Tour of Vail Tahoe resorts January 5-7, 2026

[tseeb]

Northstar, CA January 5, 2026
I was planning on Kirkwood, but 88 was closed over avalanche prone Carson Spur from Silver Lake to Kirkwood for at least 24 hrs. CA-88 return to So. Tahoe from Kirkwood was also closed on Sunday until after 9 PM. My alternative route US-50 to Meyers, then going S and W to Kirkwood seems too long and includes 3 passes. Caltrans was not very helpful as they posted that only EB was closed due to spinouts when it was closed both ways until 1 PM Monday for avy control. FB post. Don't think it was this clear and winds were strong over top of Cornice chair.

My original alternate was Sierra, but one of my Truckee friends said his neighbor and another friend from PA were in town and another Truckee friend would be at Northstar so after early start, I did the 4 1/2 drive with about 30 miles of chain control but no delays. I skied Northstar 9 to 315; 18 lifts and 28K according to my Garmin. Snow was better off East Ridge off Comstock, but Backside gives a lot more vertical. Lines stayed short all day.

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I made some powder turns on every run and some runs had many. I didn't stop for photos my first couple of Backside runs. This was probably my 3rd Backside.

My 70+ snowboarding friend who's had both knees replaced and used to be an instructor at Northstar quit about noon. This is him on Backside a little after 10.

The other 3 guys who had arrived together went only a little later. Two were on teles and one said snow was lighter on Sunday. It was OK to me, my first time on my powder skis since last April. I took a lunch break at Zephyr Lodge, then found some lightly tracked going to Backside that I rode and skied twice more.

View of Palisades from Northstar includes Alpine to left.

Not sure what they opened. It was windy at times at Northstar. Kirkwood ran chairs 6 and 10, but not their Backside AFAIK. My nephew reported "Heavenly was amazing. No lines and full mountain opened." I saw people ending Firebreak (Heavenly's 3000' vertical side-country) when I drove under gondola.

This is some of what I found at 130 after my short lunch break.

More of Northstar's Backside after 2 PM. Snow was wind/sun affected in places and as said earlier better off East Ride. I caught rope removal into Cat's Face on Vista. After skiing, I plan to ski Heavenly Tues with a friend from England and one from Minden, then Kirkwood on way home on Wed.

 

[ChrisC]

I was planning on Kirkwood, but 88 was closed over avalanche prone Carson Spur from Silver Lake to Kirkwood for at least 24 hrs. CA-88 return to So. Tahoe from Kirkwood was also closed on Sunday until after 9 PM. My alternative route US-50 to Meyers, then going S and W to Kirkwood seems too long and includes 3 passes.

Sunday in Tahoe was definitely horrendous, traveling-wise. I had one friend caught in the return saga.

I made some powder turns on every run and some runs had many. I didn't stop for photos my first couple of Backside runs. This was probably my 3rd Backside.

The Backside has nicely spaced trees between the runs. Likely the best storm-skiing on Tahoe's north shore. Always interesting how 30+ inches of snow skis like 12" inches due to wind, snow moisture content, and fat skis.

More of Northstar's Backside after 2 PM. Snow was wind/sun affected in places and as said earlier better off East Ride. I caught rope removal into Cat's Face on Vista

I find East Ridge to require too much relatively flat traversing to access and egress for a relatively short pitch.


Did you consider checking out Lookout Mountain / Martis? It looks like it is only officially about 50% open, but there is a lot of even steeper terrain than the backside to ski in the trees.

 

[tseeb]

I rode gondola with guy from Auburn who said it took 4 hrs to get to his Incline Airbnb as they had to take US-50.

Some of the guys I was with considered going to Lookout/Martis, but others including me were concerned that bottom of chair is lower than bottom of Backside and barely higher than Village so snow would get heavy at bottom. I liked Lookout better before they extended it to service the many million $ houses in area as it was very efficient, except for the additional powder you can find in and past Lookout Glades.

 

[ChrisC]

I liked Lookout better before they extended it to service the many million $ houses in area as it was very efficient, except for the additional powder you can find in and past Lookout Glades.

The chairlift extension was unnecessary skiing-wise. And the fact that the skiing public cannot use the Martis lodge as an additional access point is a bit short-sighted, but necessary for $$$.

I typically will cut across to the chair/liftline runout where the old lift used to have its higher start point. The skiing below that is not great - bad snow, melts off, flat, etc.....just a runout to the multi-million dollar private club development.

 

[tseeb]

Heavenly, NV January 6, 2026 (and 2 lifts on CA side)
Skied from 9 AM opening until almost 3:30. Garmin counted just over 25K, my lowest so far this season.

