 Poster: A snowHead
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OK - another option for next year...our 'group' is looking to go to Lake Tahoe next year & I'm not sure that I'm that keen. I've looked around on various websites & archived chats that not everyone can access (!!). Can anyone persuade me either way??? Seems like its great skiing but shame about where you have to stay (I'm not into big brash casinos, neon lights etc.....especially when I'm there for the skiing...) Any comments most welcome..... 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We stayed in South Lake tahoe. As the name suggests, the "city" is on the southern tip of the lake. The state line runs right through the centre and you can litterally see it: one side lovely small houses nestled between trees, the other side huge great multi-storey neon-lit monstrosities. We stayed on the california side and went to eat in the casinos (since they serve excellent food really cheaply to tempt you in). A bit of self control and you;re laughing.
Alternatively, there's Tahoe city on the northern tip which is convenient for squaw and alpine meadows, but much less convenient for kirkwood which is a few miles away from the the southern tip of the lake.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'ver skied in lake Tahoe quite a bit (because I work in the San Francisco bay area a bit too often as our company head office is there, so popping up to Tahoe for the weekend (though a bit crowded) is a handy option)
Personally I'd not go there especially to go skiing.
If you like tree skiing places like heavenly would be great (in good snow conditions), I wasn't that keen on Northstar or Sierra (neither were very challenging), Alpine Meadows and Sugar Bowl were small but not bad skiing.
My favourites were Kirkwood (good challenging terrain, but slow lifts), and Squaw Valley.
With regard to places to stay, there are lots of little places dotted around the lake. I stayed in Tahoe City (not really a city but a small town/village!) last time which was small but pleasant and is right on the edge of the lake on the north side (for Northstar, Alpine, Sugar Bowl, Squaw). I've also stayed at South Tahoe/Stateline (for Heavenly, Sierra, Kirkwood) - this was not so pleasent and is really spread out - it also has big brash casinos!! (upon crossing the Nevada border)
You really need to have a car, there are buses to get you to the resorts but you'll really struggle to find restaurants without one - the whole place is geared up for driving around. Also, in my opinion, the resorts are too small to spend more than a few days at each, so you need to be able to drive around between them - note that getting from the north to the south isn't quite as easy as it looks on the map as it is a windy 1 hour drive between them, though well worth it as it is incredibly scenic (as are all the non-built up places around tahoe).
Compared to Banff, I found the mountains are smaller and less varied, things are less convenient and more expensive - especially lift passes.
Guess it depends what you want but I'd be tempted to either go to Canada (in fact we will be off to Whistler again next year hopefully!) or maybe Colorado/Utah (though I've never been to either, I've heard they are good)
Of Course all the above is just my opinion, my Uncle has skied there quite a bit and loves the place.
Hope that helps a bit?
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Thanks guys - food for thought but probably reflects my own feelings - and I've never been there!
I understand a new 'village' has been built - Heavenly Village - by the gondola which is a bit more ski resorty. Do you know if this is OK? If we do decide to join up with the others we'll probably book ourselves and try and find a nice small hotel. The organiser has got Caesars Hotel in mind - a 5* monstrosity IMO - and no way do I want to spend my precious ski hols staying at a place like that! But once she's got her mind made up, that's it! We didn't go with them this year cos she wanted to go back to Mayrhofen where we'd been the previous year. It was OK there & I enjoyed it - but not enough to go back, to the same hotel, the next year!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Heavenly is getting loads of money poured into it since being bought by Vail resorts - from what I saw the new village is still in it's very early stages - they have big plans but at the moment it seems to just be a new apartment complex, a mall, a few restaurants, and a handful of shops - the one bar in the complex was so busy we couldn't get near it!!
We stayed in the travelodge almost opposite the gondola (it was cheap!), we tried to find somewher to eat/drink without driving (since I would have to drive) - it was pretty hard to find anywhere, in the end we finished up eating/drinking in one of the Casinos (Harrahs I think), not really my scene!
I think they plan to knock down the multitude of motels over the road and build a complex there too, it should be good eventually - not sure how soon that'll be done, maybe they have it on the website.
Personally I much preferred Tahoe City, it is smaller, quieter, has a nice scenic coast and has a few nice bars/restaurants.
I have loads of piccies of tahoe - unfortunately I can't post them here, if you PM me I can email them to you.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Cathy Coins, of course, I think you should join the snowHeads trip to Colorado! 
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Not sure that the "Heavenly Village" is any improvement, if it exists at all. We didn't exactly spot a charming alpine village when we were in SLT.
I spent 4 days in SLT last Easter and had great powder conditions at Heavenly and loads of runs through the trees and on deserted pistes.
But, as has been said, SLT is a hole. We stayed in the casino opposite Ceasers (cannot remember the name, think it began with H) which had big cheap rooms but is everything you'd expect of a casino. The rest of SLT is just a mess of Tex Mex food joints, burgers bars and scrappy commercial outlets. Lots of wide roads with UVs going up and down. Total Hicksville USA.
We couldn't find a decent bar or a decent restaurant and so most nights ended up getting food from the supermarket and taking it back to our hotel room - the only way to eat anything vaguely healthy as far as i could see.
