Saved by man-made technology
Years ago a dry winter in Northern California might have posed a
major financial problem for the numerous ski resorts in the Lake
Tahoe area, but that’s not the case anymore
– especially for the major resorts that now have the luxury of
state-of-the-art snow-making machines to keep them up and
running.
Saved by man-made technology
Years ago a dry winter in Northern California might have posed a major financial problem for the numerous ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area, but that’s not the case anymore – especially for the major resorts that now have the luxury of state-of-the-art snow-making machines to keep them up and running.
In fact, although the natural snow fall this year thus far is the worst it has been in the last five years, it appears to be business-as-usual this winter season for resorts that rely heavily on the people from this area to make the trek up into the mountains to ski and snow board.
“We’ve had 100 inches of natural snow this year,” said Aimi Xistra-Rich, the communications coordinator for Heavenly Lake Tahoe. “Three years ago we had 400 inches of snow up here. But we are fortunate to have the largest snow-making system on the West Coast up here.”
Despite the lack of natural snow Heavenly currently has 29 chair lifts open and 62 trails that are being used. Even without much natural snowfall the cold air temperatures have allowed the area resorts to make snow all evening long, as well as during the day.
The machine at Heavenly cranks out the man-made stuff fast enough to cover an acre of ground with 3.5 feet of snow in just an hours time. The machines can also be set to make either the powdery stuff or the wetter snow that works best for the initial base filling.
About the only impact Mother Nature has had is on the heavily wooded or tree-lined areas. For that reason skiers at Heavenly as well as many of the other resorts in the Tahoe area are encouraged to stay on the ski trails and not divert to the wooded areas.
“We’ve been able to make quite a bit of snow this year,” Xistra-Rich said. “We’ve made snow 68 days this season so far and our snow team has put in 1,155 hours doing so. We’ve got great snow coverage up here considering the weather.”
Although the winter has been mild in terms of snowfall, it has been typical or even harsh in terms of cold weather. The national weather service is predicting a late season this year, similar to last year when the region was hit with upwards of 200 inches of snow during the months of March and April, which paved way for an extended spring ski season.
As long as the temperatures stay cold, Heavenly Valley has enough snowmaking capabilities to cover 70 percent of the resorts trails without a single natural inch of snowfall.
On the north side of the lake at Northstar Resort, they are experiencing a similar situation.
“We haven’t had a whole lot from Mother Nature this year, but we’re 50 percent covered with our snow-making ability,” said Northstar Communications Manager Jessica Vanpernis. “We also groom it every night to make it like packed powder.”
Currently at Northstar 78 of the resort’s 79 trails are open. The resort also has added a 9,000 square foot skating rink, which has attracted a lot of attention this season as well as a newly built village area, which includes areas to dine and shop.
In addition to Heavenly and Northstar, many of the bigger ski resorts have the ability to groom and make their own snow, including Sierra-at-Tahoe, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.
Lake Tahoe Ski Conditions/Information
Alpine Meadows
Base Snow Depth: 33″
Summit Snow Depth: 65″
Current Snow Conditions: Skier packed machine groomed runs.
Alpine Meadows Rd. (off Hwy. 89) P.O. Box 5279, Tahoe City, CA 96145
Office (530) 583-4232 24-Hr. Snowphone at (530) 581-8374.
Boreal Mountain Playground
Castle Peak exit off I-80, 3 miles west of Donner Lake
P.O. Box 39, Truckee, CA 96160
Current Conditions & Office: (530) 426-3666
Diamond Peak
1210 Ski Way, Incline Village, NV 89451
Conditions Phone: (775) 831-3211 Office Phone (775) 832-1177
Donner Ski Ranch
19320 Donner Pass Road, P.O. Box 66, Norden, CA 95724
Conditions Phone & Office: (530) 426-3635
Heavenly Lake Tahoe
P.O. Box 2180, Stateline, NV 89449
Conditions Phone (800) 2-HEAVEN Office Phone (775) 586-7000
Homewood Mountain Resort
5145 West Lake Blvd., P.O. Box 165, Homewood, CA 96141
Conditions Phone (530) 525-2900 Office Phone (530) 525-2992
Kirkwood
Snow Stats (snow totals in inches)
Season Total Range: 81-92″ Base Depth: 52-70″
Surface Conditions: Machine Groomed Powder, Skier Packed Powder
51 Trails Open, 28 Trails Groomed
1501 Kirkwood Meadows Drive, P.O. Box 1, Kirkwood, CA 95646
Resort (209) 258-6000 Reservations (800) 967-7500
Sierra-at-Tahoe
1111 Sierra-at-Tahoe Road, Twin Bridges, CA 95735
Conditions Phone (530) 659-7475 Office Phone (530) 659-7453
Soda Springs
Base Depth: 40 – 60″
Primary Surface: Machine groomed, natural and manmade snow
Soda Springs (Norden Exit off I-80 on Baker Ranch Rd. and Old Hwy. 40)
P.O. Box 39, Truckee, CA 96160
Snow phone: (530) 426-1010 Information: (530) 426-3901
Squaw Valley
Base Depth: 60-70″ at higher elevations
Packed Powder, Groomed and Windblown Powder
Squaw Valley USA, P.O. Box 2007, Olympic Valley, CA 96146
Conditions Phone (888) SNOW 3-2-1 Office Phone (530) 583-6985
Sugar Bowl
Base: 34-54″, Machine-groomed, packed powder
Hwy 40 / Donner Pass Road off Hwy I-80, P.O. Box 5, Norden, CA 95724
Information (530) 426-9000, Snowphone (530) 426-1111
