Suggestions at Tahoe?

[jnshapiro]

As I posted earlier, I'm still fairly new to the area. We live right outside Sacramento and the Tahoe area is closest for local riding. Mt. Rose will be a little bit of a ride for me to get to for the weekly half day or so of riding.

I've got a buddy that lives right near Heavenly, so I can meet him. But he's a skier and not in touch with the needs of a boarder. Nevertheless, it's certainly a consideration for me as it's less that a 2hr drive.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for a local mountain that has good carving opportunities and also has some off-piste for powder?

Thanks!

Joel

[Mike T]

Kirkwood. I spent a few years in the Bay Area before moving to Oregon, and Kirkwood is the resort I miss most. Good carving mountain and great on a powder day.

[Guest kennyusmc]

I am from your general area, and used to live right in Sac itself. What part of town or what town are you in or close to ? I will say if your living near the south or eastside you can drive up 50 to heavenly or sierra. West or northside of Sac drive up 80 to Northstar , alpine meadoes or squaw. but I would consider Kirkwood a bad choice based on the drive. Now I might have a bunch of people try to flame me but guess what I work up highway 88 and drive that road all year round. Carson pass and Carson spur close often to highwinds or avalance control. Highway 88 is like the highway of death during the summer recreation months and just as bad during the winter. No or poor . cell reception if you breakdown or have an accident past dew drop. I know all this not from a personal opinion but as a result of working for a government agency.

PM if you want to talk more about it.

Ken

[jnshapiro]

Hi Ken. We're in Rancho Cordova. Where are you? Maybe we can hook up and save some gas money on day trips?

[Guest kennyusmc]

I am in Stockton now but I will be back in Sacramento around November time frame. Well for the money I would suggest getting the double whammy pass for sierra and northstar it is 469 with 12 blackout days a Northstar and none at sierra they have several pass options.Honestly there are places on the mountainss that are packed but some nice places to have to yourself. It will take you about an hour and half to sierra the cloesest one to you. It is a pretty good road except the last part is a CHP speed trap in kybers and strawberry. But you can always shoot up I 80 to Northstar which is 2 hours away and has very little chain control.

I don't how old you are but Sac state has a club that is open to the public. They always get a large cabin for the season(some times at kings beach sometimes southshore) and it is $20 (general public alumni and students are cheaper) a night to stay there. also the ski swap the biggest in NorCal is Oct 22 at the sac state ballroom.

Do you have all your own gear?

ken

[Sinecure]

Shapiro,

Go post this question on www.tahoecarvers.com. It gets posted there once or twice a year and the debate is always fun to watch. Seriously though, you should connect with that crowd. That board is dead in the summer, but it will start heating up soon.

Sugarbowl is closest. Heavenly is in South Lake and so is K-wood. Squaw and Alpine are another 30 minutes past S-bowl and well worth the drive. Alpine for off-piste and sometimes good grooming, Squaw for great grooming but crazy crowds on weekends. Rose is a bit of a schlep from Sac, compared to the other options. Northstar is a freakin zoo these days because they sell something like 24000 of those passes. But they are building a Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton which will definitely appeal to the carving crowd. :rolleyes:

[Hugh]

My personal opinion on resorts:

Avoid Heavenly, it is a skiiers mtn, not a bad thing, but traverse tracks will kill you legs. Avoid the Walk of Shame.

Check out Alpine Meadows a couple of days after a good dump. Randy S. is a awesome tour guide and rides every weekend there. In fact, ask any ski patrol where Randy the carver is and they will know

Mt. Rose is worth the drive during any weekday. Awesome grooming with a accurate daily grooming report.

Kirkwood: lots of TC carvers on the weekend and always a few on the weekdays. Grooming used to be better, but it is still better than average.

Squaw Valley: premier carving, lots of advanced runs and expert carvers.

Sugarbowl: closest to Sac and good WHEN they groom well.

Northstar: too crowded.

Suggestion: once you start carving, stick with it and put your freestyle gear away for the season. The hardest challenge will be switching back and forth and not learning the true carving technique. Freestyle softbooting will often erase your carving skills in the beginning. I spent a few years going back and forth and not learning to carve. Now I only bring carving gear :)

Good luck, Hugh

[kjl]

My personal opinion on resorts:

Squaw Valley: premier carving, lots of advanced runs and expert carvers.

Northstar: too crowded.

I agree. Northstar is definitely too crowded, but it was actually OK to learn on - there are some mostly deserted runs off the Vista chair that are good for new carvers, and off Comstock/Rendezvous The Chute and Tonini's are good for intermediate carvers (but short). The really great carving runs off the backside chair are always too crowded, though if you hit it right sometimes Challenger and Promised Land are nice.

Squaw is great and mostly deserted these days, for the most part. I think they priced themselves out of the market.

Also worth a look is Diamond Peak (on the way to Rose, I think). I hear it's great, and I went there once on a really, really bad snow day, and it definitely would have been a carvers paradise had it not been (and I thought I'd never use the word in Tahoe: ) boilerplate that day.

[jnshapiro]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll keep it open for the time being and decide in another week or two. Gotta go through my wife's work schedule to figure things out.

[Steve Dold]

Hi Joel. If you live in RC I would go to Kirkwood. I live in Antelope (Near Roseville, North Sac) and I go to Kirkwood because of the good snow, good grooming, good beginner/intermediate runs and short walks to the lift lines. Also, compared to Northstar and Sierra, which are full of people, it's less crowded. They are starting to piss me off with increased fees and some jackass things they are doing to the mountain, but I'm there for now. The people that run the place are very nice.

It takes me at least 1/2 hour to drive from the north side of Sac to the South side of Sac, even more if there is weekday commute traffic. I should be going to something on the North Shore, but with the exception of Rose I'm always disappointed with the grooming and crowds.

After my experiences with the crowds at Northstar and Sierra, I will never, ever buy the double whammy pass. The Kirkwood pass is a very good value, even after the price increase this year.

If you aren't interested in black runs, check out the First Adventure Pass for "beginners" ;-)

I've almost never had a problem on 88. You should be able to make it there in 1-1/2 hours or so.

[kipstar]

Also worth a look is Diamond Peak (on the way to Rose, I think). I hear it's great, and I went there once on a really, really bad snow day, and it definitely would have been a carvers paradise had it not been (and I thought I'd never use the word in Tahoe: ) boilerplate that day.

I have spent a few days on Diamond peak in the past.

It is not nearly as good as Rose for carving; a lot of the runs have a bias in the fall line, so you are kind of heading down but also across slightly at the same time.

That said, it is a good combo pass with Rose as it is much lower, so when the weather sucks on Rose it is all good to go on Diamond Peak.

The best runs are right on the chair nearest the lake, which is all of about 1 minute long, but a great run.

Strangely, I have been physically threatened several times on Diamond Peak; once because my friend apparently somehow reached past this fat phuk on the lift and knocked his girlfriend down when they got off the lift and saying sorry is not enough; and another time for stopping on the side of a run; apparently for boarder bombing runs this is illegal. And a couple of other more minor incidents. These are the only times I've ever been physically threatened while riding. Other than one other fight, but that was in NZ and was when I was a kid.

Now i am back training Muay Thai, so next year if I get threats again...oh ho I am going to do some damage.

Or not, most likely not, I am worried I might hurt myself :-)

So... D Peak, full of stressed out Bay area people I suspect on holiday season; but absolutely empty mid week and some of the best views of the Lake. Plus good weather. but Rose is quite a bit better for carving IMHO.