utah refugee needs help selecting tahoe season pass

H

hayduke

New member
I will be in tahoe this winter, and i could use some suggestions on a season pass. i have been considering the kirkwood 6wood and the alpine mid-week for very good value. i could live near south tahoe or north tahoe.the heavenly peak pass is also tempting just in case i could spend a month in colorado.
In utah i like off piste deep powder, but im not an expert, and i avoid the very steep and the very rocky narrow chutes. im also twitchy on big ice bumps.
so, kirkwood, alpine, heavenly, or maybe somewhere else? i havent ever been to any of them, and i love both alta and snowbird. thanks for your advice.
 
I ski Tahoe 35-48 days out of the season (a non-resident/12k miles). Like yourself I, “like off piste deep . . . not an expert . . . twitchy . . .” I ski hard for the full day usually solo, 3 days a week regardless of the conditions. In addition, I like to ski through (around :lol: )the trees. I’m 55.

The best bang for MY buck, which offers the best variety of terrain and flexibility in dealing with weather/snow/resort delays/road conditions is the: Northstar/Sierra Double Whammy & Heavenly limited season passes. That’s two season-passes for 3 resorts. Northstar is on the north side of the Lake and Heavenly and Sierra is on the south side. Northstar and Heavenly are modern large resorts with many fast lifts.

I try to ski Alpine and Kirkwood-especially 2-3 times a season only when the conditions are prime. Look for discounts tickets and on some days your season pass will get you a good discount. A lot of the locals and the hardcore will tell you that Alpine and Kirkwood are the best. I would agree, but weather; snow, delay in opening runs and road conditions make these places problematic. Alpine has the best gathering of expert local skiers and the terrain to match, I’ve ever seen. Kirkwood on a day with fresh powder is to die for. Skiing there can be god-like, call me blasphemous.

Northstar and Heavenly both have good snow making capability and they open their season early with more runs available. On stormy days when the other resorts are on wind hold, you can always get into good snow at Northstar-it has good protection. Sierra at Tahoe is a great small resort, which the ‘boarders’ like. I like skiing the Backside and on some days I’ll ski Heavenly in the morning, eat my lunch as I drive up to Sierra and finish off skiing there in the afternoon.

If it’s one pass only, then I say Heavenly. But I’m sure there are a thousand other ‘dogs’ that will tell you otherwise. Just read their postings, I'm not looking for a fight here.

As far as which side of the Lake you want make your base. It’s a toss up! If it’s to be the north side, Northstar and Alpine is a good match (Sugar Bowel can be sweet too!) If it’s the south side, then it’s Heavenly and Kirkwood.

Good luck

PS: I’m planning a four-day trip to Utah this season, which will be sandwiched, between my typical Tahoe week skiing.
 
Welcome, SnowDog! Nice to see a new persona around here. This time of year is when we're constantly seeing new registrations. If I can convince you to do so, please edit your registration via the User Control Panel to add your location. It's always nice to see where folks are from to understand their frame of reference -- we used to require it at the time of registration, but following the upgrade of our forum software that requirement was no longer an option. Same goes for any other new registrants.

Hayduke, we'll miss your perspective from around our neighborhood, even though we never made any turns together despite several attempts to do so. Happy trails!
 
thank you tony. im surprised that you remember. i learned a lot in utah and i hope to be back for 2009.one thing that i learned was that the bookends was not a cafe at snowbird, as i first thought from your avatar. and your snow knowledge is #1. i was amazed at the depth of your stats when i was researching kirkwood.

and thank you snowdog. from what i had read, sierra summit was rather small and northstar a bit flat. ill have to look up those wonderful 3d ski maps/google overlays to check those out.
 
A high percentage of Northstar is very flat. It is well protected during the more extreme Sierra blizzards, so I was glad to be there Jan. 8-9, 2005 during a 4 foot storm: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=493&p=2803 . But for a season pass, I wouldn't recommend it. More of Sierra has adequate pitch for powder than Northstar, and Sierra rates to get more snow too.

Alpine has the best gathering of expert local skiers and the terrain to match, I’ve ever seen.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a description of Squaw to me. From your self description, I think Alpine is a good fit: the Squallywood ambience next door might put you off some. Alpine and Homewood are now under the same ownership. The more sheltered Homewood can be a storm day alternative to very-exposed Alpine. Sugar Bowl and Mt. Rose have some very good terrain too.

