snow daily/nightly. Both resorts are less than an hour away from the Reno airport.

 

[Bryan C.]

Mount Rose is the highest elevation ski resort in the Lake Tahoe area, might want to check that place out. I'm not a skier so I've never been there.

 

[sleeperjeeper]

March is the perfect time of year. Snow is relatively low until late feb and march. Then it dumps. So if you like pow, that is your best chance.

 

[JOSEJALAPENO]

I would try diamond peak, It's a nice small place and you wont get all the crazy amount of people. I have a great time when i go on the weekend.

 

[ocean_jet]

From Carson City, Heavenly will be one of the closest and easiest ski resort to get to.

For someone used to the UP, Heavenly will feel ginormous. I grew up on Heavenly, but really don't go there anymore. Too big and too pricey for my tastes. (over $80 for a lift ticket).

My favorite place to ski at the lake is Homewood... but from Carson City it is about the furthest resort on the Lake. It's laid back and a great bargain (as Tahoe resorts go... they have $29 midweek prices if you buy online!).

Off the Lake, I like Sierra Ski ranch, and Kirkwood (which is my favorite mountain in the area, for great runs and always seems to have the best snow). Both are far from Carson City though.


You can find snow mobiling in south shore... but I've never done it, so I don't know much about it.

 

[JoesXJ]

you can buy your tickets for Heavenly at Savemart or Lucky...

http://www.skiheavenly.com/tickets_rentals/savemart/

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Thanks guys. I keep checking on this. Jeff

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Any updates on current snow conditions in the area? I'll be heading out in a week. Jeff

 

[Mike1331]

snow conditions are perfect i get snow alerts daily and its been dumping on most of the resorts. I went last weekend to sugar bowl which is close to donner lake. The top ridges and double black diamonds at sugar bowl are a blast, i wouldn't recomend the triple blacks unless you can hit up some pretty significant drop offs. Squaw is a good well rounded mountain for first timers. Only downside is the amount of tourist. About 40 minutes from reno. Staturday its boarding down kirkwood for me, should snow all weekend.

 

[Jimbo_1321]

snow is awesome!!!
it dumped like crazy a few weeks ago and is still currently snowing.
only go to heavenly if you ski....
it sucks to board there as it has a lot of flat traversing places.
if you're looking for the cheapest, I really like homewood... and you can't beat squaw valley.


we should have a naxja snow trip sometime!

 

[Mike1331]

snow is awesome!!!
it dumped like crazy a few weeks ago and is still currently snowing.
only go to heavenly if you ski....
it sucks to board there as it has a lot of flat traversing places.
if you're looking for the cheapest, I really like homewood... and you can't beat squaw valley.


we should have a naxja snow trip sometime!

You mean like a trip with some snonzin (bonzin (wheeling) in the snow) and skiing mixed in? That'd be sweet. I've never done a trip with you folk as something always comes up but i'd make sure my schedule was clear for weeks if this type of trip were to arise.

 

[Jimbo_1321]

exactly! go up close to some resort, do some wheeling one day, some boarding the next...
I think it'd be super fun

 

[Mike1331]

We could go up close to sugar bowl. They have taken out the train tracks from the train tunnels that cut through part of the mountain side directly above Donner Lake. You can drive through the tunnels and there is some great wheeling on the other side. It was just recognized as a park and it is legal to drive through. The tunnel starts in the donner ski ranch overflow parking lot and goes for about 1.5 miles into the mountain. Once you emerge out of the tunnel the views are amazing and so is the wheeling. Gotta be careful out there during the rainy season as a lot of erosion happens. I went out there for my birthday this January and 3 refrigerator sized boulders had rolled down onto the entrance of the tunnel. A van and a 4 runner was trapped on the other side, luckily I had the xj and was able to crawl over the boulders to get the sheriff for them.

 

[Harlee&Tahoe]

Each mountain has it's own personality, I would go to each for different reasons.
Haven't gone in several years due to severed ACL, shredded meniscus, and torn MCL & PCL.

Homewood has great views, cheap, and brings you back to the old school local feel.

Sierra @ Tahoe is my favorite for goofing off and having a good time, lots of wide open blue runs, fun trees, and terrain parks. Not terribly difficult.

Kirkwood is where I go when I'm serious, and I have goals and aspirations "Steep&Deep" is what it's all about. You'll find cliffs, cornices, and natural gullies.
Look up North American Freeride Competition, good stuff.
Usually gets the most snow in the U.S. Few years ago they recieved over 900" of fresh powder throughout the season, about 70 FEET that's all.(of course that's my first seas w/blown knee)
I've been told when they bust out the winch cats for high angle grooming and groom "The Wall", it is the steepest groomed run in North America.
At the base they actually have a sign with a :skull1: stating experts only
(I've always wanted to catch first chair with a GPS and see what terminal velocity is and feels like on a board)

Heavenly I would go to once very pricey, big mtn. lots of amenities.