Friend from Minden and I were both surprised we found some slow vehicles/almost traffic and upper Stagecoach lot full when we arrived @830 and lower lot half full. Liftlines stayed short all day as long as chairs kept running. Comet stopped twice while we were in line and the 2nd time we bailed to Dipper as they announced after a few minutes wait that it could take some time to restart. My only time up Sky a young snowboarder was in danger of falling off chair and liftees ran out with a pad, only getting halfway to where he was, but others on chair got him reseated. Drop would have been at least 20'.

My Minden friend had only an early Dec. day at Heavenly when very limited runs on Patsy's and Powder Bowl chairs were open, so we took a few groomers on Dipper together. Then I skied left side of Milky Way Bowl, which was not that great, hoping to catch opening of Mott. I was too early, so I did another lap and found better snow and some untracked to skiers right of Milky Way Bowl then entered highest gate into Mott. I turned into gate from there towards Killibrew's thin SE-facing Under The Gun and went to right into E-facing Sweetwater. Even though it was sunny the copped-up powder still skied well. I caught the barely covered highest exit to back to lift. Looking up Sweetwater.

Looking down from same place to Carson Valley. Boundary Chutes on ridge to right.

We skied more Dipper groomers, Comet once, then took a break to re-hydrate at Tamarack Lodge. Since Comet had problem after our break we rode Dipper and skied to Stagecoach base on Nevada Trail finding some good snow on Lower Stagecoach, an intermediate run signed advanced only. More surprising to left at top of Stagecoach signs said expert only for ungroomed main intermediate Stagecoach run.

My friend quit after 1 and we plan to meet at Kirkwood on Wednesday. High clouds started blowing over and were enough to make it cooler. Clouds over top of Dipper taken from top of North Bowl chair at 115.

Clouds blocking most of view of Lake from Upper North Bowl.

After friend left, I skied main North Bowl run (below base of Olympic chair) where there were some big rocks in middle of run at top and good steep snow lower. But gully at bottom of the steeps was less filled in than I remember ever seeing it. Looking up and down North Bowl.

Then I skied California Trail to Maggie's Canyon where I found some untracked. After riding Powder Bowl and Sky chairs, I returned to Nevada and caught high enough traverse above Milky Way Bowl that I got a few turns at top of Fulstone, from where I've heard you are not supposed to return.

Then I skied some of Outer Limits into Pipeline which had good snow but was as challenging as I've seen it. Choke in Pipeline where rock in center is often covered.

Looking down from same place. I did a little side-slipping to get past the hump. Left side may have been doable but could have required air over rocks.

I traversed to and caught some of the shady and lightly tracked Meadows, Second photo is a slightly reduced size, barely cropped panoramic.

I was too low to take thin upper exit from Killibrew and knew I'd have some suffering on lower one, so I left some tracks.

It was unusual for me to get two laps into Killibrew without any into Mott. And since I was before the 3 pm Mott lift closing, I came down skiers left of The Y in Mott. I stopped to take photo of where I skied and caught snowboarder coming down same area I skied in The Y.

I did one more lap skiing Lower Nevada trail to North Bowl lift which I used to ski Upper North Bowl, then some of busy Olympic Downhill before cutting across high enough to catch Stagecoach run. I skied to within less than 50' of my car before carefully dropping off almost 4' snowbank into parking lot (after removing skis). My day was not over as back at the cabin I spent an hour working on it, first using neighbors snow rake to remove snow along eaves in front. Then I used ladder to get on roof in back and swept snow off skylights then used snow shovel to remove snow and ice berm building along edge of roof. Dinner was Mon-Thurs local specials at Libation Lodge, single cheeseburger with bacon and fries and a beer for not much over $20. It was Singo night which is like Bingo, but cards are filled in by listening to songs played and seeing if their names are on your card. Winner gets a beer. I could barely hear the songs and only got one square covered on Millennium version before someone won.

 

[ChrisC]

Were you tempted to ski Firebreak, or is it still too early / not enough snow yet?

 

[tseeb]

Not tempted. Last 500 vertical would be thin and it’s rocky even on the Summer hiking trails that I've used before when snow was thin at bottom. Coverage probably better in trees closer to the Stateline, but there is a creek to cross there.

 

[tseeb]

Kirkwood, CA January 7, 2026
I skied from 1005-320, barely getting over 20K. Late start due to packing, cleaning, closing cabin plus ~45 minute drive, but still had prime parking 20' across from where I'd take off my skis. My Minden friend had arrived about 830, reported some snow falling at ski area and icy roads over Carson Pass. It was a cold day and I'd left my two pairs of new gloves (one pair from Costco, one pair won at Christmas game) at home. I quickly added helmet liner and heat packs. I met up with Jim after skiing a fast laps on the Race Course (Short Spoke) run on Reut chair. Snow was excellent packed powder and surface seemed much better/less over-groomed manmade than some of Heavenly's groomed run although rollover at top seemed steeper than usual. They were roping off entrance to Race Course under Reut chair our next time up so we took Wagon Trail which also very good. We also skied blue Buckboard which was busier, but is very wide and had more very good packed powder.