From a pure powder perspective, Kirkwood is head and shoulders the standout area of California. But it is a schlep, even from South Shore. A decent 4WD is a must for the good powder days. At one point Kirkwood and Sugar Bowl had a combined pass, that may be history now.

Heavenly does have good trees on powder days. But it's off the Sierra Crest and gets less snow than many other places. I probably wouldn't choose it for the season pass unless you're doing a Colorado trip to the other areas.
 
Tony Crocker":2pokj773 said:
From your self description, I think Alpine is a good fit: the Squallywood ambience next door might put you off some.
Click to expand...

I've always found analogy between Alpine/Squaw to Alta/Snowbird, personally.
 
how ? i skied squaw back in 1994 in march 100" over 48 hours it was the last year that kt22 chair was still a double. that particular storm i watched come down the west coast from the gulf of alaska on the radar. other than that particular storm which was alta quality snow i wouldn't say theres much comparison beyond acreage they get cement the majority of there storms. where as alta gets well you know the ........ kind? :roll: :roll: :roll:
 
Bobby, you missed my point. I was talking about the very different (and comparable to Alta/Bird) vibe between the two neighboring ski resorts.
 
I think Kirkwood is the better Sierra analogy to Alta, in terms of scale and terrain, as well as being the closest in terms of snow. Alpine is more like Solitude IMHO.
 
I had slightly limited Heavenly passes 2007-08 ($329) and 2005-06 ($299) and used the three free days in CO both years.
The new Heavenly CO deal, if you don't get the EPIC pass, is unlimited $50 days at Vail CO resorts except for blackouts.

After getting 2 free days and one discount day at Kirkwood last year and hearing about new surface lifts being installed,
I went for a $229 6-wood (not valid Saturdays and a few blackout days) for 2008-09. While it can be a challenge getting there,
Highway 88 is either closed or not as bad as I-80 where the traffic is much heavier and one truck can block the road for hours,
even after storms end or US-50 which has avalanche terrain, trees that fall and block road or bring down powerlines plus heavier traffic than 88.
From San Jose, 88 avoids Sacramento traffic and is shorter at only 180 miles to Kirkwood although it is not freeway and they
keep adding stoplights. You have to watch your speed as the CHP works it up high and between Jackson and Stockton. For steep
powder only Alpine and Squaw compare and their passes are way more expensive plus there are I-80 crowds going to either.

I have access to a family cabin between the gondola and tram at Heavenly, which is almost an hour drive from Kirkwood.
At Heavenly I've had some good days plus some great gondola runs, but I have also been frustrated by the wind not allowing
opening or closing lifts plus heavy crowds dictating where to ski. Heavenly and Northstar are best for non-expert powder
as there is a lot of terrain between and on sides of runs on Canyon, Sky, Dipper, Olympic and Northbowl at Heavenly and
Backside and Comstock at Northstar that hold powder. Northstar also gets very crowded with before 9 am arrival required on
many days to avoid parking behind the gas station a couple of miles away. Sierra is OK for non-expert powder, but once the
runs get tracked out the powder is mostly expert, except for El Dorado and some of West Bowl and there are many terrain traps.

Following does not include all days as I like to go other places.
2004-2005 Sugar Bowl 6, Heavenly 4, Kirkwood 3, Mt. Rose and Diamond Peak each 2
2005-2006 Kirkwood one day @ $14 Heavenly 12 days plus five free and one paid in CO and three days at Sugar Bowl.
2006-2007 Kirkwood 4, Heavenly 2, total only 17 including 4 in Utah and two days boarding
2007-2008 Kirkwood 3 (2 free, one on discount), Heavenly 12 days plus three free and 2.5 paid in CO
 
I left out some information on Kirkwood for less than expert powder.
It's pretty good as most of the skiers go for the steeps and there is a lot of easier black on The Reut (great coverage),
Caples Crest and the Backside (often does not open until well after storm). Even some of Cornice, like Sentinel,
Zachary and Monte Wolf, although marked expert, are not that steep and flatten out on their bottom halves.

