Tahoe recomendations

[Tick]

Ok, it's 60 degrees and raining here. I am looking at taking a few days next week into the weekend (MLK weekend, I know that crowds will be big, but I gotta go somewhere!). Anybody have a good recomendation for the place to go at Tahoe?

[Hagen]

Hi David,

Next weekend should be good (except for the crowds...). There is a major storm coming through this weekend (they are talking about 7 feet of snow...). And for now the forecast for end of next week is sunny/partly clowdy with max. temps in the low thirties.

You only have to decide if you want to go to the north shore or south shore... I guess that's the tough part. On the south shore you have Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra - all nice resorts for carving. And Kirkwood seems to be the resort where most TahoeCarvers hang out. If you stay in South Lake Tahoe you will also be close to Casinos (if you need some entertainment after riding...).

On the north shore you have a few more resorts to chose from - the bigger ones are Squaw Valley, Northstar, Alpine Meadows, Sugarbowl and Mount Rose. You can stay at the lake (Kingsbeach, Tahoe City...) or in Truckee.

You could also stay in Reno and drive from there to the resorts at the north shore (closest one Mount Rose).

Hagen.

[Mark.Andersen]

In my experience, lodging is cheapest in Reno, then South Lake, the North Lake.

If you have low standards, you can get a room for as little as $29 midweek in South Lake.

[Daneille]

Most days there are maybe five or six carvers (sometimes more, sometimes less) at Mt Rose. It is a half hour out of Reno. Great mountain

:D

Daneille

[Steve Dold]

Mark, are you sure there are places that cheap? Is that by the hour? heh

For someone from out of town on a budget, I would definitely steer them toward Staying in Reno and carving Mt. Rose. It has some of the best grooming I've ever seen, and is really uncrowded on week days and not too bad on weekends.

Or look into a stay and ski package, with a shuttle.

[kipstar]

I have been investigating this, 'cause I am coming to Tahoe for a month in mid Feb/March, and staying in Reno. So, I will advise what I know.

You can get some good deals at the casinos; specifically the dumpier ones which Sun - Thurs have good rates; for instance Circus Circus prices start at $32 USD; and there are a couple of casinos cheaper again. You also save at the casino 'cause the breakfast and dinner buffets, while being slop, and also super cheap. A half decent prime reeee-ib is cheap (or used to be).

My investigations reveal that:

Mt Rose has a deal $54 USD lift ticket including shuttle ride up to the mountain from the casinos and back per day

They have all these crazy deals depending on the day; like $99USD for Fri,Sat, Sun or Sat,Sun,Mon

Incline is also cheap with some deals as well, but you would only want to do a day here, because it is kinda small; still quite cheap; Diamond Peak I think it is called

Of the big resorts, Alpine Meadows is the cheapest, with $39 tickets non holiday. This is MUCH cheaper than Heavenly, Kirkwood, Squaw etc some of which are around $55 - $60 per day.

There are some little resorts like Homewood, Donner etc - but they are ok for a day, but not really so good for long times, friom past experience.

I have only driven past, but Mt Rose looks like da bomb from the road side, and they have what appears to be decent lifts and decent prices. Plus the shuttle means you can sleep off your drunken stupour from all those free bloody marys from the night before while doubling down on all those 11 vs. dealer 6 with a 10 in the hole, on a + count of say +5, true count +10 with 1/2 a deck to go. Not that I card count or anything ;-) And of course, you can theoretically fly in. Although if it is snowing, then that can be a 3 hour wait for a friggin taxi, so make sure you arrange casino to pick you up.

The nicer casinos are the ones slightly out of the downtown; although silver legacy used to be the nicest one in town. Find out more from reno locals about this.

Check out tahoecarvers.com for more info.

Kip

[Guest Randy S.]

You might look into Granlibakken. They have mid-week deals for like $89 including lift tickets at your choice of ski area. If you are there next week, you might even meet my ex-wife (lucky you).

The snow is going to be awesome. Rent a car with 4WD so you don't have to put chains on (if you go to South Lake and ride at Heavenly, this won't be an issue).

[Guest vaguelyevilguy]

If you go to the donner summit area (west of tahoe, by truckee), you can stay at the clair tappan ski lodge. It's $40-something per night, with all meals included (dorm-style housing, but a great common room, great people, great food). There's a free shuttle to boreal, sugar bowl, and donner. Sugar bowl's probably your best bet for groomers, but it's not as good as Kirkwood. The rest of them just have incredible powder.

[Stainless]

David - email me your address and I can post you a day-pass to Diamond Peak - if you think you'll use it.

Cheers, Alan.

[Scorpio]

I was in tahoe over new years and had a 4wd vehicle. I still had to get chains for the car. If you get a 4wd vehicle, make sure it has snow tires on them. Otherwise, you're gonna need chains. They were checking pretty closely at the summit checkpoints.