Where to get a pass in tahoe?

Heavenly - Best of both worlds.

http://blog.skiheavenly.com/2010/08/17/recycled-features-project-continues-for-the-heavenly-terrain-parks

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=11408895388

Except your stuck in south lake, and at the most tourist ridden resort. Any of the northlake resorts(Squaw, Alpine, N*, Boreal) would keep you entertained.

I would partly agree, Yes there is more tourists from time to time but not as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. I've been to other resorts like squaw,seirra and N* and been WAY worse, just depends on when you hit it and most of the tourists stay away from park chairs. On the + side of tourists is there WAY more night life in south lake, so or not stuck in a cabin doing nothing at night. but those other resorts are fun... we'll see how squaw is now that there 2 main park guys (manager and grooming super) are no longer there...

Anywhere on the northshore

alpine or squaw. plus a boreal pass for early season and night skiing. i tried northstar one season and was frustrated with the crowds and flatness of the mountain.

Alpine Meadows.

Here's a post I made in a similar thread a while ago, comparing the main two worthwhile resorts in North Lake...



Alpine's not as big as Squaw, and it doesn't have as much gnarly terrain, but its got some really good stuff in bounds. Idiot's delight, keyhole, beaver, estelle, scott's chute, etc.

Alpine's boundry policy owns squaw's, basically you can go wherever the fuck you want so long as you don't have to go through closed terrain to get there. This said, be smart about it- the ski patrol doesn't really do any work out of bounds, save over the access road. BUT the sidecountry of Alpine is amazing- you can do a huge amount of great backcountry ripping, using lifts to get most of the way there- check Munchkins, Grouse Rock, Finger Lakes, and what's known to locals as the Condo Run.

The inbounds terrain works in a good way, too- the lifts don't get you everywhere. You have to hike a little (15-20 min. tops) to get to the best stuff, which means fewer people do it. Which means better snow, for longer after a storm.

Plus there are fewer people in general (while everyone's going to squaw next door, only those who already know about alpine/are too cheap for squaw are there. Which is really significant).

Trust me, you'll like it.









Northstar is a pancake with Time's-Square-on-new-years-eve crowds, and it is NOT worth your time.

Squaw on a pow day gets skied out in a matter of minutes, whereas at Alpine you can ski pow 3, 4 days after a storm.

Boreal is good for early season and night skiing, as already said, and the park is pretty fun. Creative jibs are good.

Sugar Bowl is fun on a pow day, but there's not as much vertical to play with as other resorts. It's still a ton of fun.

Rose is cool, but pretty small. The chutes are fun, but its pretty out of the way and there are better resorts around.

Heavenly isn't really worth your time... I find it to be mostly flat, with the exception of a few areas, and pretty crowded. Not to mention that it gets a lot less snow than the rest of tahoe.

Kirkwood gets TONS of snow and its sick terrain.

Sierra-at-tahoe has some really fun zones and a cool park, but again, it's out of the way and pretty isolated.

Homewood is a pretty flat spot- but it's well protected from the wind. AND your Alpine season pass works there... so when Alpine is closed because it's blowing 80 up top, go to homewood to ski pow with a few locals who know whats up. There won't be crowds since the general group of people who go to homewood are fairweather skiers there for the view.


Of the above listed resorts, Alpine is definitely my favorite- it combines a lot of stuff. Also, Jonahs, the park manager, is the absolute bomb. If you watch Eye Trip, you'll know why... remember that gigantic snow feature in the trailer... step up to snow table to step down? That was at Alpine.

for park i'd go northstar hands down. the park there kills it. For Powder maybe Squaw, they have a decent park, but it wouldn't compare to anything like mammoth. The closest your gonna get to a Mammoth caliber park is probably northstar

Alpine/Homewood would be your best bet in terms of great park, great pow skiing/side country and Homewood is just a sweet little resort that has some awesome pow stashes in the trees....but if your coming from SF, Sugar Bowl would be a great option too (I grew up in SF and had a pass to Sugar Bowl for 5+ years) It's close and has some dope terrain.

Squaw is fucking dope shit, but like others mentioned...it gets blown up and skied out real quick.

powderbro hit it right on the head.

For sure PM me and if you're lucky you might follow me to a secret stash or two. It's always nice to have a bro to ski with

hah sweet will do. I'll bring gopros and chest mounts for all

I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.

hehe maybe if you're lucky you might follow ME to a stash or two!

You can't go wrong with Alpine or Squaw, both have great terrain and good parks. Personally I have a pass to squaw but you really can't go wrong with either. Kirkwood has pretty much no park, but great terrain and its emptier then most everywhere else. Northstar and Boreal have a lot of park and they seem good, but I never really ski park that much so I am not a good person to go into this. Sugar Bowl is also a pretty good combination and its the closest if your just doing day trips.

