© Jeffrey Paduan 2024
Skiing
OUR FAVORITES:
Palisades Tahoe (Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows) --> webcams
Sugarbowl downhill --> webcams
Royal Gorge cross country
Tahoe Donner downhill and cross country
ADDITIONAL LINKS TO SKI AREAS AND MORE:
Skiing in the North Tahoe Basin
We have a collection of ski area maps on the living room bookshelf. Palisades Tahoe’s Olympic Valley (formerly Squaw Valley) offers free magic carpet rides to kids learning to ski/board and, rumor has it, to their parents mid-week, in their SnoVentures base area.
CROSS COUNTRY: There are trail suggestions by Tahoe Dave’s. The Tahoe Donner trail behind our house is XC skiable in winter (find summer trail map in our collection) and from it there are some great slopes for backcountry skiing (note you need to buy a trail pass if you stray onto the official TD XC trail system off to the north).
SNOWPLAY: We have a few saucers you may borrow. Sledding hills can be found right behind our house, across the power-line trail, and along the trail from the Glacier Way parking lot. You may use our snowshoes for walking on hiking trails. The TD golf course is off-limits to walking, XC skiing or dogs.
Tahoe Donner has an organized sliding and snowplay area for a fee at the Trout Creek Recreation Center (bring our TD transferable guest cards). Olympic Valley, Sugarbowl, Boreal, and Soda Springs Ski Areas also offer tubing.
PASSES AND DEALS: The best deal for downhill skiing is to buy a season pass well before the ski season. The version with some black-out dates (at holiday times that are too crowded anyway) will be paid off after skiing about 4 days. If you can’t do a season pass, consider purchasing a multi-day package.
RENTALS: Downhill equipment can be rented from Tahoe Dave’s (downtown and also near the high school in Truckee, and at the Olympic Valley turnoff from Hwy 89) and at the ski areas. Cross Country equipment can be rented from Paco’s on Donner Pass Road, and at the XC ski areas. Snowshoes can be rented at the Tahoe Donner snowplay area (and taken offsite), Tahoe Dave’s, and Backcountry Sports.
WEATHER FORECASTS:
Open Snow, Tahoe edition (subscription not necessary)
Weather Underground for Norden, CA (Donner Summit)