 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi
We are two experienced male skiers (almost 30 yrs on snow) looking to ski Lake Tahoe area in Feb 2009.
We'd like to ski as many of the main resorts possible inside 10 days, and avoid any Casinos.
Squaw Valley, Heavenly and Kirkwood are 'must do'.
I'm assuming that it would be best to make it a two centre holiday, one west location, one south. We like to ski all-mountain and would enjoy off-piste tree skiing.
Does anyone have any advice please regarding:
a) A good resort/s to use as a base, to travel from to other local resorts.
b) Advice on any of the resorts in the area - especially less commercial interesting areas
c) Place to avoid
d) Best month to ski Tahoe area
e) The main Heavenly Village gondola looks a possible morning bottleneck - would it be better to stay closer to alternative access lifts eg Stagecoach/Boulder lodge?
MTIA
Steve
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Most visitors concentrate on either North shore (staying at, for example, Tahoe City) or South Shore (staying at, for example, South Lake Tahoe) if skiing one week or less. With ten days it is reasonable to do a two centre holiday, taking a day off to rest and switch from one base location to the other. You will need a rental car to make the switch and to also easily reach various ski resorts. I personally have only skied Kirkwood and Heavenly. I liked the skiing better at Kirkwood, very interesting off/near piste. Heavenly is nice too, with more crowds but better lakeside scenery. Late February is probably a good choice, or maybe early March for best mix of snow and sun. There are casinos around the Heavenly gondi base. Squaw and Alpine Meadows are renowned for challenging slopes, Northstar for long, nice groomers, Mt. Rose as a less busy area with good steeps.
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We stayed in South lake tahoe (2000 when we stayed there) and skiied Heavenly, Kirkwood, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley with ease - as long as you don't mind driving, it's not too bad. Kirkwood was as far south as Squaw / Alpine were north (they border each other, I can;t believe they still have separate lift passes!)
As for casinos, reemember they do *VERY* good deals on food there to tempt you into playing. As long as you;re disciplined enough to resist the temptation, you can save an awful lot on food by eating there rather than in other restaurants - but if you do, we ate @ Paul's steakhouse ( I think: beer may have been involved so my memory may nit be perfect!) and it was great. A real experience, I've never before eaten in a restaurant that looks like a butchers!
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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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Simple. As others suggested, south base at Heavenly, north base at Tahoe City.
Good resort worth skiing that are not already on YOUR list (but mentioned already, I'm seconding):
Alpine Meadow
Mt. Rose
Northstar
Other points to ponder:
Do Heavenly and Squaw on weekdays. Avoid weekends at all cost. Mt Rose is pretty mellow so it's a good Saturday candidate.
Rental car a "very good" idea.
Buffets at casinos cost no more than a order-per-plate at resturants, with large choice of foods.
Stagecoach access. Yeah!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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seb400,
I was there in the second week of January a few years ago - we had a hire car from San Francisco, drove to Lake Tahoe, stayed in South Lake Tahoe and skied Heavenly for a couple of days and then drove to Tahoe City, stayed there and skied Squaw Valley. Both ski areas were quiet with no queues and the snow conditions were fantastic.
Points worth bearing in mind are that generally people drive to the resorts from nearby towns each day so there is not such a concept of slope side accommodation as in Europe so a car is essential. We also went dog sledding in Truckee (not far from Tahoe City / Squaw) which was great fun. Despite being told the road right around the lake through Emerald Bay was closed at that time of year in fact it was not and it was a nice post skiing evening drive around to the bay from Tahoe City if you are confident driving on a bit of snow and ice.
Heavenly is nice for tree skiing and access is very easy from South Lake Tahoe but I preferred Squaw Valley as it seemed to have a more European Alpine kind of raw feel about the skiing - both places are worth visiting and will keep a good skier well occupied.
If I was doing it again I would not leap straight into a hire car at SFO after a 9 hour flight and drive the 4 hours or so to Tahoe as it was knackering but I was younger then! 
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FAQ
and isnt very commercial but does have a couple of reasonable restaurants and bars 
