California/Nevada 2021-2022 Tahoe Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[Alexzn]

Just in case anybody is thinking of a day trip from the Bay Area to PT tomorrow, please re-think it. I left 5:30 am this morning, i got there at .. noon. All parking lots at both OV and Alpine completely full, even the remote ones. This is the first time ever that I drive the long haul and I can't make ONE turn. I came back home empty handed.

No complaints to Palisades Tahoe, not their fault, just way too many people wanted to be there. I returned 1pm after going back from Tahoe city where I killed some time, hoping that some people might leave after lunch and oping some parking spots. The OV entrance was miles into 89, at that time. Crazy. The saving grace was spending all that time chatting away with Mendieta Jr.

I would have loved to be there at 7am but there was no way i was getting up 3 am after a long week of work. And I expected busy but not THIS busy.

A combination of no blackouts, first weekend "after the huge storm" and bluebird weather. I'm cooped up down the hill, so I didn't contribute to the madness, but I can imagine what kind of sh&tshow the mountain was today.

 

[textrovert]

After being out of town for the entire storm cycle, and missing the early season too, I finally got my first day of the season in today.

 

[Chris V.]

Textrovert, that is awesome. If I'd tried that at Heavenly Valley today, I would have run over 12 small children and a couple of snowboarders sprawled on the slope.

 

[Joshuawjc]

A combination of no blackouts, first weekend "after the huge storm" and bluebird weather. I'm cooped up down the hill, so I didn't contribute to the madness, but I can imagine what kind of sh&tshow the mountain was today.

I've been "watching" traffic on 89 through Google occasionally today and it was just crazy. Brick red all morning from the Truckee roundabouts -- and the usual post-10 AM clearing never seems to have happened. I check at noon and still red for miles. And then the same reverse commute getting out, starting mid-afternoon, for several hours. It's still got orange and red on it!

The weird thing is when I checked the lift wait times on the app, I never saw anything too crazy, maybe 5-10m at various lifts at both resorts, but seems like you could still pick your spots. And the KT line on the webcam at 1030 AM seemed downright minimal. Which doesn't make much sense. Maybe SVAM is just a big damn mountain? I mean that in a good way.

Would love to hear reports from anyone who made it to the hill, since (knocking on wood), maybe this is "peak nuts" for the year, short of powder days.

I'm driving up tomorrow for the week and promise I will absolutely, positively not snicker at the downhill flow. (Since it comes for all of us eventually.)

 

[Pequenita]

Traffic on 80 was very unusual today and included a lot of PGE trucks with bucket lifts. I think I drove up and down the same time as their shift…I made it to Sugar Bowl and actually got into the Judah lot. Given that people were parked all the way down to the turnoff from donner pass road (and then in the village lot and along old 40), the mountain did not seem crowded. SB limited the number of season passes sold and also required 1-day advance purchase of day passes. I am not an SB regular, so I have no idea how today compares to anything else in the before times.

Conditions: crust layer under a few inches of softer snow, deeper than dust on crust - it was rather enjoyable, actually.

 

[luliski]

Traffic on 80 was very unusual today and included a lot of PGE trucks with bucket lifts. I think I drove up and down the same time as their shift…I made it to Sugar Bowl and actually got into the Judah lot. Given that people were parked all the way down to the turnoff from donner pass road (and then in the village lot and along old 40), the mountain did not seem crowded. SB limited the number of season passes sold and also required 1-day advance purchase of day passes. I am not an SB regular, so I have no idea how today compares to anything else in the before times.

Conditions: crust layer under a few inches of softer snow, deeper than dust on crust - it was rather enjoyable, actually.

I’m thinking about getting back to Sugar Bowl one of these days myself; under 2 hour drive sounds good, and there‘s terrain there I have not explored since I mostly skied it with my daughter when she was little.

 

[Andy Mink]

After being out of town for the entire storm cycle, and missing the early season too, I finally got my first day of the season in today.

I'm guessing the skis were good?

 

[Pequenita]

@luliski I had a great time today, and my friends and I kept commenting on how *nice* everyone was - patrons and employees. I stopped a guy as we were coming out a runout and asked him, “How do we get to where you were?” and he was psyched to share. I’ve only skied there 4x ever but have a pass this year.

 

[luliski]

@luliski I had a great time today, and my friends and I kept commenting on how *nice* everyone was - patrons and employees. I stopped a guy as we were coming out a runout and asked him, “How do we get to where you were?” and he was psyched to share. I’ve only skied there 4x ever but have a pass this year.

It would be nice not to have to go over Donner Summit sometimes. Their day pass prices are not bad midweek. I’m going to check it out again soon.

 

[laine]

A combination of no blackouts, first weekend "after the huge storm" and bluebird weather. I'm cooped up down the hill, so I didn't contribute to the madness, but I can imagine what kind of sh&tshow the mountain was today.

Yeah, the traffic was brutal today. We've been up all week, enjoying the weekday leisurely drive, alternating between PT and Alpine each day. Today, we left Tahoe Donner (we are at the top, next to the base lodge) at 8am. Getting out of TD was fine until the very end of Northwoods. Donner Pass Road was a standstill. We averaged about 3 mph from that intersection to just past the intersection of 89 and West River. Then the pace picked up.