But yea Squaw is just Epic, there is so much terrain just off of KT-22. Then there are a couple other lifts that you will definitely enjoy also. Its also a really fun vibe there on powder days. Yes there are a ton of good skiers but I love seeing people tee off and there are always little stashes and stuff where you can go. Also the park seemed to be switched up quite a bit, not as much as northstar or something but they kept it in pretty good shape and have some really cool features.

You didn't show me anything I didn't already know... just pointed out one way to make good laps on a pow day. And I've got a few more to show you this season ;D

well if you know it then it's not a stash! of course i have some more well-kept secrets

Don't we all? Definitely gonna be a fun season

wooorrdd i'm too stoked

I'm not sure if that's possible... the level of stoke is certainly well past the doctor recommended levels for sure though!

abe, atleast get the 300$ homewood/alpine student pass if you're still taking classes.. the Sierra/N* pass is also a good idea... Boreal is fun preseason and during the season as well. it's super small and flat, but tons of fun in the park. They even have fun pow days cuz no one goes there for pow

if you want a cheap pass, go alpine. it's good there and homewood, and it's only like 300 bucks. if you want an awesome pass, go squaw. it's way too goddamn expensive, but squaw is by far the best resort in Tahoe, and I will stand by that statement until the day I die.

Squaw used to be rediculously expensive, like 1200 or something like that. But last year they brought the prices down and its reasonable...for squaw, worth getting a pass.

it depends on your price range. Mammoth has everything in 1 mountain, in tahoe it's far more spread out. I don't think a boreal pass is worth it unless u want to hit rail for a few weeks in november.

Heavenly doesnt have big jumps...  so your saying 50-60fters arent big?? cause we had a 4 pack of them then switched it to 3pk to big ass snow feature

What resort does not have 50'+ jumps? A 50'er is not longer considered big.

And as a park crew worker Heavenly-TPC is a little bit bias I think.

No discredit to Heavenly's park though. Always looks legit.

aight my bad. I didn't make it to heavenly past February, cause northstar had 2 70 footers on the straits which were super fun and you could lap pretty quickly. I hope heavenly has 3-4 50+ footers cause i got a pass there this year.

NO worries CJ- not really biais but i can see your point of view.  i ride alot of other resorts and like i said heavenly isnt the best freeride mtn... just well rounded.

Jsiegel- you wont be disapointed, we've changed alot over the past few years and are changing even more this season, lots of big fun things happening here this winter. good choice... :)

Here's what I love about tahoe.

There are so many places where you really just can't go wrong lol.

I will do the same, except not chest mounts.

BUT, I am converting to the Alpine/Homewood combo and I don't have a ton of homies from sac with me on that. I'd love to shred with some other NS'ers.

ill be at alpine amost every day of the week or boreal hit me up

I'll also be rocking the Alpine/Homewood pass. Working @ HW, but will be riding alpine any time i'm not at work.

Haha it looks like Alpine's going to be the place to be this season! If I see you guys around I'll holler for sure

Will do. One of my good friends whom I always ride with is converting too. Alpine is blowin up for the NSers apparently.

I think you mean they are starting to catch up with where they were 4 years ago...

that's more like it, I'll be a passholder at alpine for the fifth year now, and it's going to be awesome!

Seems we have a new generation of NS'ers browsing the regional board now. Most probably don't know Alpine was THE place to ski for NS'ers before the 2007/2008 season. The last year most of us were there was the 06/07 season, before the resort was sold by powder corp. I wish they never sold it.

Same here... JMA has been making some good decisions (holy park boat batman!) and some bad ones (tubeville, excessive grooming...)

Personally i think the RFID gates were a good thing, given the rates of people who used to ski without passes- hop on the first lift around a lifty and then ski upper mountain.

since they got the gates working without a problem, it's not a bad thing at all.

That said, I want the old menu back! The burritos are good, but what the hell happened to the Ice Shack being run independantly? I want the old shack back...


For those of you who're going to be new to alpine this season, check out www.unofficialalpine.com. It's a forum for Alpine skiers, and there are plenty of secrets buried in the forums, plus rumors and discussions that AM does seem to take notice of, though they'll not likely admit it.

oh four years ago, takes me back to the times....

https://newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/313876/

https://newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/315712/

sweet guys, thanks for all the advice! Seems like everyone I know is getting a northstar pass, and sounds like alpine is the way to go for terrain. I'll see what my budget & timing says and see if I have a place to stay on weekends..working on housing. either way, stoked to see there'll be a good scene anywhere I go, stoked to go out and shred my CRJ's in some more pow soon..ish

Winter Season in Video 09/10 from Heavenly Mountain on Vimeo.

ATTN: all of you stroking Northstar: I just realized that its actually such a great resort you should just probably only ride there this year and not even waste your time at other resorts. save the other "weaker" resorts from being embarrassed by your dominating prowess on the snow. We will miss you... in the lift lines.... so much.