USA Today put out a list recently of the 10 best US ski towns. See
here
From #10 to #1: McCall, Bend, Stowe, Aspen, Lake Placid, Breckenridge, Truckee, Jackson, Mammoth Lakes, North Conway.
A couple surprises for me and places I've never been are McCall and Truckee. I've driven by Truckee and never stopped. I thought it was just an Idaho Springs type of roadside retail strip, but maybe I'm wrong?
Truckee is very different from the ski towns that currently appeal to upscale travelers such as Jackson, Aspen, Breck, or Lake Placid.
It is a flawed question.
Truckee has become a much better ski town in the last 20 years. I will eat there before driving back in its downtown. You could not really buy in Tahoe City, so it became a much better alternative.
There are some ski towns that actually draw bigger crowds in summer, than winter, such as Jackson, WY, South Lake Tahoe, CA/NV. Those can be great places to visit in winter because there is an abundance of lodging at decent prices.
When I moved to Truckee/N Tahoe in Fall 1975, I first stayed with friends in small house on Truckee River just N of Big Chief (on CA-89 closer to Palisades than Truckee). Then I shared rental in Prosser Lakeview Estates, a couple of miles N of Truckee for 6 months. We were the only house on our block that is now totally built out. Then friends and I shared 4-bedroom log house (big logs - 3 or 4 of them made downstairs walls) near Sunnyside on the W Shore of Tahoe a couple of miles S of Tahoe City for a year. Finally, I had a studio apartment with a view of Donner Lake out then kitchen window for my last couple of months.
Truckee benefits and suffers from being on I-80, and to a lesser extent the main railroad line from Chicago to Northern CA. If there is a big storm that shuts down I-80, as often seems to happen at the end of a holiday period or weekend, getting anywhere in town can be a nightmare with parked or stopped traffic blocking roads near CA-89 and I-80 and along old US-40/Donner Pass Rd. And when there is new snow, traffic getting from I-80/CA-89 can make for an hour or more drive for the 10 miles to Palisades (~12 to Alpine). While the railroad provides some jobs and transportation options with a downtown Amtrak station, it also makes some pollution and a lot of noise near downtown, sometimes in the middle of the night. Before the CA-267 bridge over the Truckee River was built, almost all traffic from Truckee/I80 to Northstar had to cross RR tracks in downtown.
Two things Truckee has are a lot of nearby ski areas and many neighborhood options. There are the 4 ski areas on Donner Pass plus the largest XC area in the US is there and even closer to Truckee, Tahoe Donner has both downhill and XC. Then there are 5 more areas (Northstar, Palisades, which almost counts as two areas, and small Granlibakken) if you go as far as Homewood (which used to be two areas) and Diamond Peak. And Mt Rose, and Sky Tavern are within an hour of Truckee (not today!) and there is Pacific Crest Snowcat very close to Truckee off CA-89
Tahoe Donner has a small downhill (I boarded there in Winter 2007 in 2-3" new with two 15 year-olds) and large cross country ski area, golf course, clubhouses with pools and restaurants, and private beach and marina on Donner Lake. It's one of the largest HOAs in the US with almost 6,500 homes and ~$3,000 annual dues. Besides the HOA, another disadvantage of Tahoe Donner is that road most people use to enter and exit the 6,500 homes is steep enough to often have accidents/closures/problems. Some friends I stay with live on road closest to CA-89 off backway into Tahoe Donner. No HOA although they have to pay for road maintenance and snowplowing and homes range from $2-7M. A couple of older neighborhoods near Truckee are Ponderosa Palisades, across the street from regional park that has Summer music series and Sierra Meadows that has small HOA fee and more amenities.
More info about them. Average home prices in Truckee ~$1M and many local workers are having to commute from Reno area.
Some other older neighborhoods are S (very shaded in Winter) and W of Donner Lake and there are some houses along (and across street from) Donner Lake between I-80 and where old highway goes uphill to Sugar Bowl and Donner Ski Ranch. Then there are the new and expensive areas such as Old Greenwood, near I-80 and Schaeffer's Mill and Martis Camp, gated, very expensive neighborhoods close to Northstar. There is also an older, large neighborhood E of Truckee (very cold area) named Glenshire. So, there is a lot more to Truckee that the historical downtown and the business corridor near I-80/CA-89 and along Donner Pass Rd. The historic downtown still contains two bars, Bar of America in old BofA building and Past Time Club, and two eateries, Squeeze In and Wagon Train, that were popular almost 50 years ago when I lived there. There are also many new businesses downtown and off road to Northstar.
I think South Lake is more of a ski town than Truckee with Heavenly having one base on US-50 in Stateline, the main CA base on edge of town a couple of miles away and two more bases off Kingsbury Grade (the route I use to get to Mammoth, 2 1/2 hours away with stop for cheap NV gas). You also have two nearby ski areas: Sierra-at-Tahoe, not much over 15 miles away and on Ikon, and Kirkwood, about 35 miles from So. Tahoe on Epic. Besides casino with gambling, many entertainment and food options, you have many ski shops and other stores and restaurants.
