Following a delay in opening for the season, a pair of Tahoe’s largest ski resorts announced they will be opening this week.
Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe will open Tuesday (Nov. 21) and Northstar California in Truckee will be running its lifts for the first time Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23).
Last week, both Heavenly and Northstar had a tentative opening date of Friday, Nov. 17 canceled, due to some recent warm temperatures in the Tahoe region. A third Vail Resort in Lake Tahoe – Kirkwood – has scheduled a Dec. 1 opening.
All three Vail resorts will continue to make snow and monitor conditions to determine when to expand terrain and lift offerings following their official opening.
“We have been waiting in anticipation to pull out our skis and snowboards again, and the time is finally here,” said Tom Fortune, VP and COO of Heavenly and the Tahoe Region. “Our committed teams have been working in high gear as we ramp up operations.”
Due to a lack of snow, the terrain will be limited at both Heavenly and Northstar. Heavenly will be running its Tram and offer skiing and riding on Patsy’s and Powderbowl. Northstar will have the Big Springs Gondola and Vista running. Lifts start spinning at 8:30 am at both resorts on opening day.
New this year, Heavenly and Northstar will be offering guests several choices for parking this season, with a combination of both free and paid parking options, including a new reservations-based paid parking program starting mid-December on weekends (Saturday, Sunday) and peak periods at select parking lots.
More details can be found on the “Getting Here & Parking” pages on the Heavenly and Northstar websites. The resorts also highly encourage carpooling.
PALISADES TAHOE OPENS WEDNESDAY: There will be skiing and riding from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Snow Ventures, a modest terrain area.
Palisades Tahoe will offer food trucks, a firepit, lawn games, and a DJ from 1:30 to 4:30 pm during its opening day. Mountain Sports School will be offering kids lessons, and the Aerial Tram will be open for sight-seeing (weather and conditions permitting).
THANKSGIVING SKIING: It appears there will be five Tahoe ski resorts open for the Thanksgiving holidays. Both Mt. Rose and Boreal are already open and will be joined by Heavenly, Palisades Tahoe and Northstar.
On Friday (Nov. 17), Boreal began running its lifts, starting its 59th season of operation. For the second straight season, Mt. Rose was the first Tahoe ski resort to open for the season, running its lifts for the first time Nov. 10. Mammoth Mountain also opened for the season Nov. 10.
Sugar Bowl announced last week that it would not be meeting its projected opening day of Nov. 24.
TAHOE SKI RESORT OPENINGS
- Mt. Rose: opened Nov. 10
- Boreal: opened Nov. 17
- Heavenly: Nov. 21
- Palisades Tahoe: Nov. 22
- Northstar California: Nov. 23
- Sugar Bowl: Dec. 1
- Kirkwood: Dec. 1
- Diamond Peak: Dec. 7
- Granlibakken: Dec. 15
- Sierra-at-Tahoe: TBA
- Homewood: TBA
- Tahoe Donner: TBA
- Soda Springs: TBA
