Thinking about moving to lake tahoe area-help?

both have legit parks, but neither are anywhere close to each other, so i dont know how you're going to end up shredding both of them all winter if you dont plan on being right between them.

sierra is sick on pow days... lots of fun tree runs and pillow drops... I ride there and k wood and though the wood is siiick on pow days it does get tracked fast while sierra has a lot of spots that only locals know of, its wind protected (i only know 1 or 2 days in 3 years where grandview was on wind hold)  ... i had more pow days there, this year, then park days for sure (and a couple of really deeeep 2ft days)...

I literally live right between them. it kinda sucks

Well to start Northstar is packed with chinese people 24/7, the park is legit but it gets bombed out at about 12:00 because there are so many people shredding it (mostly snowboarders).

yeah nick come on down here man! northstar is pretty sick for park and sierra is a blast on pow days, lots of steep tree runs and drops everywhere. you will dig it.

wordd man. my rommate is going and i think i might roll with him for winter quarter. i just need to figure shit out...thanks for all the info

I have heard good things about Sierra, but I cannot stand Northstar.  It is just absolute SHIT in my opinion.  I would much rather go to Squaw any day over Northstar. If you get to Squaw early enough, you will get a KILLER parking spot.  Pay $30 for good parking at Northstar and it's still a half mile walk in.  Northstar is SO FUCKING crowded.  15 minute park lift line, it just blows.  I don't like the park as much as Squaw's.  I could never imagine having a fun pow day at Northstar either.  It is so fucking flat, not one steep run anywhere.  You are so much better off at a place like Squaw in my opinion.  I think Sierra is much better than Northstar though.  If you want to get 15 park runs the whole day, go to Northstar.  It is crowded and I cannot stand the place.  I never liked it the first year I went.  I went back the second year and will never go back again.  NEVER.  Sorry about my little rant there.

I can only speak from the two previous seasons before this one but saying northstar always sucks is a very gross exaggeration. On the weekends, fuck that place its full of chinese bastards, little brats and baypers, I'm with you there. Northstar is one of the worst places in Tahoe on the weekends because of the crowd factor.

But during the midweek I've had lots of awesome days there, their jumps and jibs are fucking sick (matix staircase anyone?). Squaw's park is very lackluster until like mid-march when they finally open their mainline park. There's only so much Belmont (haha) and Riviera I can handle before I'm bored as fuck. And squaw is beyond the budget of a lot of people. However, when there's fresh snow squaw gives me multiple orgasms.

Also, to say Northstar always blows on powder days is just a flat out lie. No steep at all? I wouldn't say lookout mountain is bad at all, plus you gotta take a tow rope to get to that lift so the only ones going over there are locals and people in the know. On top of that Northstar has a secret lift, not too easy to find, but if you make it there you'll have first tracks all afternoon after lookout gets tracked out.

The best combination though is a pass to Squaw (or Alpine Meadows) and Boreal, best of Tahoe powder and park.

wow, so much hate for northstar its ridiculous. but, all of the comments about it are untrue because those who posted beside the one above has ever spent any time there.

Yeah, I guess I have only skied Northstar during really crowded times, so that is probably why I did not like it.  I know I can ride a bus, but at Squaw I can pull up and walk 30 seconds and I'm at the village.  Northstar does have good park, but I've only been there when it is crowded, that's why I really did not like it.  Lookout Mtn. is not steep, nowhere near steep.  Look at it this way.  5ft. of snow falls at both Squaw and Northstar, where are you going to go?  Obviously Squaw, I would fucking die to ski the Fingers or the Palisades on  a nice deep day.  It goes off at Squaw.  I really thought that Squaw had a much more laid back, everyone knows each other type of vibe.  I think Squaw's park is really fun, no line, good jibs, they have stepped it up, and they have night skiing.  Northstar does not get the same amount of snow as everyone else in Tahoe.  Look at Squaw's snow charts and compare them to Northstar.  Squaw and Alpine get shat on.  I skied with a guy at Mammoth who was the freestyle coach at Squaw (Sean Collins) and he like Squaw's park the most, he even said they had really stepped it up and there is no other place like Squaw in CA.  I guess I have not been to Northstar at a good time, but the multiplt times I went, I would have rather stayed at home and skied Sierra Summit (Sierra Summit is shitty, but I can probably find equally as gnarly drops and pillow lines at Sierra Summit).  So I was comparing Northstar to other Tahoe resorts in my original post.  Northstar does NOT have near as good/steep/much terrain as Squaw.  It has a good jumpline, but Squaw's seemed better, the jibs are fun, but again, I like Squaw's equally.  I guess I have to live there to know it better.  Whatever, Mammoth is easily the best in CA.  Nice gnarly terrain, good drops, gets shat on with snow, longest season in North America, besides Hood, Best park in CA and maybe one of the best in North America.

