Category Archives: California, Lake Tahoe

Sugar Bowl unveils its game plan for Sunday’s NFC championship

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Sugar Bowl will be hosting a full-on football party on Sunday during the NFC championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons.

At the resort’s Judah Lodge, there will be two big-screen TVs, drink specials for Sugar Bowl Pale Ale beer, and a raffle that will benefit the Sugar Bowl Ski Team Foundation.

The lifts will be operating on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., so skiers and riders can spend the morning on the slopes, then head into the lodge for lunch and NFL action.

This is the 49ers’ second straight trip to the NFC championship game, and kickoff is at noon. The Baltimore Ravens meet the New England Patriots in the AFC title game at 3:30 p.m.

The atmosphere in Judah Lodge will likely have a strong 49ers slant, given Sugar Bowl’s popularity with skiers and riders from San Francisco and elsewhere in Northern California.

For more information, call 530-426-9000 or visit www.sugarbowl.com.

Heavenly opening new halfpipe on Saturday

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At noon on Saturday, Heavenly Mountain Resort will celebrate the return of the halfpipe after a five-year hiatus.

The halfpipe can be accessed via Canyon Express Chairlift on the California side of the mountain inside High Roller Terrain Park, which also will be opening for the first time this season on Saturday. It will be the only halfpipe on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore.

“With Lake Tahoe as a backdrop, this halfpipe will feature, hands-down, the best views from any halfpipe in the U.S.,” said Pete Sonntag, Heavenly’s general manager.

Heavenly High Roller Team member Kyle Smaine will kick it all off with a short exhibition and ribbon cutting at noon, and then guests will get the opportunity to show their stuff.

Heavenly has teamed with Snow Park Technologies to create the 18-foot-tall and 450-foot-long halfpipe designed to accommodate a variety of ability levels and encourage a learning environment. The 16.5-degree angle of the slope provides an ideal amount of boost out of the pipe for all types of skiers and riders. The halfpipe’s location and north-facing orientation creates a uniform consistency between both sides of the pipe, meaning one side won’t melt faster than the other.

“This is easily the best pipe we’ve ever had here, and we built it in record time – just nine days,” said Heavenly Terrain Park manager Mike Thomas.

Of Heavenly’s three High Roller-branded terrain parks, High Roller Park is the premier park. It has been re-designed this season to include rails, boxes, jumps, and other fun jib features, both above and below the location of the halfpipe. This layout creates the ultimate mix of park and pipe, all in one run.

The new halfpipe opens at Heavenly Ski Resort on Saturday. (Heavenly Resort photo)

For more information on Heavenly’s High Roller Terrain Parks, or the halfpipe, visit www.skiheavenly.com.

At Lake Tahoe’s Kirkwood resort, savings on lift tickets to the power of 4

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Kirkwood Mountain Resort is offering the new Kirkwood Quad Pack, what officials at the ski area are calling the most affordable way to access Lake Tahoe’s deepest snow and most authentic big-mountain ski and ride experience.

The Kirkwood Quad Pack is four lift tickets that can be used any day of the 2012-13 winter season with limited restrictions. The price is $65 per lift ticket – a savings of up to $24 per day.

“Kirkwood is such a premium ski and snowboard experience, we’ve got a backcountry-like experience within resort boundaries,” said Casey Blann, the resort’s general manager.

The Kirkwood Quad Pack is available through Feb. 10. It can only be purchased online at www.snow.com and is not available for purchase at the Kirkwood ticket office. Pricing for the Kirkwood Quad Pack is $259 for adults, $199 for seniors and teens, and $169 for children, is non-transferable.

So far this season, Kirkwood has received more than 260 inches of natural snow. For the latest reports on conditions, visit www.kirkwood.com.

Force is strong at Sierra-at-Tahoe

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Yoda welcomes youngsters to Sierra-at-Tahoe’s Burton Star Wars camp. (Sierra-at-Tahoe photo)

The Force is strong at Sierra-at-Tahoe for Younglings and Padawans this winter in Yoda’s Riglet Park at Wild Mountain Children’s Center. The Burton Star Wars Experience uses the beloved intergalactic saga to help children ages 3-6 make their first snowboard turns using Burton’s innovative Riglet Reel Technology.

This singular on-mountain experience is filled with visuals from the Star Wars galaxy and combines Burton’s industry-leading technology with Jedi Master Yoda’s teaching methods – movement, navigation and control.

Younglings and Padawans will learn using the ways of the Force through interactive drop in nodes showcasing custom-made wood carvings of R2-D2, C-3P0, Chewbacca and more. Availability is limited and may sell out on a daily basis; reservations are strongly recommended. For more information, call 530-543-3150.

Skiing in Tahoe is Heavenly

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Story and photos by Marlene Greer

Heavenly is huge.

The ski area, sitting at the southern edge of Lake Tahoe, straddles two states, spreads over an impressive 4,800 acres, and rises 3,500 feet from its multiple base areas to the top of its highest peak.

It’s so large that it is divided into two parts – the Nevada side and the California side – and is scattered with so many runs going in so many directions with traverses in between, that it can appear a bit overwhelming to first time visitors.

