The holiday skiing in Lake Tahoe won’t be good. But, if a few turns in the snow are on the Thanksgiving bucket list this week, there are six Tahoe ski resorts that will be running lifts.
Heavenly ski resort opened Tuesday (Nov. 21), joining Tahoe ski resorts Mt. Rose and Boreal Mountain. Palisades Tahoe opens for the 2023-24 season Wednesday (Nov. 22), Northstar California begins running lifts Thanksgiving Day, and one day later Soda Springs gets going. Sugar Bowl announced last week that it would not be meeting its projected opening day of Nov. 24.
All six resorts open this Thanksgiving weekend will have minimal runs available. Yet for anxious skiers and riders, making a few turns still comes as a modest thrill, regardless of the terrain.
Due to the fickle nature of the weather, there’s never any guarantee that skiing will be on the Thanksgiving menu. Last year was a good one in terms of skiing with six Tahoe ski resorts open Thanksgiving Day and two more running lifts one day later.
That was a huge improvement over Thanksgiving 2021 when no Tahoe ski resort was open during the holiday weekend. It wasn’t until the second week of December that the ski season finally got going.
Tahoe ski resorts have been dependent for more than a decade on snowmaking for the bulk of its early-season snow. But two years ago, nightly temperatures throughout November and early December didn’t drop low enough to warrant regular snowmaking. That’s in contrast to this year when more seasonably normal temperatures have allowed snowmaking to operate at multiple Tahoe ski resorts, mixing in with a modest amount of “real” snow.
On Tuesday, Heavenly was running its Tram and offering 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.
“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.”
HOLIDAY WEATHER: Although light rain showers are forecast for early Thanksgiving Day, it’s not expected to be an impactful system.
There’s a 10% to 20% chance of rain showers in the Tahoe area Thanksgiving Day.
TAHOE SKI RESORT OPENINGS
- Mt. Rose: opened Nov. 10
- Boreal: opened Nov. 17
- Heavenly: opened Nov. 21
- Palisades Tahoe: Nov. 22
- Northstar California: Nov. 23
- Soda Springs: Nov. 24
- Sugar Bowl: Dec. 1
- Kirkwood: Dec. 1
- Diamond Peak: Dec. 7
- Granlibakken: Dec. 15
- Sierra-at-Tahoe: TBA
- Homewood: TBA
- Tahoe Donner: TBA
