This is the fifth and final stop on our road trip through the Powder Alliance

Check out our intro to the trip here: http://www.newschoolers.com/membernewsread/4-Dudes-Subaru

Article from our first stop: http://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/NSxPowder-Alliance-Stevens-Pass

Article from Mount Hood: http://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/NSxPowder-Alliance-Timberline-Ski-Bowl

Article from our home resort: http://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/NSxPowder-Alliance-Schweitzer

We head home tomorrow. Stay tuned for another update from the road and a recap of the trip, along with video.

For the condensed, ratings based portion of this review, skip to the bottom. If you like reading things, continue onwards.

Sometimes as skiers we become obsessed with the “epic.” We focus on going bigger, doing gnarlier tricks, “progressing” the sport. We go bigger, harder, further, serious-er. We start to leave the “free” out of freeskiing. When this happens there is only one solution, go blast some slushy park laps while lustily singing “Evacuate the Dance Floor.” Sierra at Tahoe gave us that refresher and much more.

First off though, Sierra at Tahoe by the numbers:

Elevation:

Peak: 8852ft

Base: 6639 ft

Total drop: 2212 ft

Terrain:

2000 acres

5 parks

Lifts:

3 High Speed Quads

1 Triple Chair

5 Double Chairs

If you’ve been keeping up with our travels, we have been on the road for a week now. We’ve skied stashes of pow and cliffs at Stevens, we built a jump at Timberline and dropped night runs at Mount Hood Ski Bowl. The only thing left to do? Blast slushy park laps at Sierra at Tahoe!

As we screamed along the curvy roads of Tahoe a palpable atmosphere of anticipation tempered with fear filled the car. Apparently Sierra at Tahoe had built us a feature. Coming off of four days of hard skiing we were beaten and battered. As mainly big mountain skiers our rail skills aren't the most refined and all of the connotations of a private feature tempered our sunny enthusiasm.

You know you've made it when the resort's name is in the gap

Once on the mountain all our fears were allayed. It’s hard to stay scared when you are shredding soft snow in spring conditions. For a bunch of sun starved Idahoans Sierra at Tahoe felt like a day at the beach. The mountain’s upper park is prime for slushy hot laps and if our feature is any indication the park crew has the creativity and skills to maintain a killer park.

Of all of the mountains we visited Sierra at Tahoe was the one we most wished for more snow at. The mountain’s terrain is prime, with huge boulders and multiple backcountry gates. Every lift ride up we imagined storm day pillow lines and hits. With some soft snow Sierra at Tahoe looks like a perfect playground for the well rounded skier. Luckily, even without much fresh Sierra at Tahoe was still a jibby, springy party.

Unfortunately with some soft snow and sun comes false confidence. I took one of the hardest tumbles of my life on an icy cat track and exploded into a flurry of Carhartts and camera gear. Luckily I sacrificed my body for my camera and it came out unscathed. This crash meant that I spent my afternoon reviewing Sierra’s sunny patio and gratefully consuming the frothy beverage sympathetic snowboarders bought me when they saw my battle scars. I can honestly rate the patio ten 11 out of 10 comfy lounge chairs for sunny apres ski vibes.

Snowburn kills

James headed out to try his hand behind the lens and came back with some great shots of the guys getting their goofy jib on. While Sierra at Tahoe looks incredible during a storm cycle their sunny parks and Cali vibes made for a great visit. Sometimes you just need some slush in your face to put skiing in perspective. Everyone has their own idea of what the “soul” of skiing is. I won’t pretend to have that answer but I know that somewhere in that perfect recipe is Sierra’s sunny park and patio.

Getting funky in the sun

If your tongue isn't out you might be doing it wrong

Super Scientific Ratings

Freeski marketing stoke: Sierra at Tahoe has the most new school marketing team of any resort we visited. Ten “my ankles are broken” jokes out of ten

Potential terrain: Every lift ride up we marveled at the boulders, trees and pillows we could see, just waiting to be filled in. Four fat tree jibs out of five

Snowboarders: There are a lot of snowboarders here, which is fine, just be ware of tired riders suddenly sitting down in front of you. Eight soggy bottom snowboard pants out of ten

Beach vibes: Ok, so this isn't the beach, but for four sun starved Idahoans it felt pretty dang close. Five farmer's tans out of five

Lifties: These were some stoked lifties, with some pretty rad custom shirts. Four bumped chairs out of five

Lodge patio: Sierra at Tahoe has the kind of lodge patio I could waste a lot of my life on. Nine weird Idahoans tanning in January out of ten

Parks: Yeah, maybe slushy parks aren't the fastest or most predictable but they are hard to beat for forgiving landings and goofy slashes: Eight greased rails out of ten

Overall stoke meter: Extreme excitement! Sunny parks, a sunny patio, loud lodge music, Sierra at Tahoe brings the California vibes!

We head home tomorrow. Stay tuned for another update from the road and a recap of the trip, along with video.