Since it sounds like you will be in the Tahoe Basin, you run a chance of being stranded on the wrong side
of a pass skiing Sierra (where it almost happened to me), Kirkwood (where you may want to pack a sleeping bag,
toothbrush, swimming suit and clean socks and undies in case you have to spend the night) or Mt. Rose and Sugar Bowl.
Sugar Bowl also has a lot of less than expert powder, deep snow, but not the altitude of Kirkwood and it's location
is more attractive to people coming from the West than Tahoe.
 
thanks for all the helpful descriptions. i am leaning towards kirkwood.


from tseeb"where you may want to pack a sleeping bag,
toothbrush, swimming suit and clean socks and undies in case you have to spend the night"

i usually have all that except the swimsuit. what do i do with that?
 
The swimsuit is in case you have to spend the night at Kirkwood and get invited into a hot tub where you need one. I have never been stuck there overnight. I have waited more the once for the Carson Spur to open after avalanche control. Usually I'm on the West side trying to get in, but once I spent the day at Kirkwood t the lodge as winds were very strong so ony Solitude was open. I had come over Carson Pass from Tahoe and after the blizzard I experienced there did not want to return that way. Many hours later, only about one of which was on the road, I was able to return to Bay Area.
 
I agree with what has been said about Kirkwood. I’ve have gotten a season pass there about every other year or so. The only thing I found not to my liking was when we get those long stretches between storms. The snow gets packed and the steep runs go out of my league and of what remains, one can get awfully tired of it quickly. Also some of their chairs are slow, i.e. Wagon Wheel-The Wall. Sunrise is a fast chair, but it still takes some time to get to the top.

Now that being said, they’re adding two new chairs to the backside, which is going to spice things up and open a lot more terrain. Although, when it snows hard it takes them time to make that side of the mountain safe. One time I waited past 11:00 before they were able clear the avalanche hazards and by then I had a hundred other dogs on my tail.

Last word on Northstar: Yes it’s a lot more flat than Kirkwood, Alpine and some others, but the lifts there are generally faster. I carry an altimeter with me and I can ski a lot more vertical feet there in a day than I can anywhere else. Go to their web page and checkout Lookout Mountain. It’s about an 11 minute chair ride and on a weekday it’s you and six other dogs. The Backside is another area for steep terrain. On days when you can go off-piste there’s a lot to discover. Finally, I’m not hailing Northstar as the paires de résistance; just when combined with Sierra it gives you a lot of variety and options for your dollar if you’re going to spend a lot of time in Tahoe.
 
Snowdog, I agree that Northstar is a good place to find powder, but I disagree on length of Lookout chair ride. I think it is more like 5 minutes as I have made many 10 minute laps there. Northstar used to be a good place to avoid crowds, but that is long gone. I think they stop selling tickets after they run out of parking although I've heard of people being shuttled in from Truckee airport.

I also have to disagree on many of your latest Kirkwood points.
1. Sunrise is still a long slow chair, even though they made it a quad. 10 minutes up 2-3 minutes down.
2. The two new lifts are surface lifts; one on top of Caples Crest and one above the Wave on the backside
3. While Wagon Wheel (the Wall) is a slow chair, it still kicks butt. I always ski it when it's open. There usually is one non-expert way down, but it is still not a place to fall when firm.
4. If you know where to look, like Thunder Saddle area, Kirkwood has good snow long after storms.
 
Northstar is fairly busy by my understanding. When you read the various options for restricted passes for Northstar/Sierra, it's obvious that Northstar is the busier area of the two.

I'm not surprised by tseeb's storm/packing advice. It's part of the territory if you spend enough time skiing Tahoe. Most of my snow driving/traffic horror stories have involved I-80 or US50 between Sacramento and Tahoe.
 
For South Lake Tahoe, Chistmas Valley is 15-20 minutes closer to Kirkwood than Stateline. But you still have two passes, only one grocery store in Meyer's (Lira's is very nice) and a long drive to most nightlife and shopping. Christmas Valley and Meyers are mostly single-family homes although there are some (mostly unwinterized) cabins along the river on Forest Service land and one small condo complex right where the road begins to climb. Around the Y would also save you some time getting to Kirkwood as long as US-50 is not jammed due to storm closure. Or are you considering living at Kirkwood or in NV? I'm not much help there.

I have a correction on my post on slightly restricted Heavenly pass. "This pass is valid for unlimited and unrestricted 1/2 off daily tickets at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone for the pass holder only." I had said $50 which is slightly more than half price.
 
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