Looking for Tahoe Advice please

[RichnNorcal]

Originally Posted by surfinsnow

I wouldn't waste your time with two days at Heavenly. Heavenly sucks. You should go once, just to take pretty pictures, but you'll get bored pretty quick. Take the ride up to Homewood...it's small, but incredibly beautiful, quiet, and they have some awesome glades and the 55 (degree) bowl. Or try the chutes at Mt. Rose. But Heavenly...meh. Tourist mania.

I tend to agree with the above quote, If you're set on staying at Heavenly. I would do one day on the California side, then the other on the Nevada side. Just because it sucks trying to go from one to the other, especially for boarding. This mountain is made for skiers, too many flat/uphill traverses. I recal the Nevada has a couple of double black runs, Mott's & Killibrew Canyon. It's super steep! I could also tell you about the "Fire break" run, it'll take you all from the top, down to the casinos. Totally out of bounds, but fun when there's lots of fresh snow! Just don't get caught! I see you're going to Sierra for the day, glad to see you're going on a week day! Weekends are nuts there. Kirkwood should be fine for Fri & Sat, since its really in a remote location! Tucked away all by it self. Can't say that for Sierra! Since, it's first resort heading up the mountainl from the valley & Bay area. lines are very long on the weekends. Homewood on the other hand is never crowded, its off the beaten path. That is why I love this place. It's on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, storm clouds just hover over it and dump big! I think you have great itenary, looks like you'll be doing a lot of riding for 7 days! Save your legs/energy for Kirkwood!

[RichnNorcal]

Originally Posted by surfinsnow

I'm from Connecticut...it was -4 when we arrived at Mt. Snow last Sunday! That's what I love about Tahoe. On many of my trips there I've ridden in just a hoodie and t-shirt. And the sky is either blue or dumping snow. On our last trip, it snowed for four days non-stop. Dumped about 4-5 feet of snow. Us easterners don't know how to deal with that shit! But man, it was fun.

The funniest thing is, I grew up surfing in Florida. Florida surfers were considered kooks out west (except, Kelly Slater is an old friend and an East Coast surfer who did okay). Anyway, when I first went to Tahoe about eight years ago, I thought it would be a similar vibe. We went in January, and there wasn't much snow yet. They just had a small snow storm, only about 6". We were amazed that the mountains were empty. Hardly anyone out...the locals kept apologizing to us for the horrible conditions. Are you kidding?! Horrible? We had fresh powder! Then they'd find out we ride Vermont. Many said that we were the real hard core...they're all used to perfect conditions, but us Vermont riders are warriors because we can ride anything. True dat.

Too funny, I also moved from back east to So Cal and learned to Surf in the OC. Most of the time at Newport or Huntington Beach. I learned to surf on a single fin, but I did get to surf Mexico, Bali & Australia, courtesy of the United States Navy. I've never surfed in Florida, closest I got was Virginia Beach, since I was there for a Navy school. Never forgot how the line-up was zoo'd out at Jetty. My friend in Navy was surfer from Galveston, TX, said he also knew Slates and that Surfers from TX get not respect, LOL. By the way he really wanted to kill peps in the line-up, for cutting him off or mad dogging him! You VT guys are definitely hard core. Seems like if you're a Pro from VT., move to Mammoth mountain, like Danny K, Kelly, etc, etc. By the way I don't live near the Ocean anymore and its 2hrs Santa Cruz, so that's why I surf the snow with my Hovercraft. and wakeboard during the summer. Wake hurts more when you eat it! Nothing like going from 22 mph to 0 in a blink of an eye...

