Homewood, CA Closed for Winter 2024/25

[ChrisC]

This is highly unfortunate. It is never a good sign when your financial partner does not support you through the approval process, unless this is just a power play/game of chicken with Lake Tahoe environmental agencies.

News Link

I did not realize Diamond Peak/Ski Incline had so much community support through taxes and HOA fees. However, it makes sense since Incline Village was a planned community with housing, lodging and amenities.


Homewood Website Link

An Update on Homewood Mountain Operations for 2024-25
To our Homewood community,    

As the caretakers of Homewood Mountain, we have always been excited to revitalize the resort and improve the skier experience for all with updated infrastructure and responsible environmental improvements to ensure the resort’s economic and environmental sustainability, consistent with the approved Master Plan.     

For many years, Homewood Mountain Resort (HMR) has been subsidizing the community’s ski experience while operating at a deficit during the approved Master Plan’s planning and permitting phases. Unlike other small ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe Basin such as Diamond Peak, Homewood is a privately owned business and is not supported by any public tax or other community assessment. For the last several years we have relied on our financial partner for the annual subsidy. 

In May 2024, HMR submitted an application for minor revisions to the 2011 approved Master Plan to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The proposed revisions are site plan modifications only. The proposed site plan changes are to move the gondola terminal to a more skier-friendly position, to reduce the massing of the buildings, reduce residential density, and to open the view corridors of the mountain and lake. The revisions make no changes whatsoever to the Master Plan’s central goal of restoring Homewood as a key gathering center for Lake Tahoe’s West Shore. Anyone who wants to buy a pass and ski at Homewood will continue to be able to do so on equal footing with anyone else. 

Since the applications were submitted, the Homewood Mountain Resort team has been diligently working with local and regional agencies and the West Shore community regarding the submission.  To date, we are still awaiting approval of the amendments, including the Madden Chair replacement (gondola) permit submitted over a year ago, to move forward on ski infrastructure and other investments. Hypothetical fears and false rumors regarding public access to the mountain from Keep Homewood Public’s leadership have dramatically slowed the pace of the approval process.  

Without a clear path forward, our financial partner has withdrawn their support for this ski season. As a result, we are now in the regrettable position of being unable to operate or sell season passes for the 2024-25 season. We understand the deep disappointment this announcement will cause. It goes without saying that this decision was not made lightly.     

The team at HMR remains focused on working through the approval process at this year’s upcoming planning meetings with community members and governing agencies in the hope that we can get the gondola installed next year and someday soon resume operations at the resort.  We are also working to support every employee so they have alternative employment or can stay with us while we work through the approval processes.  

We remain steadfast in our belief that our proposed revised plan – which includes new state-of-the-art infrastructure, environmental improvements, community gathering spaces, public access to the ski hill, and more – meets all stated requirements, addresses all concerns, and exemplifies economic and environmental responsibility.      

We are committed to the vision we share with the community for an enhanced, sustainable skier experience at Homewood Mountain Resort that will be available for locals and visitors alike for years to come.       

Sincerely,    

Homewood Mountain Resort    

 

[tseeb]

I first heard a teaser about a Tahoe ski area not opening for 24-25 season on local radio Friday late afternoon and thought it could be Donner Ski Ranch or Soda Springs before realizing that it must be Homewood which only makes sense for West Shore Tahoe locals who don't have an Ikon pass. Their access from Truckee (and Reno, Sacramento and SF Bay Area) often gets blocked by traffic going to the two Palisades bases and road from South Tahoe often closes due to snow/avalanche danger around Emerald Bay.

I lived for a year in Sunnyside, less than 4 miles from Homewood in 1976 and 1977. I had inexpensive passes ($300 at most) to what was then called Squaw for two winters; first one bought while working at Granlibakken and one bought early for following season. I never skied Homewood then although some houseguests without passes would, often taking advantage of less expensive 16 and under ticket even though they were a couple or more years older. I think Homewood was first at Tahoe with a low-speed quad chair that is now their only high-speed. They have some great trees and terrain, some of which requires a little hiking, but also suffer from low, Lake level, base elevation. They get dumped on in many storms, have great Lakeviews and had some snowcat access to Ellis Peak above their lifts.

I did get to Homewood for between 5 and 10 days starting in late 1990s although none in last 10-15 years when I had passes to other Tahoe areas. Most of my Homewood skiing was on ski show deals or other deals/freebies and all is before my computer records. I remember some good and a couple of great powder days when new snow lasted longer than it does now. I also remember having to drive the long way from Stateline area of South Lake Tahoe both ways (I'd thought Emerald Bay would open during day) in 1993 or 1994 as they were one of the closest ski areas with reasonable lift tickets and onsite day care for children in diapers. I also remember staying at a ski-in place there with group from work. Adding free days for Sierra Tahoe to my Ikon pass is a bigger gain for me than losing chance of paying too much to ski Homewood again.

