OFFICIAL 2024 National Gathering in Tahoe - March 2 - March 9, 2024

[dbostedo]

Are all those places covered on Ikon? This is my first season getting Ikon.

For folks that aren't familiar with Lake Tahoe skiing, here's a little more info.

Lake Tahoe sits on the border of California and Nevada with a bunch of resorts/ski areas in the area - 16 of them at least. Some are very small (a few hundred feet of vertical), and some are major resorts.

Palisades Tahoe is in California, Diamond Peak and Mount Rose are in Nevada. All three of them are on the north side of the lake. Palisades Tahoe is made of two resorts - One side (Olympic Valley, or OV) was formerly Squaw Valley, and the other side has always been known as Alpine Meadows. They've been on the same pass for a long time, with shuttles between them, but are officially one resort now just called Palisades Tahoe, with a gondola running between the bases. (As I noted before in this thread... a lot of folks just refer to the OV side as "Palisades Tahoe" or "Palisades" even though that's the combined resort name. It can be confusing.)

Palisades Tahoe is on Ikon. The other major ("destination") resorts in the area are Northstar and Heavenly, and are on Epic. In addition to those, there are a bunch of independent resorts, of which Mount Rose and Diamond Peak are the closest to Reno, and both good sized mountains in and of themselves. I haven't skied either of them yet, so looking forward to it! (As far as other passes, none of the resorts are on Indy, and only Sugar Bowl is on MCP.)

Per the old Mountain Vertical site, here are the stats:

Palisades Tahoe OV: 2802 vertical ft, 3500-4500 acres​

Palisade Tahoe AM: 1770 vertical ft, 2000-2500 acres​

Mount Rose: 1759 vertical ft, 1000-1500 acres​

Diamond Peak: 1810 vertical ft, 500-750 acres​

And here's a map with the star just off the map indicating where Reno is in relation:

 

[Jersey Skier]

So if you were considering bringing a spouse who might only ski for a day or two, where would be the best place for lodging?

 

[Philpug]

So if you were considering bringing a spouse who might only ski for a day or two, where would be the best place for lodging?

What does said spouse like to do when not skiing?

 

[Jersey Skier]

What does said spouse like to do when not skiing?

We've been married for 31 years. Am I supposed to know this?

She's enjoyed massages that have cost more than Vail's lift tickets. Shopping always works. She liked Main St. in PC as well as the town of Steamboat. She would have enjoyed the rest of our Aspen trip if she didn't end up in two full leg braces her first day out at Snowmass. I'm sure she'd spend some time gambling, but she says she has to be in the right mood for that.

 

[socalgal]

We've been married for 31 years. Am I supposed to know this?

She's enjoyed massages that have cost more than Vail's lift tickets. Shopping always works. She liked Main St. in PC as well as the town of Steamboat. She would have enjoyed the rest of our Aspen trip if she didn't end up in two full leg braces her first day out at Snowmass. I'm sure she'd spend some time gambling, but she says she has to be in the right mood for that.

I'd say stay up by the lake. Much more scenic.

 

[TheArchitect]

A couple questions:

1. I've never heard of Diamond Peak. Is there something unique or really interesting about the terrain for it to have made the list?
2. The first cheap lodging with the shortest drive I came across in Reno is Best Western Plus Boomtown. Seems too cheap to be true so is this place decent? Maybe it's cheap because it's a casino and they want to lure people to stay?

Edit: hotel is in Verdi, just west of Reno near the state border.

 

[luliski]

Truckee has more to do than Tahoe City, but then driving to the resorts from the Truckee side is more problematic.

 

[luliski]

A couple questions:

1. I've never heard of Diamond Peak. Is there something unique or really interesting about the terrain for it to have made the list?
2. The first cheap lodging with the shortest drive I came across in Reno is Best Western Plus Boomtown. Seems too cheap to be true so is this place decent? Maybe it's cheap because it's a casino and they want to lure people to stay?

How cheap?

 

[TheArchitect]

How cheap?

A room with 2 queen beds has a Reward members rate for multi-night stay of $100 with a $19/night resort fee. Pool view room is $96.

 

[dbostedo]

A room with 2 queen beds has a Reward members rate for multi-night stay of $100 with a $19/night resort fee. Pool view room is $96.

I'm going with your gambling theory. But I don't actually know.

 

[Brad J]

Anybody know about Cedar Glen Lodge, looks nice ,not a long drive to the ski areas

 

[Tony S]

Anybody know about Cedar Glen Lodge, looks nice ,not a long drive to the ski areas

Well at least you know it's not moth-eaten.

 

[Brad J]

Well at least you know it's not moth-eaten.

I think that more of an eastern cedar thing ??

 

[locknload]

For folks that aren't familiar with Lake Tahoe skiing, here's a little more info.

