California/Nevada Tahoe Trip Booked for March 3-11, 2018

[surfsnowgirl]

Just booked this last night. Headed here with with our ski club.

I've been to Tahoe in the summer but never winter so I'm excited to ski here. Our package includes

5 day lift tickets for Heavenly, Kirkwood, and Northstar

I'm just looking for tidbits of information as since we've never skied here.

I'm intermediate, my guy is advanced. I've very recently started venturing into the occasional tree run and last season I finally got into spring bumps and became more comfortable skiing powder and the bumps that come with that. Generally speaking though we're groomer skiers and that's most of what we like to ski on. I'm ok with steep so long as it's wide.

Our pass is good at Heavenly every day and 1 day there's a bus trip to Kirkwood or Northstar. However, if we wish to pay the shuttle fee our lift ticket is good at all places for each of the 5 days.

Are there certain trails people like, or don't like. I realize this is all very personal but I'm looking for things like Kirkwood is loaded with advanced terrain, not much for intermediates there. Not saying that's the case but if people could offer their opinions that would be great. Or if there's some trail(s) you really love at one of the 3 that would be great.

Thanks

 

[raytseng]

1) if you aren't locked in, you can consider getting an epic local pass, as 5days is sort of the breakeven point for a pass versus daytickets. Then you can also get another trip and even go to different VR resort.


2) Each resort is marketted for a different vibe but to some extent the mountain is itself no matter what sales and marketting team try to make it :

Heavenly: party
Northstar: family
Kirkwood: locals/rare earth.

None of these places are really close to each other, so you do have to plan what you want to do, esp. if you don't have your own transportation.

Both Heavenly and Northstar will be crowded on saturdays/sundays. Kirkwood is out by itself, and generally is never crowded.

3) Heavenly and Northstar will have plenty of groomers and something for everyone. There are long cruisers, steep cruisers, and all the groomers are very smooth. However crowds are an issue, so on the weekend you need to hustle and get the early in the day and get the best skiing within the first few hours. Both HV and NS require some knowledge and the best groomer of the day changes as conditions sun and crowds changes.

4) That being said, some of my favorites:
HV: CA side RidgeRun-views, high-five/canyon. NVside: Olympic to Stagecoach. For a more expert run, the alignment of Pinnacles to the sun and lake in my opinion offers some very dramatic views and is a special run for me.

NS: Challenger, Polaris, iron horse, drifter. many of these all begin to seem the same, just depends conditions and how steep you want it. In good snow years (cold days), pioneer/homerun areas offer some smooth cruising.

5) KW: for groomers, Coming down the runs just under chair2 typically is the smoothest, but the other ones off of 11 or 6 are fine. There aren't really that many groomers at KW so you can just try them out. The backside conditions tend to be more bumpy than the front so isn't really worth going over for groomers.
There are few groomers at Kirkwood and the groomers that are there are relatively short. All the lifts are relatively "slow". This can be extremely frustrating for folks that just want to lap and get a lot of vert in. Most of the groomers will also be lumpier than HV or NS. However, the intent is this is rare earth, the slower lifts greatly reduces crowding, and forces you to seek out the much more complex and interesting terrain to make each run worth it.

 

[VickiK]

How fun! I'd use whatever comes with the club pkg over spending more $$. But what you said--is that 1 day at Kirkwood OR Northstar, not one day at each of those? Who decides which one?

You'd like Northstar and Heavenly, imho, and am guessing your SO would too. Kirkwood was so long ago...I remember tons of snow that year and a long drive, but not much else.

 

[raytseng]

if i do the math out, your trip dates are for 7days, but you only have 5days of tickets,
It seems like getting an epicpass would be a be something to consider. Then on the ski days you could ski a little less and quit early and not feel guilty, and on the off day you just ski for 2 hours, and call it quits too.

 

[Philpug]

It is a great time to viit Tahoe, sorry we will miss you, we will be in Utah for The Gathering.

