To change things up from our Summit County trips, we decided to get the Tahoe Local pass this year. Lake Tahoe is located on the boarder between Nevada and California in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We flew into Reno, Nevada and rented a car to drive an hour away to Heavenly ski resort on the souther boarder of Lake Tahoe. This is the largest of the three Tahoe pass resorts. Being able to reach the mountain within an hour of the airport was very convenient. It made our travel days so much easier and we had time to ski a full day on the mountain the day we flew out.

STAYS:

When I first started looking into stays, I didn’t realize that there are much more motel-like hotel stays. There is not a big resort feel like in many of the Colorado towns. These hotels had more of a cabin feel and but still walking distance to heavenly. There are larger hotels that do have casinos on the Nevada side.

We decided to stay at a hotel called 3 Peaks Lodge. It was relatively inexpensive compared to many of the neighboring hotels/motels. It is a short walk to the mountain gondola. The hotel also has a large communal hot tub. It was out of order when we were there. I would have booked another resort it I had known this ahead of time. A hot tub is a must after a day on the slopes!

Tahoe Local Pass

The Tahoe Local Pass consists of three resorts. All three are Vail (EPIC) resorts. The main resort you think of when you think of Tahoe is Heavenly mountain. This is the resort on southern boarder of Lake Tahoe. The second resort is Northstar. This is the resort on the northern boarder of the lake. It is the shortest drive from the Reno airport. In California there is also Kirkwood the final resort on the Tahoe Local pass. It is about 45 minutes southeast of Heavenly. This is a smaller resort with less crowds.

If you are trying to visit all three, I do recommend South Lake Tahoe as a home base. It is centrally located and has the most to offer for off the mountain activities. The views of the lake while skiing up on the mountains is breath taking. There is not a great location to stay near Kirkwood. It is very secluded with no resorts near the base.

On our first day snowboarding in Tahoe, the winds shut down the gondola. Talking with locals, this has been happening frequently. Some said 60% of the time. We were lucky to have access to Kirkwood or Northstar with our pass. It was good to have options for an alternative ski resort.

Due to the traffic, we decided to go boarding at Kirkwood. This is a smaller mountain that was easily skied in half a day trip. The runs were VERY short. The good thing was that the lines were non existent. We skied right onto the lifts. This helped keep us moving and warmed up. It was easy to ski the whole resort in half a day. The back bowl was opening the day we went, but the top layer of the snow was just ice. It was a little more difficult to board down. Make sure you are a confident skier/boarder. Kirkwood does have a small hall to get drinks but not much of a a bar scene.

The following day we were able to snowboard Heavenly. When you reach the top of the gondola, you have two ways you can go: Right to California or Left to Nevada. You can ski/board between the two. Navigating the mountain was more difficult than anticipated. The trails are not all labeled well. So make sure you paying attention to where you want to end up. I do recommend downloading the Epic Mix app before you get to the mountain. It has an interactive trail map that is great on the mountain. It allows you to track where your ski buddies are as well. There is not great service on the mountain in general.

If you chose to ski the California side, the views are the most beautiful. The runs overlook Lake Tahoe. The best pictures/views were when you take the Ridge Run.

The Nevada side was also great to board. There were lots of trails that you could hop in and out of the tree-line easily. There was also a lodge called, East Peak Lodge that was the best place to stop for a drinks. They even had a DJ playing over the weekend. It was a great vibe.

The gondola lines were very long at the end of the days. We ended up going to Tamarack Lodge near the gondola while we waited. They had great drink specials at the end of the day. There was also a live band that played for a couple hours while the line died down.

Side note for Foodies:

There are MANY places to eat in Tahoe. We do recommend Bistro at Edgewood Tahoe. I twas a great menu with seafood options. There was also a great wine list! I do recommend making reservations for dinners. Many of the places have long waitlist.