Skiing in Lake Tahoe

[bakerhillpins]

Hey all,

After quite a few years (12 in fact) of the young family gig I am finally back out west for a ski vacation!  I am visiting my sister, who lives in South Lake Tahoe, for 8 days of skiing and fun with the family. We plan on hitting up Heavenly and Kirkwood at a min. In my quest to try to become a bigger part of this community I figured I would share some photos of our trip. We arrived in South Lake Tahoe last night at 12 midnight local time (3am for us East Coasters). Man were the kids toast after a day at school and another 12hrs of travel. Alex (7yr old son) was so tired he didn't even remember walking into the house. He actually fell asleep against the wall when we got in and then toppled over the bags. Whoops. so much for the responsible parent deal. 

Here are a few photos from the deck this AM. I hope to share more through out the week.

[RECHRGD]

Looks like your in the Keys.  My brother lives there.  Have a good vacation and don't break any legs.  Bob

[skip68]

I miss being there.  I was raised 65 miles from there.     I miss all the pines and dirt roads.   You guys have fun and enjoy.     Watch for bears....    
Chuck.........

[Brock Samson]

 Sugarbowl is far and away my Fav.   

  http://www.sugarbowl.com/home

Have Fun, 'n be safe!   

[bakerhillpins]

Looks like your in the Keys.  My brother lives there.  Have a good vacation and don't break any legs.  Bob

Yep, we are in the Keys. My sister worked out a rental at one of her friends places there. We are going to do our best not to.  

I miss being there.  I was raised 65 miles from there.     I miss all the pines and dirt roads.   You guys have fun and enjoy.     Watch for bears....    
Chuck.........

Your in Vegas now yes? Only a quick 450mi trip.   Its beautiful up here. Almost enough for me to want to leave the home out east.

[bakerhillpins]

Sugarbowl is far and away my Fav.   

  http://www.sugarbowl.com/home

Have Fun, 'n be safe!   

Ill have to ask my sister about that place. I suspect she used to ski that when she was in grad school in Reno and was living in Truckee. With all the kids and stuff we are trying to stay under an hours drive. We skied Sierra at Tahoe yesterday and plan to hit that again today. We are also planning on going to Kirkwood and Heavenly. I don't think you can miss at any area out here. Should get pics from the slopes today. I hope my body survives! I have slipped so out of shape these last years. 

[skip68]

I have slipped so out of shape these last years.  

Round "IS" a shape you know..........   

[bakerhillpins]

Just got back from another day at Sierra at Tahoe. It was sunny and in the 30s. Excellent if not early spring skiing conditions.   Man is skiing in the west soooooo much different than the East. I'm having a ton of fun and its great family time. The kids are fearless and Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle are having lots of trouble keeping up with the youngins.    I grabbed a few shots on the cell that I thought I would share. I can barely walk the steps, my legs are like jello.  

1 - the kids and their aunt.
2 - daughter Amelia, Son James, and my sister.
3 - over my shoulder on the West Bowl Quad.
4 - Wife Kristin and daughter.

[bakerhillpins]

Grabbed this from the cliff pull off on Rt50 back into South lake.

[bakerhillpins]

Back from vacation and catching up on posting pics. Pulled these pics from the digital camera now that I am home where we left the USB cable. 

These come from Kirkwood. It is an excellent area with tons of terrain, lots of it advanced and treeless. The only bummer about the place is that it could use a few more high speed quads. Most of the place is serviced by old non detached chairs and so getting to the top can take a while. On the plus side its off the beaten path (the place runs on generators - the whole place, in fact a month earlier the generator room burned down and the whole place was shutdown for 2 weeks while the built a temp one.) and so its not that crowded, even on holiday weekends when the sun is out and the skies are clear.

[bakerhillpins]

Last place we hit before heading home was Heavenly. I didn't make it to the really advanced sections of the mtn as I was just too toast after skiing for 4 of the previous 5 days. The kids were up for it but the old folks were toast. 

Heavenly is obviously partly named after the views. Everywhere you looked were breathtaking views, which helped after paying for a single day of lift tickets for the 7 of us. EGAD! Heavenly was also packed with high speed lifts. There was never more than a few chairs wait but the slopes were crowded, at least during the morning. By afternoon we were skiing on the CA side again and we basically owned the place.

We took 9 days, Skied 5, traveled 2, Hiked some shoreline on Lake Tahoe for one and went into Reno on the last day. It was sunny and in the 40 to 50s all the time we were there, which was totally out of season. Spring skiing in Feb. We totally enjoyed ourselves and hope to repeat after we save enough to do it again. I can highly recommend each of the 3 areas we skied, and each had its own highlights and drawbacks.

Sierra at Tahoe - close, local, great terrain, fast lifts, BIG trees. Packed on holidays (on 50 so hit by all the bay area), and not as big as the others.
Kirkwood - off the beaten path, lots of excellent terrain of ALL types, Did I mention lots of terrain?. Lacked lots of high speed lifts. Not so packed on holidays.
Heavenly - Beautiful views, Lots of glades, I mean LOTS. So really big terrain. Accessible from town. Steep price tag. Can handle lots of skier volume.

[ACUDANUT]

 I usually go to Keystone Colorado every year (closer to me and has Taller mountain) Looks like fun though.

[bakerhillpins]

I usually go to Keystone Colorado every year (closer to me and has Taller mountain) Looks like fun though.

Yea, before I was married (12 yrs ago now) I went to CO for a ski vacation with friends every March. We would go to Vail for 3 days Beaver Creek for 1 day, and race back to the airport via Summit County. We skied Keystone those years. In fact the last year we did it they just opened some back bowls that you had to hike to. A bud of mine and I would hike back there and ski until we could no longer stand. Well, that was me anyhow. Then race to the airport for the flight home.

[Rolling_Thunder]

If you're into history I like going over to Virginia City every time i'm up there -  Only been there once in winter but it was almost awe-inspiring