We took a lap to the Backside/Sunrise, but chair was stopped so we re-routed to chair 3/Iron Horse/a 1972 vintage narrow double and skied the groomer from the top. Jim, whose dad and my dad went to high school together. His mom and dad will both be 99 this year.

The Backside stoppage appeared to be for loading a propane tank at top as we had a short delay going up chair when they unloaded it at bottom. Backside had opened (not for season) until Tuesday after the weekend storm and only had one groomed route that went towards the Wave before cutting towards but not all the way to Elevator Shaft. Jim had hard time with the visibility at top and there were a lot of wind lips. I could see a little better as I was wearing my brightest yellow google and led him down groomer and we decided not to repeat it. At the top of Iron Horse we went down W-facing Whiskey, also very good, and carried enough speed to get to Reut. From top of Reut we repeated Buckboard.

Jim took a short break while I did a lap on Zachary's where skiers left was groomed while right side had small bumps. Visibility was OK at top, but after his 2nd day of being pushed, Jim didn't want to try Sentinel and he quit about 1 after skiing Zachary's.

I did two laps on Sentinel where snow was also very good although only wide center was groomed, not the left or ride sides. One time I went left past the Doobie Cave where route was challenging then into the Ditch of Doom and continued down to Timber Creek where I plastic tent lodge that has been there many years is not open. I rode chair and skied to busy Monte Wolfe and ate lunch I'd been carrying at 130.

I took a lap on the Reut skiing Race Course run that had re-opened and found excellent packed powder on right edge. I was going to take another Reut lap, but The Wall called so I went to the top and had OK visibility. The top skied well, but I was hoping to find blown-in snow in Eagle Bowl and instead suffered through a lot of breakable crust. Should have stayed under chair even though that side had more wind.

I finished my day with three laps on Cornice, skiing very good Olympic, then Janek before cutting over above cliff signs into my favorite chute between Janek and Olympic. Coverage over rocks at entrance was marginal, but snow was great the rest of the way down all the way to Olympic.

Looking down from same place. The exit often gets bumpy, but was smooooth packed powder.

I did another Sentinel lap before quitting after a lap on Timber Creek to get to 21 lifts and have my last lift treat.

Lift ride barely long enough for a candy so I had beer I'd bought the night before at the car.

My drive home was just under 3 1/2 hours, even after having to be cautious for first 20 miles as road was wet and temps were between 29 and 34. Then there was a semi who must have cooked his brakes, was going 25-35 and did not pull over until almost to Pioneer when his much have had 100 vehicles stuck behind him (I was about no. 5). Then even when I got to freeway about 80 miles from home, there were too many left lane blockers going under speed limit that I struggled to get past. Carson Spur at 340 pm and my Garmin track that shows closed tent lodge at left.

 

[ChrisC]

The Backside stoppage appeared to be for loading a propane tank at top as we had a short delay going up chair when they unloaded it at bottom. Backside had opened (not for season) until Tuesday after the weekend storm and only had one groomed route that went towards the Wave before cutting towards but not all the way to Elevator Shaft. Jim had hard time with the visibility at top and there were a lot of wind lips. I could see a little better as I was wearing my brightest yellow google and led him down groomer and we decided not to repeat it. At the top of Iron Horse we went down W-facing Whiskey, also very good, and carried enough speed to get to Reut. From top of Reut we repeated Buckboard.

I am surprised Vail has spent almost zero on Kirkwood improvements.

While The Wall lift can remain a fixed Triple due to its terrain (no reason to encourage skiers to try The Wall - seen too many "slides for life" over the years.)

However, the Backside has terrain for all skier types, and could use some love to encourage skiers to navigate out there / disperse weekend crowds.


Below is the 2007 Kirkwood Master Plan, which includes some interesting lift replacements and new lift alignments. Too bad Vail did not have any ownership of this plan. They only spent $18M to purchase Kirkwood in 2012. And it appears its skier visits would support reasonable capital investment, unless Vail killed the below:

Kirkwood's yearly ski visits fluctuate, but they hit a record of over 400,000 visits in the 2005-2006 season, a major milestone, though recent specific yearly figures aren't readily available in the snippets, it's known for deep snow and less crowding than other Tahoe resorts, attracting dedicated skiers. While the industry saw high numbers (61.5 million visits nationally in 2024-25), Kirkwood's visitor counts vary by snow quality and popularity, generally remaining lower than mega-resorts but strong for its niche. ​

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