School me on getting up to Tahoe this Week

Living in the bay (Palo Alto). Looks like this week in Tahoe is going to be all time for snow. Don't think I can live with myself not going up to ski 2-5 feet of pow.

So I'm thinking of playing hooky from work Thursday.

I'm on the epic local pass, so mainly looking to ski at Kirkwood, or Heavenly. Both seem to have about the same mount of advanced-expert terrain (steep) which will be necessary for this storm. Any thoughts on who might do a better job of getting lifts open with this much snow? Kirkwood is lower in elevation, so maybe that will be better since the winds will be so high with this storm? Maybe less crowded too?


As far as driving up, I assume the roads will be a mess. Kirkwood I'd take 88, Heavenly looks like I'd take 50. Are either more likely to shut down? I have my Jeep Cherokee with good tires which can handle pretty much anything, so I am not concerned about being able to drive myself, mostly just shut-downs. If I plan to ski Thursday, better off leaving late on Wednseday night (7-8PM) or early Thursday (4am?)

Greatly appreciate any advice from locals.

Also, if any mags are looking for a skiing buddy or want to join me Thursday hit me up

If the forecast holds, Wednesday night through Thursday is the brunt of the storm. Driving either of those times would suck, bomber vehicle or not. You may have very little vis. If I were you I’d probably take Friday off, drive up Thursday night and stay through the weekend.

With the winds as they are both resorts might not get much running. If 6 is running Kirkwood is worth the trouble. The top of heavenly almost surely won’t run but gunbarrel and powderbowl are fun on storm days, especially if coverage is decent down low and the snow isn’t too manky. I haven’t been to heavenly this season so not sure how things are.

Carson spur on 88 is prone to closure for avy control. Carson Pass also closes sometimes during big storms. 50 is the last road to close through Tahoe generally. There are occasions when I go to Kirkwood from SF via 50 if I’m worried about getting stuck at the spur, which is no fun.

Good luck, there’ll be a lot of rad skiing this weekend, but equal amounts of traffic clusterfucks.

Leave now. Seriously get up tonight or tomorrow AM latest.

And always Kirkwood > Heavenly.

So the downside is I need to be back in the Bay Friday evening, to pick up friends. then I'm going back to Heavenly for the weekend haha.

Leave tonight, ski wed-Thurs, head back Friday morning? Decent amount of terrain may be closed Friday that will open the weekend perhaps

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Originally Posted by Muggydude

So the downside is I need to be back in the Bay Friday evening, to pick up friends. then I'm going back to Heavenly for the weekend haha.

Leave tonight, ski wed-Thurs, head back Friday morning? Decent amount of terrain may be closed Friday that will open the weekend perhaps

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First, read BA's forecasts religiously:

https://opensnow.com/dailysnow/tahoe

2nd, most of the lift/road closures will be Wed-Thurs. Lower elevation / wind protected resorts and BC will still probably ski really well Wed-Thurs. I don't ski south shore so not as familiar but my guess you may not reach Kirkweed from either side Wed-Thursday. Friday will likely be the first day shit higher up gets opened back up, slowly after a ton of snow control work. Highest/biggest stuff may not even open Friday after 4'+ new snow.
Saturday will likely be the day *everything* gets opened back up, and of course it's on a holiday weekend so it will be a total fucking shit show. Driving back to the bay (and especially back up to Tahoe Friday night) will be a total fucking nightmare - could be a 12hr+ adventure. Sorry just being honest...

Don’t drive up to Tahoe Friday night. Driving back from Tahoe Friday night might not be awful. But probably not great either.

Early Saturday drives to Tahoe are pretty nice besides getting up at 4 or whatever.

Given your constraints, I’d probably drive up early tomorrow and ski both days, then drive home Thursday night during the break. Then rest up and drive back up early Saturday morning. Just be warned heavenly on a Saturday is a shitshow. Maybe not as bad with holiday blackouts, idk. But heavenly is Tahoe’s premier dumbass magnet IME. Sidecountry there will be awesome this weekend I’d think.

Googling “ca XX road conditions” will get you Caltrans links for whatever road you’re looking for. Caltrans regional Facebook pages can be useful as well.

From skiing Kirkwood a lot my guess is that Friday will be the best day with different parts of the front side opening throughout the day as they dig out and do control. Saturday they’ll probably get the backside open and there will be a shit ton of people around, which isn’t that bad except for parking.

I’d guess that Wednesday will probably not be too disrupted, and Thursday could be just the mid-mountain front side lifts. Those two days are pretty hard to predict though.