Skiing good, resort bad is my view. I have heard that the north of the lake has more charm and you may be able to get better places near Heavenly if you do more research than we did.
But as has been said, the lift passes are hideously expensive. About £40 a day if i remember correctly.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Tony Lane, north lake is certainly better, in my opinion. Unless you ski Kirkwood (south of south lake), but then the night life is even worse!
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Having just come back from Lake Tahoe here is my tuppence worth.
Our American friends do not take ski holidays the way we do in the UK ie the week away in the Alps or wherever, as such their ski areas,certainly the ones at Tahoe do not pretend to be places where you go, stay in one place and ski there 6 days out of 7. Typically an American trip away might be 4 days, skiing 3 of those so that is what they gear their market to. A number of the ski resorts would keep most people interested for say 2/3 days eg Heavenly or Squaw Valley, perhaps Alpine Meadows as well. Others such as Sugar Bowl, Northstar or Mount Rose are fine for a day and you may want to go back another day if you really liked it, after you have tried somewhere else.
You absolutely must have a car to get the best out of it. There is no substitute.
Where to stay? The consensus above is that South Lake Tahoe is not pretty, which is absolutely right, it is not. What it does have is convenience to Heavenly and the possibility of cheap accomodation if you can stay in the casinos and not gamble. That said it is pretty tacky. The "village" is not quite that, though it looked to be ok for a beer or a coffee in the sun before heading off home at the end of the day.
We stayed at the North end of the lake at Incline Village. From there it was a 35 minute drive on excellent roads to Heavenly in one direction and Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows(which are more or less next to each other) in the other. Mount Rose was 15 minutes away and Northstar about 20 minutes. Sugar Bowl is the furthest away and was about 55 minutes. If you fancy a day off shopping in Reno that is about 45 minutes away by car.
What you lose out is going to somewhere like Kirkwood unless you want to drive for about 1.25 hours, which I didnt so we didnt go there.
The north end of the lake is a lot different from South Lake Tahoe ,very picturesque and much quieter. If your idea of a good time is bar hopping and clubs, dont bother to go there. There are a number of well regarded restaurants but a lot of people self cater in their condos etc. There are a significant number of condos etc to rent of all sizes, a lot being second homes for people from the Bay Area, so you can get whatever you are willing to pay for. Even the most basic is likely to be light years ahead of equivalent Alpine accomodation in terms of size and amenities. Our 2 bedroom unit would sleep 6, had 2 full bathrooms, 3 TVs, washer/dryer, dishwasher, cooker etc, dvd player, video, cd player for $109 per night which is about £60.
The weather was stunning, sunshine every day, all day. Perfect visibility, the views were stupendous.The snow base was very good due to big snowfalls in February, so even though there had been a prolonged period of sun there was still a lot of skiing left. Anumber of resorts will be open until end May or June. The only quibble was I would have liked some new snow but we didnt get any, though some might come this week on the forecast. Spring conditions prevailed some it was a question of following the sun and giving up at about 2/2.30 when it got a bit slushy.
There were no queues at any of the North Lake resorts at all, even on weekends, we walked straight onto just about every lift. The only queues we saw were the day we went to Heavenly and they were caused by an influx of Brits, school holidays obviously having started. The US schools seem not to break before Easter weekend so the US families were not there in numbers at all.
Lift tickets for adults on weekends especially are dear eg $59 for Squaw Valley which is about £33. There are cheaper tickets for teens($29) and for those under 12 ($5). Numerous places do deals through the week eg 2 for 1 tickets to get people in as the weekend is the busy time with people coming in from the urban areas of Sacramento or San Francisco. For Alpine Meadows they have a simple $39 per day every day which is about £22.
Getting there is easy, albeit a long flight. Fly to San Francisco, one of the easier points of entry/exit from the US that I have gone through. Then either drive the 220 miles, virtually all of which is on an Interstate highway, or catch a flight to Reno and drive from there, which is about 30 miles. In good weather the drive from SF is easy, so long as you miss rush hour traffic. You can catch a sight of the Golden Gate and Alcatraz as you go over the Oakland Bay Bridge. For obvious reasons adding a few days in San Francisco or the Napa valley or anywhere in Northern California at the start or end of you holiday is easy also.
The altitude at Lake level is about 6000 feet and you can ski up to say 10000 feet, so it is not as high as Colorado, which reduces the possibility of altitude sickness.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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In a way it is a shame that we are all concentrating on the negative aspects of the accommodation and entertainment.
If you are thinking of heading over to the Tahoe area I would point out that the skiing has some positive differences when compared to Europe. The pistes were very quiet and the lift queues were non-existent. This means that it really is stress free. If you are staying in a charming condo in the woods and are happy to make your own entertainment, you should be able to have a great time.
Although the hills are not as Alpine as European resorts, the scope for powder runs through trees at Heavenly is incredible (just make sure that you don't lose contact with your buddies as you could remain unfound for days if you hit a tree or a tree well).
Also, the double black diamond gullies on the left hand side of the Heavenly piste map were excellent fun and very different from anything I've found in Europe - sort of a cross between short steep blacks and not too serious off-piste gullies. You'd be hard pushed to find such a concentration of steep lines in Europe that are so well served by their own lift.
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