 

[AWilde]

I took an early intermediate around the Tahoe/Vail resorts last season. She actually favored Kirkwood, they do have a more limited selection of groomers, but there is still some decent intermediate terrain, and it has a much different feel than Heavenly or Northstar, You’re kind of up there in the middle of the mountains, near nothing else, with quite a view from the top of the backside (there is a blue run down.) Most are old fashion slow chairs too, so that may be a plus, or minus depending on your view.

They all have something different to offer, depending on conditions. If there is a storm, Northstar is the place to be, Heavenly goes on windhold with a breeze.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

It is a great time to viit Tahoe, sorry we will miss you, we will be in Utah for The Gathering.

I know I'm sorry too Next time.

 

[peterm]

Kirkwood IS loaded with advanced terrain, but there's also a good amount for intermediates particularly if they're a little adventurous. There are comfortable blue groomers off of both chairs 5 and TC Express to get your started. TC Express is a short chair but does offer up a surprising number of goodies. There's a beginner terrain park, plus a bunch of fairly mellow trees such as those under the lift (or just to the skiers left of the lift). Plus there are a couple of very fun ungroomed runs to get a taste of Kirkwood's varied terrain, the "Trench of Terror" and the "Ditch of Doom". These take you along little gullies and around a few trees and are popular with the kids but have also been a hit with the adults I've taken through there.

I think the best blue groomer at Kirkwood is Buckboard which can be accessed via chair 11. Another way down chair 11 is Wagon Trail which is probably the easiest black on the mountain. A little more adventurous, but probably the funnest way down from chair 11, is Snowsnake Gully which is like a much bigger version of Ditch of Doom.

Chair 6 (Cornice) takes you to the top of the ridge and accesses a ton of great terrain. They usually groom Zachary although it's fairly steep and narrow. In my opinion an easier way down is Sentinel. Chair 10 (The Wall) is probably to be avoided (in case the skull & cross bones isn't obvious enough) unless you're comfortable on most chair 6 runs.

The backside is 100% worth a visit for the scenery alone. Lots of great skiing too of course! As well as the blues, it's fun to ski under the Wave (ungroomed black but mostly not steep and nice and wide.)

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Thanks everyone for the responses. We pay a set price to the ski club and this includes 7 nights of lodging, breakfast, there's lunch vouchers from vail and we have a group dinner. Our 5 day lift ticket is good at Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood. However, our hotel is right across the street from heavenly and only 1 day of transportation is included to Kirkwood/Northstar and if we want to go more than that we have to pay for transportation. Given that I think we'll do 4 days at Heavenly and take the 1 day free ride to the other mountain. I guess our trip leader will make the call whether it's kirkwood or northstar so stay tuned on that. Either way I'm confident we're in for a fun trip. We're flying into san francisco and we come back from tahoe on March 10th so we'll get a night/morning/afternoon in San Fran before we have to fly back so that'll be cool.

I plant to take the notes on trails on each resort and pop them into my phone so I have quick reference points.

I'm excited.

 

[TonyC]

You should play it by ear. It's likely all 5 ski days are midweek, and if conditions are good there's plenty at Heavenly to keep you entertained for 4 of them. As far as weekends are concerned, there may be fewer people at Kirkwood but it's lifts are less efficient so you can't say there's little crowd impact there.

If it has not snowed in awhile, conditions rate to be better at Kirkwood, might be worth 2 days there. And, as noted above if there's a storm day Northstar is the best for that.

 

[luliski]

I would go to Kirkwood. Northstar is a long way from Heavenly, and not worth the travel time, in my opinion.

 

[Tony]

I would go to Kirkwood. Northstar is a long way from Heavenly, and not worth the travel time, in my opinion.

I have to disagree with the long way as Northstar is only about a mile further than Kirkwood from Heavenly's gondola when you consider that buses are supposed to stay on Hwy 50 past Ski Run Blvd. It does usually take 10-15 minutes longer since there are lights and low speed limits from Incline to King Beach and no longer anywhere? legal to pass on Highway 28. And if you get stuck behind someone going slow with chains, you are usually stuck. But Luther and especially Carson Pass can be slow with storms or traffic.