We were headed to Alpine and pulled to the access road about about 9:10. They were already directing folks to the Deer Park (that's good water - sorry, that's a NY/NJ joke) parking lot. We decided to try and scout up top and we came across another employee telling us turn right up another road (not sure of the name) - that it was the closest parking. Said I was going do to drop-off, and kept heading up. I can't remember the last time I've seen parking like this. I pull over to the paid parking, but no way I'm paying $50. I ask the guy there if any of those spots are free. He said no, but told me to check over by the handicap spots - just on the other side of the blue lines/poles, there is usually a spot or two by the snow banks. Got out of the car at 9:35 - so just over 1 hour, 30 mins total drive.

Lo & behold, it was the closest parking we've ever had. We literally parked at the snow bank facing TLC, just next to the handicap spots! So what was so weird was that while the parking was a total shitshow, the mountain wasn't. There were long lines at Summit, but that was to be expected, since the Alpenglow was running a backcountry demo day right next to Kangaroo. So all those demo folks would just lap Summit. I mean, there were lines - but what felt semi-normal for a Saturday.

It was a cool, windless, sunny day - so it was quite nice out. The snow was good, but the few inches we got yesterday were chewed up quickly/early. Again, the parking to crowd ratio was odd. The mountain didn't feel too crowded (granted everything was open, so folks were spread about), and when we went in for lunch, it wasn't very busy.

Anyway, it was a lovely week. Even skied TD for a couple hours on Sunday when we were blacked out at PT. Demoed skis, had some sun, snow, and even spring corn. All in, a good first ski week for the season.

 

[Near Nyquist]

I've been "watching" traffic on 89 through Google occasionally today and it was just crazy. Brick red all morning from the Truckee roundabouts -- and the usual post-10 AM clearing never seems to have happened. I check at noon and still red for miles. And then the same reverse commute getting out, starting mid-afternoon, for several hours. It's still got orange and red on it!

The weird thing is when I checked the lift wait times on the app, I never saw anything too crazy, maybe 5-10m at various lifts at both resorts, but seems like you could still pick your spots. And the KT line on the webcam at 1030 AM seemed downright minimal. Which doesn't make much sense. Maybe SVAM is just a big damn mountain? I mean that in a good way.

Would love to hear reports from anyone who made it to the hill, since (knocking on wood), maybe this is "peak nuts" for the year, short of powder days.

I'm driving up tomorrow for the week and promise I will absolutely, positively not snicker at the downhill flow. (Since it comes for all of us eventually.)

10:00 AM courtesy Caltrans


Full at 10:51 AM

Looks like quite the party at both Northstar and Squaw/Alpine

 

[Dougb]

Kirkwood Twitter feed showed the same thing. Ironically the lines also never looked bad on EpicMix. A

We are braving Kirkwood tomorrow. Wish us luck. Plan is to leave Bay Area at 5:45 and hopefully get a parking spot. A friend left this morning with family for North Star and didn’t even make it onto the mountain until noon. If this keeps up it may be Dodge Ridge for us next year.

 

[fatbob]

Park n TART?

 

[Rod9301]

Just in case anybody is thinking of a day trip from the Bay Area to PT tomorrow, please re-think it. I left 5:30 am this morning, i got there at .. noon. All parking lots at both OV and Alpine completely full, even the remote ones. This is the first time ever that I drive the long haul and I can't make ONE turn. I came back home empty handed.

No complaints to Palisades Tahoe, not their fault, just way too many people wanted to be there. I returned 1pm after going back from Tahoe city where I killed some time, hoping that some people might leave after lunch and oping some parking spots. The OV entrance was miles into 89, at that time. Crazy. The saving grace was spending all that time chatting away with Mendieta Jr.

I would have loved to be there at 7am but there was no way i was getting up 3 am after a long week of work. And I expected busy but not THIS busy.

Why is not their fault?

It's the greed that made them sell do many season passes

 

[Near Nyquist]

Park n TART?

Yeah
Stuck in a bus in the same traffic
Both ways
No Dedicated Bus Lanes

only buys you the ability to avoid parking

 

[Near Nyquist]

Why is not their fault?

It's the greed that made them sell do many season passes

This crap happened long before cheap season passes

89 can only handle so much capacity
And they can park only so many cars

@Alexzn nailed the exact reasons further up thread

 

[Pequenita]

They were already directing folks to the Deer Park (that's good water - sorry, that's a NY/NJ joke) parking lot.

"Deeeeeer Park, that's good water!"

 

[textrovert]

Another nice day at Diamond Peak today. Ran into @murphysf on Crystal Ridge

This time, I remembered to take ski glamor shots I missed yesterday.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

We are heading to Mt. Rose tomorrow. Yay! First day in Tahoe this season. I will probably take it easy as I injured a tendon in my foot last week. It's mostly healed and doesn't hurt in ski position (just a tad walking) so I'm going to give it a try. If anyone is going tomorrow, let me know so I can say "Hi.'

 

[Andy Mink]

We are heading to Mt. Rose tomorrow. Yay! First day in Tahoe this season. I will probably take it easy as I injured a tendon in my foot last week. It's mostly healed and doesn't hurt in ski position (just a tad walking) so I'm going to give it a try. If anyone is going tomorrow, let me know so I can say "Hi.'

I'll be up there with the regular crew plus @Stephen. Bring your groomer skis!