[cocolulu]

Originally Posted by RichnNorcal

I tend to agree with the above quote, If you're set on staying at Heavenly. I would do one day on the California side, then the other on the Nevada side. Just because it sucks trying to go from one to the other, especially for boarding. This mountain is made for skiers, too many flat/uphill traverses. I recal the Nevada has a couple of double black runs, Mott's & Killibrew Canyon. It's super steep! I could also tell you about the "Fire break" run, it'll take you all from the top, down to the casinos. Totally out of bounds, but fun when there's lots of fresh snow! Just don't get caught! I see you're going to Sierra for the day, glad to see you're going on a week day! Weekends are nuts there. Kirkwood should be fine for Fri & Sat, since its really in a remote location! Tucked away all by it self. Can't say that for Sierra! Since, it's first resort heading up the mountainl from the valley & Bay area. lines are very long on the weekends. Homewood on the other hand is never crowded, its off the beaten path. That is why I love this place. It's on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, storm clouds just hover over it and dump big! I think you have great itenary, looks like you'll be doing a lot of riding for 7 days! Save your legs/energy for Kirkwood!

Yeah, I agree. I think Heavenly isn't so bad though, as long as you're not trying to go back and forth between CA and NV. If you focus on a few runs, it's quite fun, and the views are killer.

What's great are all the tree runs! They have all these sparse tree fields that are fun to ride though, especially after a half decent snow storm.

Just *really* avoid the cat-tracks. Take a shuttle to get around if you have to.

[SoItGoes13]

Originally Posted by RichnNorcal

Wake hurts more when you eat it! Nothing like going from 22 mph to 0 in a blink of an eye...

I've been messed up surfing- this summer my board shot up and whacked me in the chin, had a huge bruise for weeks and was lucky it didn't knock out any teeth!- but never as bad as anything I've done wakeboarding. I've scorpioned a few times from falling trying new tricks for comps and now I wear my helmet even when i'm not competing! OUCH!

Still, I agree with you guys about coming from the east coast and going west, we are so used to crappy conditions we think anything is an improvement! My friends from UT and CO will only ride when its perfect and bluebird, they're way too picky. If it's not covered in ice or sleeting then its an awesome day for me

Oh, and still waiting on that write up of the secret stashes Rich!

[SnowBored]

Alpine & Northstar for sure, but have you checked out Homewood? That would be my reco for a third. Here's a copy/paste from their website:

"Homewood Mountain Resort owns over 1,260 acres of the best skiing and snowboarding terrain in the Lake Tahoe region. With a base elevation of 6,230 ft and a summit elevation of 7,880 ft (a 1,650 vertical feet elevation gain) Homewood’s 8 Lifts and 64 runs create surreal views and excellent adventures. From groomed boulevards to hidden powder stashes, Homewood has it all. Ellis Peak shelters the entire mountain from the high-ridge winds, making the term "wind hold" almost unheard of at Homewood. The resort features 15% beginner terrain, 50% intermediate terrain, 35% advanced terrain, 2 terrain parks and a run 2 miles long called "Rainbow Ridge." Homewood receives an average snowfall of around 450 inches per season, and a whopping 300 days of sunshine per year, leading SKI Magazine to rank Homewood amongst the Top 10 resorts in California and Nevada in 2012."

Really Rainbow Ridge and Ellis Peak would be the challenging areas, but that 35% they mention for advanced riders seems about right. I'd consider myself to be intermediate, and i chapped my a$$ on Rainbow and Ellis, one day I'll master those two. But something about the views of the lake while I'm boarding make the experience way more fun.

Reward yourself for reading this long reply haha - I use this website for Buy 1 Get 1 Free weekday tix when my wife and I go: https://secure.skiforfree.com/Homewo...122013&Tickets and I've always used the code "HW2" always works.

[neednsnow]

Originally Posted by SnowBored

Reward yourself for reading this long reply haha - I use this website for Buy 1 Get 1 Free weekday tix when my wife and I go: https://secure.skiforfree.com/Homewo...122013&Tickets and I've always used the code "HW2" always works.

I CALL BS!!! How does HW2 work? What does it produce for the buyer, besides promo data for the site? Mammoth Tix aren't available. Grumble

[SnowBored]

Originally Posted by neednsnow

I CALL BS!!! How does HW2 work? What does it produce for the buyer, besides promo data for the site? Mammoth Tix aren't available. Grumble

They run out of Mammoth tickets a lot. Looks like they must keep a short supply. I called and asked about the code awhile back, guess the prices shown on the website are the already-discounted rates, but you have to have the code in order to check out - kinda like a key word or something.