I've skied a lot of both mountains the same day a couple of times and even did the Tahoe Triple once after spending the night and starting at Kirkwood. You would really only want to do that if re-locating as drive back would be too much.

I also don't agree with @raytseng on "Kirkwood ... generally is never crowded", unless you are excluding busy weekends. I've seen the last highway mile from So. Tahoe to Kirkwood take an hour and then you still can have more crawling to get to the resort and a parking space.

 

[luliski]

I have to disagree with the long way as Northstar is only about a mile further than Kirkwood from Heavenly's gondola when you consider that buses are supposed to stay on Hwy 50 past Ski Run Blvd. It does usually take 10-15 minutes longer since there are lights and low speed limits from Incline to King Beach and no longer anywhere? legal to pass on Highway 28. And if you get stuck behind someone going slow with chains, you are usually stuck. But Luther and especially Carson Pass can be slow with storms or traffic.

I've skied a lot of both mountains the same day a couple of times and even did the Tahoe Triple once after spending the night and starting at Kirkwood. You would really only want to do that if re-locating as drive back would be too much.

I also don't agree with @raytseng on "Kirkwood ... generally is never crowded", unless you are excluding busy weekends. I've seen the last highway mile from So. Tahoe to Kirkwood take an hour and then you still can have more crawling to get to the resort and a parking space.

Driving around the lake seems so much longer to me than Luther Pass to 88 to Kirkwood, but I guess it's not. Regardless, I would recommend Kirkwood over Northstar.

 

[raytseng]

when i mentioned crowded i was more thinking to the runs itself, where the lifts uphill capacity and speed limits the crowds on the run.

but you are right absolute descrptions aren't technically accurate esp if you're comparing to weekday skiing. and i should say less crowded.
if you compare what the runs look like when every chair is full at kw vs hv/ns then I suppose a better description is less crowded.
The days that kw was crowded people and parking wise, i think hv and ns started turning people away, so that too should be in comparison rather than absolute.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

We will have Sunday-Friday to fit our 5 days so I figured crowds would be fine. Maybe take Sunday off and ski m-f. We will do 4 days at heavenly and the 1 day at one of the other 2 as that's what's included.

 

[Crank]

We usually buy the 6th day ticket on our ski club trips. Especially if there is fresh snow! Never been to Northstar, but I remember Kirkwood as having plenty of intermediate terrain and being a long drive though the wilderness to the middle of nowhere. One time when I was there the entire mountain shut down for about an hour when their generator went out. This was 30 years ago and I am wondering if they are now on the grid?

You could look into the epic pass and see what discount you would get by not taking the 5 day pass. I'm guessing that is around $300. Epic pass would cost a bunch more but would get you a season's pass for Stowe.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Those are good options. I like taking a day off on our ŵeek long trips so I think the 5 day ticket that's included will be fine. I've never been to stowe and although the epic pass would be motivation to get there but it would still be a bunch of money we otherwise wouldn't need to spend. We do get a discount on our trip if we have an epic pass but we'd still need to pay for transportation to get to Kirkwood/Northstar on the extra days. Given we are also going to banff in January that's just an unnecessary expense.

 

[peterm]

We usually buy the 6th day ticket on our ski club trips. Especially if there is fresh snow! Never been to Northstar, but I remember Kirkwood as having plenty of intermediate terrain and being a long drive though the wilderness to the middle of nowhere. One time when I was there the entire mountain shut down for about an hour when their generator went out. This was 30 years ago and I am wondering if they are now on the grid?

You could look into the epic pass and see what discount you would get by not taking the 5 day pass. I'm guessing that is around $300. Epic pass would cost a bunch more but would get you a season's pass for Stowe.

Yep, they're on the grid now. Only happened a few years ago though.

 

[BS Slarver]

Heavenly / Kirkwood combination is all you will need. A great pairing that works very well for a week or two in my opinion with not to much driving.

Your group have any more space ? I would do that trip again in a heartbeat - enjoy.

 

[mdf]

It is a great time to viit Tahoe, sorry we will miss you, we will be in Utah for The Gathering.

I was just thinking that she is going to have an eleven hour drive to morning meet-up.