Lake Tahoe Ski Trip
This years big ski trip took Chris and Jeff to the Nevada-California border. There lies Lake Tahoe with its unique beauty and 12 ski resorts.. We flew into Reno Nevada which is only an hour drive northeast of the lake. We skied 4 days at the resorts marked with a red star on the map below. We stayed on the north shore of the lake one night, the south shore two nights and in Reno the first and last night.
On the first day we checked out Squaw Valley which is the most famous of the area resorts. The 1960 winter Olympic games were held here. Below Jeff displays his American Olympic pride with his patriotic designed skis. | Squaw is a large ski area which is mostly open and very steep terrain. |
We had to really watch ourselves. There are hardly any signs at all telling you where to go or what to look out for. Here Jeff skirts around a giant boulder. | On day 2, the ski report showed that Heavenly Ski Resort got 5 inches of fresh snow so we hustled right over there. It was an awesome day as is shown here. Heavenly is huge with almost 5000 acres and by far the most glade skiing of anywhere I can think of. |
This big resort spans two states so Jeff gives a geography lesson below. | The views of the lake were, well, Heavenly! |
We liked Heavenly so much we decided to hit it on day 3. Yes the sky was that blue... | Chris is always searching for the little extra adventure so he led Jeff up a short hike to the tip top of Heavenly where hardly anyone goes. The view up there was ASTOUNDING! |
Check out this panorama from the top! Click on it to view the whole enchilada. About a 600Kb file so be patient, its worth it. |
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The ski down from the top of the hike had some fun powder as Chris soon discovers. | We talked to lots of people during the first 3 days of the trip about the various ski resorts. The general consensus of their opinions was that we should ski at Kirkwood and we listened to them. Kirkwood is about 30 miles or so south of the lake but is still considered a "Tahoe" resort. It boasts over 500 inches of snowfall each year. We weren't disappointed and had a great final day exploring this excellent mountain. |
Our last night was in Reno and we snagged a cheap rate at one of the giant casinos called Atlantis which was very nice place, Here Chris blew his gambling budget of $1 and managed to keep the slot machine going for about 15 pulls before it ran out! |
Here's a shot of the colorful Atlantis hotel. |