That’s the way my daughter and I felt when we stepped off the gondola and landed at Adventure Peak, the heart of Heavenly at 9,136 feet.

Adventure Peak has a bar, restaurant, sledding and tubing hill and provides access to both sides of the resort. And because it’s at the center of the ski area, it’s packed with people.

Once you exit the gondola, a large billboard displays what lifts are open and points left for the Nevada side and right for the California side. We couldn’t see a lift off to the right, just a trail that you can either pole through on skis or walk carrying your skis, so we headed to the Tamarack lift and the resort’s Nevada side – and never left. We spent the entire day skiing half of the resort. That’s how big this place is.

And that’s how much variety it offers.

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My daughter and I are intermediate skiers who generally hit the slopes only once a year on our annual mother-daughter ski weekend. We don’t come to a mountain to blast off rock edges into deep bowls or snake our way through a mile of dense trees.

Heavenly has that type of expert skiing, and lots of it, but we prefer mostly groomed runs with a side trail among the trees or maybe a dip into a few moguls.

That’s what we loved about Heavenly. It has so many intermediate groomers.
On nearly every run, you can choose to veer off on a comfortably wide tree trail, into a couple dips and jumps, or just cruise through some off-piste terrain.

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New winter sports for the family to experience on snowy terrain

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Riding bumper cars on ice — these are at Howelsen Ice Arena in Steamboat Springs, Colo. — is one of a number of relatively new diversions being offered in winter recreation destinations, along with airboarding, snow bikes and snowkiting. (Photo by Karen Schwartz/Associated Press)


By Karen Schwartz
Associated Press

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — After nearly 50 years of living in the Rocky Mountains, I thought I knew how to enjoy the winter. I’ve gone skiing, skating, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, tobogganing, sleigh riding, dog-sledding and more.

But until this winter, I’d never heard of bumper cars on a skating rink. And it wasn’t until recently that I had my first chance to carve turns down a ski hill on a snowbike.

It’s part of a trend to provide visitors to ski resorts and other snowy destinations with a wider variety of choices, said Troy Hawks, managing editor of the National Ski Areas Association Journal.

“What we’re seeing is a larger swath of the family — you’ve got the grandkids all the way to the grandparents — and all of them have their idea of how they want to spend their day,” he said.

Some activities are more popular in certain regions, and some aren’t well advertised, so for a different spin on a snow-destination vacation, here are some things to look for:

Air bags
These massive, inflatable air bags are placed at the bottom of jumps to allow skiers and boarders to try flips and spins. Nail the landing on your feet and you ride off down the hill. Fail, and you have a soft landing. www.bagjump.com or www.bigairbag.com

Airboards
A high-tech spin on winter tubing, these snow body boards are inflatable sleds with molded plastic runners on the bottom and handles on the top. The sleds can reach speeds of 60 mph or more (nearly 100 kilometers per hour), and users steer by shifting their body weight. They’re offered at some ski areas (though banned at others) as well as through some private operators. www.airboard.com has a partial list of rental locations.

Bumper cars on ice
Just what it sounds like, these are turning up at skating rinks from coast to coast. The battery-operated “cars” are large rubber tubes with molded seats that can hold one adult or an adult and small child. Controlled by two joysticks, they are easy to steer or spin as they bump along on wheels with tiny cleats. Most rinks have age, height or weight restrictions.

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Shopping for deals on the slopes

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At Mountain High, the Express Pass opens the way to money savings on the slopes and several special features. (Mountain High photo)

By Jerry Rice

OK, everyone knows that skiing and snowboarding can be expensive – traveling to the resort, lodging, equipment rentals, lift tickets…

But there are many ways to save on costs without cutting cut corners on the fun. Some examples:

> Free rentals for first-timers, ages 8 to adult, when a beginner lesson package is purchased at Bear Mountain and Snow Summit during the month of January. It’s part of a Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month promotion in partnership with the National Ski Areas Association. Information: 909-866-5841, www.snowsummit.com

> Mammoth Mountain’s January midweek pass is $249 – $50 less than last season. With regular adult lift tickets at the resort running $99 per day, the cost of the special midweek pass essentially means it more than pays for itself after three days on the slopes. Other price levels are $179 for youth, $69 for children and $199 for seniors. The pass is valid Monday-Friday through Feb. 1, but must be purchased by Monday. Information: 800-626-6684, www.mammothmountain.com

> At Mountain High, spend $10 on a rechargeable Express Pass, load it with almost any lift ticket and start saving – $10 on all flex ticket options – and enjoying other benefits. Those other benefits include guaranteed reservations in case of a sellout, a free eight-hour non-holiday ticket after every five visits, and the ability to track the number of runs you’ve completed, the total vertical feet and other individual stats. Information: 888-754-7878, www.mthigh.com 

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San Francisco Bay Area rain means happy skiers at Lake Tahoe resorts

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By Peter Delevett
San Jose Mercury News

Tahoe, tallyho!

