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May, 2025

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Best park in Tahoe and why?

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fordaboyz5354
Posts: 4 - Karma: 24
Im curious what people think is the best park in Tahoe
6 years ago
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BJ2112
Posts: 130 - Karma: 442
Out of all I’ve been to I would say northstar. But it was late season so all were not the best they couldve been.
6 years ago
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SofaKingSick
Posts: 9742 - Karma: 65,784
northstar is known for their park

boreal too but boreal is a little less "traditional"


*sorry but i also have to be that guy-- i would def consider hitting stuff other than park if you're going to tahoe (depending on what the deal is with how you're choosing and buying tickets of course), cause there's some amazing terrain there (squaw, alpine, kirkwood, sugar bowl, mt rose has some good stuff)
6 years ago
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270on420out
Posts: 7524 - Karma: 51,325
Drive the extra 2 hours to mammoth.
6 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,645
Everything's closed other than Squaw and Heavenly. I wouldn't feel good about myself if I ever sent somebody to Heav to ride park though.

I'll be lapping there a bit this week.

I didn't make it to squaw but for the mountains I rode I like Northstars park the best. I think things could have been a lot better, but everything was consistently decent, at least jump wise. I wish we had more rails out in general, and a better rail game earlier in the season. Not sure if anyone else was looking much better.

Boreal generally has a good variety of rails. The jumps aren't really my jam. When I've been there at least



I liked DP's park actually. Nothing crazy but straight forward and decent. Not much hype for the place but it had some good flow.
6 years ago
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jakeordie
Posts: 665 - Karma: 3,281
DIRTYBUBBLEDrive the extra 2 hours to mammoth.


6 years ago
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f100prerunner
Posts: 504 - Karma: 1,313
I heard boreals park manager moved to DIamond peak which is why boreal has been more lame these last 2 seasons and dp has been stepping their game up
6 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,645
f100prerunnerI heard boreals park manager moved to DIamond peak which is why boreal has been more lame these last 2 seasons and dp has been stepping their game up


yeah the guy at dp used to work at boreal. I almost moved over there cause of that last year.

Fun park though. Not that big but everything was setup well. I bought a pass for next year

**This post was edited on Apr 22nd 2019 at 5:21:08pm
6 years ago
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ogreene
Posts: 42 - Karma: 116
Northstar:
longest park runs in Tahoe
most diverse parks in Tahoe
overall, could lap star's park a month straight and not get bored
6 years ago
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fordaboyz5354
Posts: 4 - Karma: 24
ogreeneNorthstar:
longest park runs in Tahoe
most diverse parks in Tahoe
overall, could lap star's park a month straight and not get bored

fs
6 years ago
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fordaboyz5354
Posts: 4 - Karma: 24
DIRTYBUBBLEDrive the extra 2 hours to mammoth.


yeah but i live in reno Lmao
6 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,645
ogreeneNorthstar:
longest park runs in Tahoe
most diverse parks in Tahoe
overall, could lap star's park a month straight and not get bored


I wish we had a rail park, a real boarderX setup, and a proper plaza at the base of the pipe.

But def one of the best park layouts geographically out there. All park trails on one mtn section, dedicated lift, and long park runs.

I'm a big fan of plazas though. Also more grinderbars would always get me stoked. Boarderx is whatever. I think a well built one is sweet to blast through once or twice with the crew but don't really care. I just really wanted that box line to die and get replaced by tight rail line like top of pinball. Also wouldn't mind rails next to the main jump line.

Idk. A lot of days I just want to ride rails honestly.

A nice mix of boarderx and slope course would be fun as hell. For most of the season I was riding pinball rail line then snaking over for 1 or 2 of the jumps then back to the rails with a few euros. Some rails mixed with some fast berms and mellow but high speed jumps would be super fun.
6 years ago
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skiP.E.I.
Posts: 7967 - Karma: 23,260
theabortionatorI liked DP's park actually. Nothing crazy but straight forward and decent. Not much hype for the place but it had some good flow.

Hard to beat a well built park with basic features and good flow, even if it's not big.
Happens too often, and I've been guilty of this to an extent, that someone tries to execute a big idea at a mountain that doesn't have the budget or just doesn't care about the park, and it ends up looking impressive but doesn't work as well as it could.
Shoutout to the park managers at small-medium/low budget places who put in work but don't overstep.
6 years ago
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skiboigrif
Posts: 125 - Karma: 162
the parking lot so that you can drive to an actual decent park and ski there
6 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,645
skiP.E.I.Hard to beat a well built park with basic features and good flow, even if it's not big.
Happens too often, and I've been guilty of this to an extent, that someone tries to execute a big idea at a mountain that doesn't have the budget or just doesn't care about the park, and it ends up looking impressive but doesn't work as well as it could.
Shoutout to the park managers at small-medium/low budget places who put in work but don't overstep.


I feel their in the mix. They're def building some stuff that's bigger than most people are hitting, but they're trying to build the place. But yeah, a lot of stuff was good size for errrbody.

Def tricky. A lot of people if they're in charge build wildly big, or super "creative" features that nobody hits. If you ask people what features they want people will say double z kink battleship donkey dick rail with skate stoppers, but if you put it in, barely anyone would hit it. It's easy to forget how some of the basic features are the most used.

