At the end of February I met up with a few friends in Lake Tahoe, California, for a few days of skiing in the Sierra Nevadas. It was my visit to California and I was extremely excited to check it out. Unfortunately, this winter was one of the worst on record for snowfall and the mountains were in serious need of snow. After much deliberation, we decided to take our chances and hope for a big storm at the end of the week. Our luck paid off, as we received 15″ of snow during our last day of skiing at Squaw Valley. It was only the beginning of a big storm that eventually brought 5 feet of snow to the region over the next 4 days.

Lake Tahoe view from our hotel

The conditions during our first two days of skiing were less than ideal. They were good in the morning, but went downhill towards the end of the day. We made the 2-hour drive to Kirkwood for our first day of skiing. The drive was epic, with amazing views of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountains. Kirkwood was a fun mountain and seemed like it would be incredible on a powder day. The second day we drove to Alpine Meadows, which was only about 30 minutes away from our hotel on Lake Tahoe. Most of the mountain was covered in ice moguls, so we were forced to stay on a limited number of trails. We spent a lot of time in the terrain park at Alpine. The park was meticulously groomed and had a lot of smaller features, which was perfect for us since we were a bit rusty.

We woke up on the third day at 7 AM to 2 inches of snow outside of our hotel. By the time we got to Squaw Valley, it looked like there were around 4 inches at the base. We met up with some other friends and jumped on the gondola. It was a big powder day and Squaw was empty! Unbelievable. At the top of the gondola was the world’s first Starbucks “Ski-Thru” which was very cool. We skied powder all day at Squaw Valley and by the end of the day the mountain was reporting 15 inches of new snow. I don’t think I’ve ever had a day of skiing go by so fast!

Lake Tahoe was one of the most scenic places I’ve ever been to. Check out a few photos from the trip and a video edit that I made this afternoon.

View of Lake Tahoe from Alpine Meadows
Snowing hard at Squaw Valley
Kyle on the lift at Squaw Valley

See the full photo gallery on Flickr.