California

Best Tree Skiing Resorts in North America

We highlight the top North American ski areas for tree, glade, and woods skiing, and we highlight what makes each one especially stand out.

North American Ski Resort Regions Ranked By Reliability: 2023-24

We highlight which ski regions are most likely to have their terrain open as advertised when you book a destination ski trip there.

Homewood Backs Away from Going Fully Private, Plans to Add First-Ever Gondola

As part of this initiative, the Lake Tahoe-adjacent resort plans to add two new on-mountain facilities—and still intends to offer exclusive club memberships.

The 10 Highest Ski/Snowboard Lesson Prices In North America: 2023-24

Learning how to ski or snowboard has never been cheap, but at the most prestigious destinations, this season’s lesson costs approach an entirely new tier of insanity.

2023 Ski Resort Upgrades Ranked: Which Were Hits and Which Flopped?

We rank the major 2022-23 North American ski resort upgrades in order of their overall effectiveness, and we highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each initiative.

Lake Tahoe Ski Resorts Ranked for Experts: Forgettable to Truly Extreme

We rank the Tahoe ski areas by the quality of their double-black-diamond terrain, and we highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each one.

Mount Shasta Ski Park

The only decently-sized California ski area north of Tahoe offers limited lift lines and stunning views of the Southern Cascades, but it’s hurt by uncompetitive infrastructure and a bizarrely-integrated recent expansion.

Dodge Ridge

The closest ski area to the Bay Area offers lower traffic than Tahoe, but it’s hurt by limited snowmaking and outdated lift infrastructure.

Homewood

While this Tahoe hill can’t hold its own overall against the destination resorts, it boasts an astonishing, one-of-a-kind mountain aesthetic.

China Peak

While it’s no substitute for a true destination ski resort, this Central California mountain offers admirable terrain variety within a convenient driving distance of Fresno.

Sugar Bowl

This California resort can’t match the acreage and vertical drop of competing Tahoe mountains, but it stands out with trails for all ability levels and an extremely demanding expert footprint.

Bear Valley

This Northern California resort has interesting terrain for skiers and riders of all ability levels as well as a unique and isolated feel, but it lacks the infrastructure to fully compete with the best resorts in the state.

Northstar

This family-friendly resort offers excellent grooming and a top-tier terrain park, but expert and above-treeline terrain is lacking.

Sierra-at-Tahoe

While it can’t boast the same crazy lake views, striking terrain, or expansive base village as some other Tahoe areas, this moderately-sized resort offers reasonable prices and a local feel.

Kirkwood

This relatively undeveloped mountain isn’t for everyone, but its striking aesthetic, local feel, and extreme terrain are tough to match.

Heavenly

This Lake Tahoe area offers some of the most beautiful slopes we’ve seen anywhere. A few logistical problems diminish the resort’s size advantage.

Mammoth

This massive resort offers a highly competitive experience only hours from Southern California, although variable weather patterns may not make it the best place to fly to.

Palisades Tahoe

Two of Tahoe’s best ski areas have now been linked as one continuous lift-served destination, but the resort still functions as two separate mountains in many ways.