North Lake Tahoe ski resorts have been busy in the offseason, adding new terrain park features, passholder perks, specialty ski lessons and exclusive après ski dining opportunities.
Below is a list of what’s new for the 2015-16 season in North Tahoe.
New tree run access at Diamond Peak Ski Resort: The resort offers newly improved tree skiing for skiers and riders looking for new terrain at the North Tahoe resort known for stunning lake views. During the 2015-16 winter season look for new off-piste terrain off of Crystal Ridge between Diamondback and Spillway.
Northstar California renovates Gondola: Skiers and snowboarders experience improved mountain access this winter with Northstar’s newly revamped Big Springs Express Gondola. The mountain tram, connecting the Village at Northstar to mid-mountain, offers renovated portals and a mechanical update to enhance guest experience in both style and travel time efficiency.
Squaw Valley replaces Siberia Express: The Siberia Express chairlift, a favorite of intermediate to advanced skiers and snowboarders, has been replaced with a high-speed six-passenger chairlift. This upgrade improves reliability and efficiency, and gets skiers and snowboarders up the mountain and out of the lift line more quickly.
The Siberia Express chairlift provides access to Siberia Bowl, Mainline and the Mainline Terrain Park, as well as the expansive Gold Coast area.
Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe expands beginner terrain: Mt. Rose has relocated and renamed the Ponderosa chairlift, in an effort to expand and enhance the beginners’ skiing and snowboarding experience. The new positioning of the “Wizard” lift enhances beginner terrain with access to four new trails. A renovation to the children’s lesson registration area, Rosebuds, reduces wait time and re-imagines the guest experience with a larger indoor staging area and a complete redesign of the registration desk and process.
Alpine Meadows: The resort welcomes new grooming machines to further the commitment of well-groomed runs and environmental stewardship. Two PistenBully 600 winch cats have been added to allow for maximum ground coverage and finesse while providing fuel savings. Skiers and riders can expect improved quantity and quality grooming on Alpine’s signature slopes like Alpine Bowl, Sherwood and Wolverine.
Sugar Bowl opens multi-level terrain park: The 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.
The new terrain park will be located below the Mt. Lincoln Express Chairlift, and will be accessible from both Mt. Lincoln Express and the Christmas Tree Express Chairlift. The park includes 43 features at build-out, with a focus on flow. The terrain park will be approachable for children and families, but with enough flow to be fun for all levels of skiers and riders.
In addition to the ski resort changes, another one is East Coast skiers and riders have direct access from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Reno-Tahoe International Airport on the new daily JetBlue flight. This flight offers red eye flights from coast to coast, allowing for quick weekend getaways and convenient week-long ski vacations in North Lake Tahoe.
In addition to a variety of new ski experiences, visitors will have a newly renovated historic lodging option. The Cal Neva, once owned by Frank Sinatra, is set to re-open in early 2016. Following a full interior and exterior property renovation, the legendary North Lake Tahoe resort that straddles the California-Nevada border will be reborn as a modern destination with a history unlike any other hotel in the region.
Jeffrey Weidel can be reached at skiweidel@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jeffweidel. Thanks for visiting his website at www.tahoeskiworld.com