Squaw "Squawlywood" find a lot of big name riders here and if they're out not too hard to spot as there's no hiding here due to a lack of trees and big hits seem to be fairly close to chair lifts. Lot of history here 1960 Olympics, hard to navigate mtn.

Snowmobiling If I had some I'd take you.
Lake Tahoe Adventures has a great off trail tour pricey though, but they'll test your abilities on their ultimate tour.
There is an outfit here in South Lake that rents machines they may still have a truck you can rent to pull trailer to go unguided.

 

[XJ_ranger]

I've always enjoyed Mt. Rose - its kinda a drive to get there, and because of that there arent many people that go - so more open slopes. Their 'chutes' section is very nice terrain.

Kirkwood is also a very nice hill to ski.

Squaw is over-rated and over-priced IMO.

Heavenly is pretty good, but spendy IIRC.

Northstar always seemed packed.

Boreal seemed small, but cheap.

Sugar Bowl was a good value, but kinda far from Nevada...

Never been skiing at Donner Ski Ranch, but been to 2 off road rock crawling competitions there... :gee:

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I got home Thursday night and must say I had a GREAT trip. We flew into Reno and my son picked us up. We toured around Reno and walked through a couple casino's before having dinner at The Melting Pot and then driving down to Carson City for the night. Saturday we spent part of the day in Virginia City and the rest back in Reno for some shopping before heading back to Carson City. Sunday three of us skied Heavenly because it was the closest place and was right on the lake. We got lift tickets at Savemore as suggested here for $70 each and rented skis online at a shop on Ski Run Blvd. for something like $20 each. We parked at the lift just up from Ski Run Blvd. About four runs into the day our thighs were burning! We managed to cover a good portion of the hill and ride the gondola down and back up. It got a bit windy in the afternoon, but that just added to the experience. I took many pictures.

Monday Jackie the fiance took us on a tour of the lake. She works at Tallac Historic Site, so we got a good tour there!

I finally got on the Rubicon trail!

The snow at the exit was quite deep!

We had lunch at Bridgetenders in Tahoe City and walked around the Truckee river outlet from the lake.

That night, after eating Basque food in Gardnerville, I did a little exploring around Carson City and found a hiking trail up Prison Hill. I did the hike in the moon light! Here’s me on the top:

Here’s a view of the lights of Carson City:

Tuesday my wife and I drove to work with Jackie then borrowed the car. I ended up renting a snowmobile and my wife spent the day hanging out in South Lake Tahoe. I rode from N. Benjamin road north to Hwy 50. I found plenty of snow on the upper portions of the mountains. The tops were blown/melted pretty clear though. It’s amazing how you can just point and shoot with todays long track sleds out west. Just pick a path and zip up it only to pick another path and come down. I zipped all over the place and managed to get stuck a half a dozen times really working up a sweat getting myself out. The weather was just plain HOT! I went riding in Michigans Upper Peninsula today and if there isn’t a trail or unplowed road, you pretty much don’t go. Way different than the riding in Tahoe.

Continued in the next post...

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Wednesday we drove our son to work and borrowed their other car for the day. We drove back to Reno where I stopped at Trent Fabrications looking for a couple small parts for the MJ project. I struck out at that, but did get to see some real cool projects being worked on in the shop! We then drove up to Donner Pass on the freeway and checked out Boreal Ski area and the parking area there. Looked like a lot of snow to me!

I especially enjoyed seeing the long snow shed for the railroad as well as Donner Lake.

We then drove down to Squaw Valley. I really liked the valley surrounded by mountains but from what I saw, it looked like steeper terrain than Heavenly, so I think Heavenly was a pretty good choice for us.

From there we passed down the west side of the lake again to South Lake Tahoe. We then went south on 89 to 88 and back north to the Carson Valley. That was a very scenic ride over the mountains. We took 267 through Genoa (Nevada’s first settlement) on our way back to Carson City for something different.

Thursday we flew home managing to lose the camera somewhere on the way. The good thing is that I had the memory card with all our pictures on it except for a couple from the plane that were in the camera.

So, thanks again for the advice and I hope you enjoyed my little report. Jeff

 

[Bryan C.]

Looks like you had a great time, thanks for posting up the pics. Come out in the summer and we'll get you on the Rubicon for real.

 

[Mike1331]

I especially enjoyed seeing the long snow shed for the railroad as well as Donner Lake.

These train tunnels that you admired (snow sheds) are the ones we can drive through now. They have ripped out the tracks and there is some great wheeling all over those hills and the south side of those mountains. I have climbed the xj to the top of every mountain above those train tunnels along with a few other surrounding mountains. There are a couple small lakes on the south side of those mountains as well. Beautiful terrain to traverse, all legal trails by the way. Some of it crosses over the pacific crest trailhead. There’s a couple shanty’s in those mountains that people stock provisions in for the hikers of the pacific crest trail. I checked two weekends ago while heading up to sugar bowl and it's only accessible in the summer.