One day skiing trips from San Francisco Bay area
Discussion
After moving to the bay area a few months ago, we're looking to do some short one day ski trips to small resorts in the local area. We are in Los Gatos about 45 miles south of San Francisco. We can get to Tahoe/Heavenly in around 4 hours but would like to try some resorts closer. Not worried if small for a day. Any recommendations?
best bet would be the ones at donner pass, boreal, sugar bowl are the biggest, donner ski ranch and Tahoe at donner are small, soda springs smaller still. Still quite a trek though for a daytrip, Alpine meadows, squar aren't much further neither is northstar.
Sierra at Tahoe is nice too if you take the US50 at Sacramento as its on the mountain pass before you get to Tahoe
Sierra at Tahoe is nice too if you take the US50 at Sacramento as its on the mountain pass before you get to Tahoe
Kirkwood is nice, up there in terms of the big Tahoe ski areas, We have only been once thought and it was MLK weekend so really busy so had to park out in the village and catch the trailer in. Having said that whilst the base area was rammed and we had to queue for a while for the first lift, once we were up on the mountain and got away from the base area it was a good day, Cant say the same for heavenly on MLK weekend where we were just glad to get back down off the mountain without being wiped out by the nutters just doing their own thing with no regard to the ski code or anyone else on the mountain. I would imagine Kirkwood on a regular day would be really nice, its big downside is getting to it and why I didn't list it before as I wasn't sure if the 88 closed in winter. If the 88 is closed you pretty much have to go to Tahoe on the 50 before you turn back to Kirkwood so you will have driven past a couple of equal areas first such as Sierra.
There are a few ski areas on our map south of there, Bear Valley, Dodge river which may be worth a look for you, always been a bit too far for us when we stay in Reno or even SLT. Another option is Badger pass in Yosemite. Its halfway up Glacier point road, We tried to go there once as a detour weekend to avoid the MLK crush in Tahoe. we had a nice quiet day in the valley, but the day we had planned to ski was the first day of a week storm that put down 8 feet of snow in Tahoe. Going in the park was the only time we have been asked if we had chains, and the road up to the ski area was already on R3 chain control, mandating chains even on 4x4's at which point we decided it wasn't worth the risk on the road.
The good thing about the Donner pass ones I posted last night is they are all pretty much on the I80 so you don't spend a lot of time on the slow Tahoe roads. Boreal pretty much has its own exit off the I80 which runs down the side of the car park, it has some nice runs, its only downsides being it doesn't have much vertical so that sre short too, having said that on the days we have been there queues were not a problem but weekend may be different. If you go to boreal get yourself an Iride card for free days.
I wouldn't recommend Donner ski ranch if its snowing especially if its wet snow as we got covered in grease dripping off the lift towers. other than that not a bad place, very mom and pop rustic.
Tahoe Donner is a very small local hill, it only has one proper lift and another serving the bunny runs. the main lift servers a couple of short blue runs. It is really good though if you want to build a skill in a nice and quiet run, we pretty much taught our self to covert from snowplough to parallel turns there and its real cheap. If you are skiing diamonds though you will be bored real quick.
Sugar bowl used to be owned by Disney, not sure if it still is, so it was well run. Again though another one we have only been to once and should make a return too.
Northstar is up there with heavenly for runs, but it a pain if your not staying on hill in our opinion, you have to park and catch the bus to the base area, it drops you off at the wrong end, so you have to walk through the village to get your pass and then catch the gondola up to the main lift area. Once you get there its real nice but your knackered.
Alpine is a midrange resort, the lifts are well thought out, some nice runs, and its linked to squaw now all on the same ticket.
Homewood is going to put you at the mercy of Tahoe roads, Its another midrange resort but has some views to rival heavenly, just not as many, but then its not as expensive either. Diamond peak is in the same category but we are now getting well beyond your nearer than heavenly criteria. Check out the deals at Mt rose of you can ski mid week, usually have 2for Tuesday, ladies day, free for Annette, etc
On the note of deals, not sure if they are doing it again this year, but have for the past few, keep an eye out for ski for free shell gas stations, Filling up your tank can get you a voucher for buy one get one free lift ticket.
Were still so jealous, but you have to get you off that overpriced heavenly hill lol. How's the snow looking, did they get much in the storm in the last couple of days? I was speaking to someone from San Francisco on Monday and he was saying it was cold in SF but still not a lot of snow up in the mountains. The last storm looked like it was more focused on Utah so we still don't know if we are turning left or right out of Vegas.