 

[Sbooker]

Homewood has the best views of the lake out of all the Tahoe ski areas? Seems it's closer than Heavenly.

 

[jimk]

Homewood's beautiful, but I think Diamond Peak has it (and Heavenly) beat for views of Lake Tahoe:

March 2024

 

[ChrisC]

I did get to Homewood for between 5 and 10 days starting in late 1990s although none in last 10-15 years when I had passes to other Tahoe areas. Most of my Homewood skiing was on ski show deals or other deals/freebies and all is before my computer records. I remember some good and a couple of great powder days when new snow lasted longer than it does now.

I skied Homewood a couple of times in the 2000s - primarily because my first ski house (for a few years) was located between Tahoe City and Homewood on the NW shore of Lake Tahoe. It was a no-brainer to ski Homewood on heavy snow days due to its wind-protected lifts, slopes, glades, and lower crowd levels. Most of Squaw Valley or Alpine were closed on those types of days anyways. However, I did not often get Lake Tahoe views due to storm day skiing. They are definitely among the best of any Tahoe ski area; however, I prefer the additional altitude vantage points of Heavenly and Diamond Peak. (I skied Quail Face just once on a sunny day when it was open).

Mostly, from this ski house, we used the relatively unknown Alpine Meadows access from the backside Sherwood Lot / Ski Lift (5-10 minutes away with rockstar parking). However, given Palisades is now running weekend shuttles to this entryway, I'm not sure what crowding is like these days. Link

In the later 2000s, my ski house was on the Alpine Meadows Access Road, and you could ski home from Scotts Peak via Gentian Gully/Lower 40 areas. It was the best location, except it had a hot tub that other house members would chronically leave on

Homewood's beautiful, but I think Diamond Peak has it (and Heavenly) beat for views of Lake Tahoe:

You can see Homewood in both of your photos. Diamond Peak stares right at it. (Alpine and Sqauw are visible further Right (north)).

 

[EMSC]

(Alpine and Sqauw are visible further Left (north)).

Left? Isn't N to the right in the pic?

 

[ChrisC]

Left? Isn't N to the right in the pic?

Whoops. Yep - I meant right/north.

 

[Sbooker]

Thanks @jimk
Another ski hill added to my bucket list.

 

[ChrisC]

Looks like there is more to this Homewood closure. Here is a good read: Homewood Will Not Open This Season — Here’s Why

However, opponents of Homewood’s plans to potentially privatize the mountain believe that its development partners opted to close the resort after it became clear that they would not be able to move forward with making the mountain a members-only ski resort.

She believes that Homewood’s decision had something to do with a Tahoe Regional Planning Agency meeting on Sept. 25. That meeting of the Regional Planning Committee for the TRPA Governing Board was for informational purposes only and was the first TRPA meeting on Homewood’s new proposal to redevelop the resort. According to Astromoff, TRPA staff made it clear that approvals for projects and entitlements were predicated on the mountain remaining public, and were seeking concrete answers on what access the public would have to Homewood.

“We think they [Homewood] held their intentions to privatize up until Sept. 25, when the TRPA told them privatization was out of the question under current approvals,” Astromoff said. “We think they closed the mountain because they couldn’t get their way.”

...the TRPA said they have been waiting for enforceable language from JMA/Discovery about public access since May, when Homewood submitted amendments to the 2011 master plan.

“TRPA found that it did not have enough details for what was going to happen down the road, and it left open how do we come up with the required framework to define public access,” said TRPA spokesperson Jeff Cowen. “In this new territory, we need Homewood to give us a more concrete, detailed approach so we can review that.”

Cowen said the ball is in Homewood’s court as the agency awaits answers to questions about preserving public access. If Homewood were to move to privatize, it would be considered a change in use and would require a regional plan amendment, a much different and bigger application process.

The TRPA said it is also not approving piecemeal projects like replacing the Madden Chair until the agency has received all requested documents from Homewood and has a better picture of the overall vision of the ski resort’s future. The status of the Homewood redevelopment project is incomplete.

 

[ChrisC]

The Homewood owners should really worry about adding its Snowcat terrain into its lift-served footprint. Assume this would not be impossible, given the current use boundaries.

The current top elevation, 7,880, is too low for Tahoe. The resort needs to extend to Ellis Peak, which is 8,740 - higher than Alpine Meadow's summit of 8,640. Install the lift on a North—more likely NE aspect. The terrain on both the Homewood and Tahoe Ski Bowl sides could be near a 2,500 vertical drop.