California

Squaw Valley Expert Emigrant Run: Break It Out

An afternoon run down Squaw Valley's Break It Out, a technical run with obstacles such as trees, rocks, and cliffs. Located on the Emigrant backside and also accessible from Granite Chief, this run takes a bit of effort to find and rarely sees high traffic.

Initial Impressions: Mammoth

Yesterday, we spent our first day at Mammoth—perhaps the most popular U.S. mountain we haven’t ranked yet. We mainly explored what we believe to be the Main, Mill, and Summit areas. Here are our initial thoughts.

Heavenly Intermediate Glade Run: The Pines

Heavenly’s Olympic area boasts some of our favorite intermediate glade terrain in the Tahoe area. But be sure to cut out at the right point—or you’ll be subject to advanced pitches and a painfully slow lift ride.

State of 2020-21 Resort Operations

With COVID-19 cases continuing to persist across North America, we’re seeing some resorts tighten capacity restrictions or push back openings, either voluntarily or by state mandate. As you debate whether to book a trip this season, we’ve decided to aggregate all we know in one place.

Kirkwood Top-to-Bottom: Cornice-Side Wagon Wheel Bowl to The Drain

A top-to-bottom run in Kirkwood's Cornice area, starting at the Wagon Wheel Bowl and filtering into The Drain.

Homewood Must-Do: Quail Face

A POV run down Homewood's expert Quail Face, including a time-lapse of the catwalks to get in and out. This astounding run is arguably the most beautiful in-bounds trail in Tahoe.

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The closest ski area to the Bay Area offers lower traffic than Tahoe, but it’s hurt by limited snowmaking and outdated lift infrastructure.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