There will be plenty of choices for skiing and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe over the Thanksgiving holidays. There are nine ski resorts that will be open on Thanksgiving Day and through the holiday weekend.
Two early season storms and low temperatures that are suitable for snowmaking has resulted in many Lake Tahoe ski resorts opening before their projected start dates. And more snow should be dropping on Tuesday.
Among the early openers was Sierra-at-Tahoe, which had a difficult season last year when snow delivered by Mother Nature was a rarity. This is the resort’s earliest opening since 2004.
“The last time we opened this early was 11 years ago,” said John Rice, Sierra-at-Tahoe General Manager. “A November opening is giving us a great outlook for the rest of the season. In a similar year, we logged as much as 499 inches of snowfall. It should still be noted that early season conditions exist and we will open more terrain once conditions permit.”
Sierra-at-Tahoe is operating three lifts and two surface lifts. Season Passes and additional products from 2014-15 will be valid for use through Dec. 20.
Alpine Meadows started its season on Nov. 12, which is more than a month ahead of the originally scheduled opening date of Dec. 11.
Sugar Bowl, located off the Norden exit on Interstate 80, opened Saturday (Nov. 21) with top-to-bottom skiing and snowboarding on 1,500 vertical feet of terrain. The resort is closed today through Wednesday and will reopen for the four-day Thanksgiving weekend.
Northstar California, Heavenly, Kirkwood Mountain and Squaw Valley all began running lifts by mid-November. Mt. Rose in Nevada was the first Lake Tahoe-area resort to open on Nov. 4 and was quickly followed by Boreal Mountain.
Granlibakken opened its sled hill last week and has a tentative start date for the ski hill on Dec. 11. The resort in Tahoe City is a great getaway for families with young children.
Lake Tahoe ski resorts Opening Dates:
- Alpine Meadows Resort – Open
- Boreal Mountain Resort – Open
Sugar Bowl ski resort will open a new terrain park designed by the industry leaders at Snow Park Technologies, which design terrain parks for the Winter X Games, Winter Dew Tour and U.S. Burton Open. - Diamond Peak – December 3
- Donnor Ski Ranch – TBA
- Granlibakken – Dec. 11
- Heavenly Mountain – Open
- Homewood – December 11
- Kirkwood Mountain – Open
- Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe – Open
- Northstar California – Open
- Squaw Valley – Open
- Sierra-at-Tahoe – Open
- Soda Springs – TBA
- Sugar Bowl – Open
- Tahoe Donner – December 11
Jeffrey Weidel can be reached at skiweidel@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jeffweidel. Thanks for visiting his website at www.tahoeskiworld.com