There are a few ski areas on our map south of there, Bear Valley, Dodge river which may be worth a look for you, always been a bit too far for us when we stay in Reno or even SLT. Another option is Badger pass in Yosemite. Its halfway up Glacier point road, We tried to go there once as a detour weekend to avoid the MLK crush in Tahoe. we had a nice quiet day in the valley, but the day we had planned to ski was the first day of a week storm that put down 8 feet of snow in Tahoe. Going in the park was the only time we have been asked if we had chains, and the road up to the ski area was already on R3 chain control, mandating chains even on 4x4's at which point we decided it wasn't worth the risk on the road.
The good thing about the Donner pass ones I posted last night is they are all pretty much on the I80 so you don't spend a lot of time on the slow Tahoe roads. Boreal pretty much has its own exit off the I80 which runs down the side of the car park, it has some nice runs, its only downsides being it doesn't have much vertical so that sre short too, having said that on the days we have been there queues were not a problem but weekend may be different. If you go to boreal get yourself an Iride card for free days.
I wouldn't recommend Donner ski ranch if its snowing especially if its wet snow as we got covered in grease dripping off the lift towers. other than that not a bad place, very mom and pop rustic.
Tahoe Donner is a very small local hill, it only has one proper lift and another serving the bunny runs. the main lift servers a couple of short blue runs. It is really good though if you want to build a skill in a nice and quiet run, we pretty much taught our self to covert from snowplough to parallel turns there and its real cheap. If you are skiing diamonds though you will be bored real quick.
Sugar bowl used to be owned by Disney, not sure if it still is, so it was well run. Again though another one we have only been to once and should make a return too.
Northstar is up there with heavenly for runs, but it a pain if your not staying on hill in our opinion, you have to park and catch the bus to the base area, it drops you off at the wrong end, so you have to walk through the village to get your pass and then catch the gondola up to the main lift area. Once you get there its real nice but your knackered.
Alpine is a midrange resort, the lifts are well thought out, some nice runs, and its linked to squaw now all on the same ticket.
Homewood is going to put you at the mercy of Tahoe roads, Its another midrange resort but has some views to rival heavenly, just not as many, but then its not as expensive either. Diamond peak is in the same category but we are now getting well beyond your nearer than heavenly criteria. Check out the deals at Mt rose of you can ski mid week, usually have 2for Tuesday, ladies day, free for Annette, etc
On the note of deals, not sure if they are doing it again this year, but have for the past few, keep an eye out for ski for free shell gas stations, Filling up your tank can get you a voucher for buy one get one free lift ticket.
Were still so jealous, but you have to get you off that overpriced heavenly hill lol. How's the snow looking, did they get much in the storm in the last couple of days? I was speaking to someone from San Francisco on Monday and he was saying it was cold in SF but still not a lot of snow up in the mountains. The last storm looked like it was more focused on Utah so we still don't know if we are turning left or right out of Vegas.
Edited by ViperDave on Friday 20th December 09:16
I'm not a California native, though I visited both Squaw Valley and Heavenly and thought they were both superb resorts.
What I am bringing to the thread is not a comment on the resorts but more one of controlling the cost. My local Shell station offers a free ski pass that you get when you fill your car up. You can use a free pass with each normally priced ticket. I used this to ski in Michigan last year and had no problems with it. The system works in California and some other states and is very worthwhile - given that the effort to do it is minimal. Here is the website link:
http://www.skifreedeals.com/
Good luck and if you use the ticket please let us know if your experience was as good as mine.
What I am bringing to the thread is not a comment on the resorts but more one of controlling the cost. My local Shell station offers a free ski pass that you get when you fill your car up. You can use a free pass with each normally priced ticket. I used this to ski in Michigan last year and had no problems with it. The system works in California and some other states and is very worthwhile - given that the effort to do it is minimal. Here is the website link:
http://www.skifreedeals.com/
Good luck and if you use the ticket please let us know if your experience was as good as mine.
GavinPearson said:
I'm not a California native, though I visited both Squaw Valley and Heavenly and thought they were both superb resorts.