I've only skied Northstar twice, but sierra is my home mountain. they get an average of 420" of snow a year and last year there were 3 or 4 powder days but for me to call a powder day there has to be at least 3 feet of snow and thats a light storm. its one of the most westerly ski resort in tahoe so it gets more snow but its a bit heavier than squaw or heavenly. all the terrain in bounds is pretty mellow but if your not afraid of a little cat-track hike then there is some sick drops and some amazing trees in the bc,sidecountry

hope it helps

I've heard Sierra is a good place for powder.  Lots of good pillow lines if you know where to look.  I'd definitely like to make it there for a pow day sometime.

Lol, did you really say Northstar is a good place on a powder day? Maybe if you don't like to ski anything steep....

Yeah, they have some great trees, but so does most of the other tahoe resorts.  Sure, they have some small cliffs, but nothing to other places like Kirkwood, Squaw, Alpine Meadows and all the rest.  The only thing Northstar has going for them IMO is their park which kicks ass, that it's protected weatherwise and all of the hot gaper girls.  However, there is NO way that they get as much snow as other resorts.  The only time I'll go to Northstar is when the weather keeps me from skiing other resorts or sometimes in late spring.

haha, I thought I was right about Northstar on pow days.

I wasn't exactly comparing it, I spent a winter living in Squaw so I think I'd understand that when there's fresh snowfall there's no comparison at all.

That being said, yes, northstar can be fun on powder days. I've found steep lines through the trees, you just have to know where to look. All I could afford freshman year of college was a northstar pass so I rode there on powder days and I can't say I was disappointed. Its about a steep as Mt. Bachelor most of the time though. They also do a better job than most resorts maintaining their superpipe and carving it out as early into the season as they can. Make no mistake, their park crew works harder than most.

fair enough, but I've skied all over Northtar and to say there's anything remotely steep there is a joke

i agree, squaw has not as much terrain parks, but they r hella fun...... then u can hit the palisades or go over to granite chief and jump the cliffs there.... n orthstar doesnt have tht

Salcedo- Doesn't Squaw have a $300 college pass?  Northstar is so fucking expensive.  That post didn't make sense.

Mucho Mango- Agreed.  Even Lookout Mountain wasn't steep, but they advertised it as a place for high level expert skiers only.  The trees in lookout were not steep either. 

life@reno- Word.  I would love to ski the palisades or the Fingers.  Granite Chief looked so damn fun.  I want to ski Squaw on a pow day so bad!  I can't wait until I can drive.

northstar is like 289

Really?  I did not know that.  For $10 more it seems like you get more out of Squaw's.  What are the blackout dates on the Northstar pass?

still not worth it.... besides, northstar is mostly set up for snowboareders not skiers...... squaw doesnt give a flyin fuck but boarding..

Seems to be far less gapers and Asian noobs at Squaw.  Squaw is the only resort I've been to where there are FAR more skiers than snowboarders.

like Christmas and a couple of 3 day weekends in january and february.

The $300 pass didn't exist when I was a freshman

Oh, I see.  Then  Northstar would have been the way to go.