May I offer:
Late Wednesday and definitely Thursday are going to have major wind issues at KW and probably Heavenly too. Northstar, while flat, is usually a good bet on windy days. Long powder runs on the Backside and Lookout Mountain are fun when it's deep.

Good info.

Head back up earllly Saturday morning.

For Wednesday and Thursday - what would be the most wind protected resorts in general (doesn’t have to be epic pass)? May go somewhere besides Kirkwood or Heavenly if they won’t have much running. North Star as Light Ranger suggested?

Northstar and Homewood are the go-tos. Sugar Bowl does better than others, though not as good as the first two. Potentially Sierra over KW and HV.

ETA: Remember that when roads are bad (like they will be over the next couple of days), 89 closes around Emerald Bay for avalanche reasons. So to get to, say, Homewood from SLT, you'd have to go all the way around the lake.

North Star seems the best bet then for me. Think it will be worth it tomorrow and Thursday? Hoping Northstar will stay open, but with the forecasted wind maybe not even there

Yes, all this is good info. N* tree skiing is a great move on high wind days. Sierra also. And yeah, count on emerald bay being closed for a few days. Doesn’t matter if you just base out of north lake for wed/thu.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but keep an eye on the Caltrans (pretty sure it’s cal trans..) twitter feed or website for road updates.

As others have said, leave as soon as you can. And definitely 100% come back Saturday early am (not Friday night) with your friends. Not sure if you’re skiing north or south lake with friends but the wait to get into resorts if you’re not arriving by 7:30a can be 1.5+ hrs on a holiday weekend with a lot of snow. Try to get up before crack of dawn Saturday and cruise up. The entire Bay Area and all of its vehicles come north on Friday night. Up to 7 hours of traffic is pretty standard IME on way there/back if you’re driving with everyone else Friday night & Monday afternoon.

Final note, if you’re returning from North Lake, be especially careful near Emigrant Gap (on way down from Donner Summit, leaving Truckee area). Downgrade is unforgiving if the roads are at all slick. Been in an accident there with 5 other cars.


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N* and Homewood are fun on high wind days. Diamond Peak has no one that skis off piste IME, i imagine that would be fun too.

Useful site here:
https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/avalanche/?area=tahoe

Click "Snow Level Forecasts." Northstar will have a bit more than Brockway Summit. Kirkwood will be similar to Carson. Sierra-at-Tahoe and maybe Heavenly similar to Echo. Sugar Bowl, and maybe Alpine, and Squaw similar to Donner.

The CalTrans Quickmap is very good. I have a semi-janky Android app that does the same thing as the Quickmap, but in list format, which I think is faster (e.g. for perusing the CHP dispatch log to see where accidents are).

Can somebody please find that Basom and Wildbill TR "Maw of the Gurge" or something?

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Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles

Can somebody please find that Basom and Wildbill TR "Maw of the Gurge" or something?

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Classic thread. In the HOF forum somewhere. I think that was the (fucking epic) winter of 2006, IIRC. Or maybe 2005, which was also good.

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The whole thread is worthwhile but here is where the TR starts:

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...t.php?p=307050

Pic links are broken sadly.

Thanks for bringing that up, I hadn’t read that before.

Whenever I read old TGR threads I’m struck by how much more excited and tight knit mags seemed to be back in the day. Not a bad thing that it’s different now, just funny to observe how much the vibe has changed.

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Originally Posted by jorion

The whole thread is worthwhile but here is where the TR starts:

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...t.php?p=307050

Pic links are broken sadly.

Thanks for bringing that up, I hadn’t read that before.

Whenever I read old TGR threads I’m struck by how much more excited and tight knit mags seemed to be back in the day. Not a bad thing that it’s different now, just funny to observe how much the vibe has changed.

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Oh yeah. Mid-January 2005. That's right. I remember that cycle. 19 feet in two weeks. They were right at the end of it/best part.

Tahoe, this is my dream. One day I will go there. In the meantime, I watch cool photos and read travel reviews. I am very glad for people when they are happy.:wink:

Moved to SF last year and really hoping to get up frequently this year and just sleep it in my car. Pass is so expensive tho, trying to justify it.

Good car camping by Kirkwood no shortage of folks doing the same. Casino/hotel lots don't tow.

Vail does not allow camping in the valley. There are still some spots you can find there, but be careful of security. Don’t park in any of their lots.

Sno park is an option. Casinos as well. I’ve slept in the heavenly ca lot, but that might have been before Vail.

And passes are expensive? While I agree they have gone up in price you can still get a non black out KW pass for under $600. Seems reasonable in a normal year.