What I am bringing to the thread is not a comment on the resorts but more one of controlling the cost. My local Shell station offers a free ski pass that you get when you fill your car up. You can use a free pass with each normally priced ticket. I used this to ski in Michigan last year and had no problems with it. The system works in California and some other states and is very worthwhile - given that the effort to do it is minimal. Here is the website link:
http://www.skifreedeals.com/
Good luck and if you use the ticket please let us know if your experience was as good as mine.
Sounds good! If they do the same in 2014...What I am bringing to the thread is not a comment on the resorts but more one of controlling the cost. My local Shell station offers a free ski pass that you get when you fill your car up. You can use a free pass with each normally priced ticket. I used this to ski in Michigan last year and had no problems with it. The system works in California and some other states and is very worthwhile - given that the effort to do it is minimal. Here is the website link:
http://www.skifreedeals.com/
Good luck and if you use the ticket please let us know if your experience was as good as mine.
Viper_Larry said:
Sounds good! If they do the same in 2014...
Starts Jan 6th. China peak, Homewood, Mt Rose, Sierra and Shasta. Not as many resorts as previous years as Alpine used to be in it and I'm sure the first year we used it Kirkwood was as well.IIRC the shell station at the Oakland end of the bay bridge has participated in the past, but a lot of them do and they tend to have the triangle board up on top of the pumps advertising it if they are part of the promotion.
Let us know how you get on and what the snow's really like at the moment.
Not sure if we will bother with Tahoe this year unless we hear of better conditions or snowfall as what I have been seeing on weather.com and reading on epicski.com it sounds like another thin cover and icy/slushy year so far.
Getting bored of Utah though so really want to have a good Tahoe year for a change, but last year one day at diamond peak with patchy dust covered ice was enough to send us off to Oregon in search of active snowfall. Didn't fare much better the year before with limited trails open and the ones that were, were melting fast and lots of dirt and rocks getting dragged up to the surface.
Really need to break down the high pressure in the pacific that's sending all the storms to Alaska and break that drought with a good 8ft storm or two.
Not sure if we will bother with Tahoe this year unless we hear of better conditions or snowfall as what I have been seeing on weather.com and reading on epicski.com it sounds like another thin cover and icy/slushy year so far.
Getting bored of Utah though so really want to have a good Tahoe year for a change, but last year one day at diamond peak with patchy dust covered ice was enough to send us off to Oregon in search of active snowfall. Didn't fare much better the year before with limited trails open and the ones that were, were melting fast and lots of dirt and rocks getting dragged up to the surface.
Really need to break down the high pressure in the pacific that's sending all the storms to Alaska and break that drought with a good 8ft storm or two.
Took us exactly 3.5 hours to get there and back so journey was good. Was able to park right in the village and just as we were changed and about to walk to the lift, the car park attendant said the paid parking area was now open and we could move the car there if we wanted, but had to be quick. Ever tried driving in ski boots? Nye on impossible, but at least it was automatic so just idled up there, lol. Parked right next to the bottom lifts.
Snow looked OK from there but south facing slopes were bare. Annette read that 23 runs were open but we only managed to ski 4 all day, 1 green, 2 blue and 1 black! There were a couple of other blacks open but icy mogul fields are not my thing. It was enough for a single day as we didn't get on the slopes until 10:30 but barely. At least it was quiet with no lift queues.
Got chatting to an English woman on the lift that's been in the US 18 years and said Kirkwood should have 6 or 7 feet by now and normally gets the best conditions in the area , so doesn't bode well for the Tahoe region.
Snow looked OK from there but south facing slopes were bare. Annette read that 23 runs were open but we only managed to ski 4 all day, 1 green, 2 blue and 1 black! There were a couple of other blacks open but icy mogul fields are not my thing. It was enough for a single day as we didn't get on the slopes until 10:30 but barely. At least it was quiet with no lift queues.
Got chatting to an English woman on the lift that's been in the US 18 years and said Kirkwood should have 6 or 7 feet by now and normally gets the best conditions in the area , so doesn't bode well for the Tahoe region.
From what I can read on forums, this year seems like a disaster snow-wise. I have been to Mammoth a few times in previous years, which is not that far from Tahoe (but much easier to get to from SD). Often I went at Thanksgiving or over the Xmas holiday. In previous year I have seen it fully open at Thanksgiving, and with 10+ ft of snow of Xmas. This year, there has been a total of 45" of snow fall over the whole season so far...
Oh well, it will get better!
Oh well, it will get better!
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