Lake Tahoe sits on the border of California and Nevada with a bunch of resorts/ski areas in the area - 16 of them at least. Some are very small (a few hundred feet of vertical), and some are major resorts.

Palisades Tahoe is in California, Diamond Peak and Mount Rose are in Nevada. All three of them are on the north side of the lake. Palisades Tahoe is made of two resorts - One side (Olympic Valley, or OV) was formerly Squaw Valley, and the other side has always been known as Alpine Meadows. They've been on the same pass for a long time, with shuttles between them, but are officially one resort now just called Palisades Tahoe, with a gondola running between the bases. (As I noted before in this thread... a lot of folks just refer to the OV side as "Palisades Tahoe" or "Palisades" even though that's the combined resort name. It can be confusing.)

Palisades Tahoe is on Ikon. The other major ("destination") resorts in the area are Northstar and Heavenly, and are on Epic. In addition to those, there are a bunch of independent resorts, of which Mount Rose and Diamond Peak are the closest to Reno, and both good sized mountains in and of themselves. I haven't skied either of them yet, so looking forward to it! (As far as other passes, none of the resorts are on Indy, and only Sugar Bowl is on MCP.)

Per the old Mountain Vertical site, here are the stats:

Palisades Tahoe OV: 2802 vertical ft, 3500-4500 acres​

Palisade Tahoe AM: 1770 vertical ft, 2000-2500 acres​

Mount Rose: 1759 vertical ft, 1000-1500 acres​

Diamond Peak: 1810 vertical ft, 500-750 acres​

And here's a map with the star just off the map indicating where Reno is in relation:

View attachment 202472

Helpful...thx!

 

[socalgal]

@socalguy and I are frequent visitors to Lake Tahoe. Looking forward to this gathering! Diamond Peak will be a first for us.

 

[VickiK]

Mammoth is 3.5 hrs south of Reno. Easy drive if roads are good. One could feasibly add a couple of days to the potential schedule...
POTENTIAL SCHEDULE AND DAILY MEET-UPS
Sunday, March 3rd - Palisades Olympic Valley
Monday, March 4th - Palisades Alpine Meadows
Tuesday, March 5th - Mount Rose
Wednesday, March 6th - Palisades Olympic Valley
Thursday, March 7th - Diamond Peak
Friday, March 8th - Palisades Alpine Meadows

I'm doing the @Jilly shuffle between Israel-Tahoe over that time period.

 

[John Webb]

A couple questions:

1. I've never heard of Diamond Peak. Is there something unique or really interesting about the terrain for it to have made the list?
2. The first cheap lodging with the shortest drive I came across in Reno is Best Western Plus Boomtown. Seems too cheap to be true so is this place decent? Maybe it's cheap because it's a casino and they want to lure people to stay?

Edit: hotel is in Verdi, just west of Reno near the state border.

Be careful when checking casino rates. Most of the Reno ones have the evil daily "Resort fee" these can be $20 to $60 a day additional
and sometimes booking sites have them hidden in the fine print. The Peppermill casino has a high daily resort fee.

Boomtown is a whistlestop on 80 that's 10 minutes from downtown Reno but still 30 min from Palisades OV. Probably decent but I've not stopped there except for food.
They had good buffets pre-Covid. Not sure about now. The buffets in South Lake Tahoe are all gone now. Don't know about Reno.

 

[TheArchitect]

Be careful when checking casino rates. Most of the Reno ones have the evil daily "Resort fee" these can be $20 to $60 a day additional
and sometimes booking sites have them hidden in the fine print. The Peppermill casino has a high daily resort fee.

Boomtown is a whistlestop on 80 that's 10 minutes from downtown Reno but still 30 min from Palisades OV. Probably decent but I've not stopped there except for food.
They had good buffets pre-Covid. Not sure about now. The buffets in South Lake Tahoe are all gone now. Don't know about Reno.

Thanks, John. I’m still looking at options and Boomtown is sliding down the list but I appreciate the intel.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Couple of footnotes reading this thread:
-Diamond Peak is famous for great views of Lake Tahoe, as evident in Phil's photos.
-Like Palisades-Tahoe, Mammoth is also on Ikon.

 

[SkiDB]

It is beyond disappointing that this decision wasn't announced earlier. I purchased a Mountain Collective pass for 2024 in preparation for the 2024 gathering being in Big Sky per the "Rotation." Unfortunately not a single Tahoe area resort is on the Mountain Collective pass. I guess my options are to now buy an Ikon pass at very high summer prices, pay the ticket counter rate, or miss the gathering.

Next year can the gathering location please be announced while passes are still on the spring sale? I had to pull the trigger and make a decision, and I simply got left out by this late decision to switch to Lake Tahoe. The Mountain Collective pass is a much easier sell for someone like me who doesn't have Ikon locations near by, and all previous gathering destinations have been on the Mountain Collective.