The clammy Christmastime weather may be no fun in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it’s a boon for Lake Tahoe ski resorts that a year ago were suffering through a dry, nonwhite season.

Since Friday, more than seven feet of snow have fallen on the Sierra. And people from here and elsewhere have been flocking to the slopes.

Snowboarders enjoy the snow at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. (Patrick Tehan/San Jose Mercury News photo)

“We expect to have a great holiday season,” said Paul Raymore, spokesman for Homewood Mountain Ski Resort on the lake’s western shore. “Conditions at all the resorts are pretty much all-time.”

Raymore said Homewood is already seeing brisk season-ticket sales, and his counterpart at Squaw Valley said lodging at her resort is virtually sold out through Jan. 4. “Our phones are ringing off the hook,” said Jenny Kendrick, who also represents Alpine Meadows.

Kendrick called it the second-snowiest Christmas for her resorts since 1970.

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Santa sightings on the slopes

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By Jerry Rice

Santa Claus has a big job to do come Dec. 24, so if the Big Guy wants to have some fun before the Big Day it’s probably best to cut him some slack — otherwise you may find coal in your stocking on Christmas morning. The Jolly Old Elf has been visiting several ski resorts during the last several days …

Santa offers a helping hand to the snow-making crew at Mountain High. (Mountain High photo)

One cameraman caught him making snow at Mountain High (www.mthigh.com). The Wrightwood getaway was in big need of the white stuff, as there was none of it on the slopes as recently as Dec. 12. That was just before a storm moved through and dumped 6-12 inches of snow, and also brought with it the below-freezing temps that were desperately needed for the resort to turn on its extensive snow-making system.

Santa carves up some fresh powder at Snow Summit. (Snow Summit photo)

Elsewhere in Southern California, Santa parked his sleigh for a fun outing at Snow Summit (www.snowsummit.com), where he pulled off a maneuver that yours truly has never attempted — at least not on purpose.

At that Big Bear Lake resort, St. Nick found favorable conditions — 12-18 inches of snow, with a surface that ranged from machine groomed packed powder to hard pack — to perform all sorts of acrobatics.

We’re not sure how Santa landed a second or two after this shot on the right was taken, but we would like to see how it scored with the judges.

We recall last winter when the ski/snowboard season got off to a disappointing start at resorts throughout California. Mammoth Mountain (www.mammothmountain.com), for example, didn’t receive its first significant snowfall until late January. By then, much of the lucrative ski/snowboard season was lost.

Santa jumps for joy at Homewood Mountain Resort. (Homewood Mountain Resort photo)

This winter, thankfully, has been different. Mammoth has a base of 7.5 feet, and since early November it has received nearly 13 feet of snow — with more on the way tonight and Saturday.

Snow also is in the weekend forecast at Lake Tahoe, where Homewood Mountain Resort (www.skihomewood.com) reports as much as 45 inches of it has fallen this winter on the slopes at the higher elevations. That news apparently has Mr. Claus, at left, really excited.

We figure there will be Santas galore at Whistler Blackcomb (www.whistlerblackcomb.com) on Saturday morning. That’s when the resort will be giving a free lift ticket to the first 75 people who arrive at the Garibaldi Lift Company in full Santa or Mrs. Claus attire. They will be invited to ride up the hill at 8 a.m., then board or ski to the bottom of the Emerald Express for a group photo.

At Whistler Blackcomb, lots of Santas will be checking their lists while riding the lifts. (Whistler Blackcomb photo)

It’s an annual tradition at the Canadian resort. A cameraman for the local Pique Newsmagazine captured last year’s festivities, and some of the highlights were edited into a cute 48-second YouTube video. It shows a sea of red suits and bushy white beards moving down the mountain, some more gracefully than others.

With that, we offer Santa this important reminder: There are only three more skiing/snowboarding days left until Christmas.

Royal Gorge opening Saturday in the Donner Summit

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Royal Gorge will open 19 trails and over 20 kilometers of terrain for cross-country skiing on Saturday. The Donner Summit resort will now be open seven days a week for the season.

The opening of America’s largest cross-country resort will be the first time that the resort opens to the general public under Sugar Bowl Resort’s new management team. Sugar Bowl took over operation of Royal Gorge in the fall, and updated the resort’s Summit Station lodge, added grooming equipment and bought new ski rental gear for the resort.

All services will be available at Summit Station lodge, including ticketing, rentals, food and beverage and ski lessons. Trail passes will also be available for purchase at the Van Norden trailhead. All-day lift tickets will cost $27. Skiers can receive a $10 discount on a Royal Gorge trail pass on Saturday, and every day throughout the season, by purchasing a $19 CORE pass.

Royal Gorge has over 200 kilometers of trails and approximately 6,000 acres of terrain that stretches from the open expanse of Van Norden Meadows to the foot of majestic Devil’s Peak. It is connected to Sugar Bowl Resort by an “interconnect trail” that leads skiers through Van Norden Meadows.

A cold winter storm dropped nearly a foot of snow at the resort on Wednesday, making for superb snow conditions across the resort’s trail system. For more information visit royalgorge.com or sugarbowl.com.