I'm stoked to have a pass at DP next year and see what they build. I'd be down to work there but kinda staying loyal to northstar at least for the moment(and against better judgement). Sheer amount of park trails/features and budget is worth it for now. Also would like to learn to cut pipe at some point. Hoping for another big snow year to build more snow features, and hopefully get some chances to be creative.
6 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,645
Has anyone been to heavenly recently? Wondering how their park is looking. I'll probably go this weekend.
6 years ago
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fregoso
Posts: 109 - Karma: 804
Id say Sierra or Northstar
Sierra is my home mountain and im on the comp team there. Northstar has more variety but ik the park crew at Sierra and they spend a lot of time and work hard on there parks. There very well built. Follow there park insta @sierraplaygrounds
6 years ago
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JmckR
Posts: 1334 - Karma: 6,114
theabortionatorHas anyone been to heavenly recently? Wondering how their park is looking. I'll probably go this weekend.


why have you changed your profile pic, I'm not cool with this
6 years ago
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SofaKingSick
Posts: 9742 - Karma: 65,784
FregolishiId say Sierra or Northstar
Sierra is my home mountain and im on the comp team there. Northstar has more variety but ik the park crew at Sierra and they spend a lot of time and work hard on there parks. There very well built. Follow there park insta @sierraplaygrounds


Shit good call I forgot Sierra
6 years ago
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hstedman
Posts: 18 - Karma: 140
Sierra hosted superunknown a few years ago which was a surprise to me but I guess it shows they can build a decent park. Seen a couple SLVSH games from there too.

Northstar I'd say generally has the best park in Tahoe, they have the most/longest runs with the most features and a dedicated high speed quad pretty much just for park. However, I think I had heard Vail has been investing less in it the past couple years, but I might be confusing that with the Northstar bike park.

Squaw's always pretty fun especially in the spring. They don't have anything crazy but I think their jumps and features are well built and you might see a pro there too which is always fun. Plus the park is right under a popular lift so there's a lot of stoke.

I haven't been to Boreal but I see a lot of videos of Tanner sessioning there and they have a Woodward at the base, so I always figured it must be pretty good.

And like someone else said, obviously there's mammoth which is and has been for a while one of the premiere parks in north america, so that's always worth a trip especially in late season. For someone living in Reno though I would say Northstar is the best because it's the closest (other than Mt. Rose) and the park is quite good.
6 years ago
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NoImNotaBoarder
Posts: 86 - Karma: 47
Only ever ridden Kirkwood and Northstar. Kirkwood was great but the park was trash. Northstar's park was awesome!
6 years ago
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C0ster
Posts: 101 - Karma: 190
theabortionatorHas anyone been to heavenly recently? Wondering how their park is looking. I'll probably go this weekend.


Heavenly actually closed their parks Sunday and I don't think they're building any on the Nevada side
6 years ago
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3mania
Posts: 2649 - Karma: 10,869
Heading out to Squaw this weekend, Does anyone know if the Belmont park is still open? Haven't been skiing much park this season, I might need a little warm up before hitting up that big kicker line.
6 years ago
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f100prerunner
Posts: 504 - Karma: 1,313
3maniaHeading out to Squaw this weekend, Does anyone know if the Belmont park is still open? Haven't been skiing much park this season, I might need a little warm up before hitting up that big kicker line.

Belmont is closed for the season, first and second jumps in Gold Coast are super mellow though so I wouldn’t worry too much
6 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,645
TahoesemilocalHeavenly actually closed their parks Sunday and I don't think they're building any on the Nevada side


Jesus. If that's true, heavenly sucks the biggest dicks. I really dislike that mtn. If the snow is good, and I'm with some friends I might be able to snag a mediocre day there.

Idk what it is about that place but I just don't dig it.
6 years ago
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C0ster
Posts: 101 - Karma: 190
theabortionatorJesus. If that's true, heavenly sucks the biggest dicks. I really dislike that mtn. If the snow is good, and I'm with some friends I might be able to snag a mediocre day there.

Idk what it is about that place but I just don't dig it.

Yeah Heavenly has slowly become a boring tourist destination mountain, they took away their big park last year and seem to only cater the mountain toward gapers. Dipper (best lift open right now) is pretty fun but kind of limiting.
6 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,645
TahoesemilocalYeah Heavenly has slowly become a boring tourist destination mountain, they took away their big park last year and seem to only cater the mountain toward gapers. Dipper (best lift open right now) is pretty fun but kind of limiting.


I'm going to ride a bit in the next week or two. Hopefully can find some fun laps. They open some really bullshit offerings early season/with limited snow. Coming from the cal side even in better snow ends up with a lot of traversing, high traffic, and mediocre skiing at best.

Idk. Probably just personal opinion and my friends have had some legit days there they said, but it just gives me a meh vibe. If I'm driving down there I'd rather just keep going to kirkwood.
6 years ago
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tcurle
Posts: 1268 - Karma: 5,374
Squaw because the park starts getting good in March and is open through July
6 years ago
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Non_State_Actor
Posts: 5098 - Karma: 18,672
theabortionatorJesus. If that's true, heavenly sucks the biggest dicks. I really dislike that mtn. If the snow is good, and I'm with some friends I might be able to snag a mediocre day there.

Idk what it is about that place but I just don't dig it.


It's like 6-7 boreal sized hills merged into one mountain, there's no flow, no long runs, tons of traversing (much fun with a snowboard) and the little bit of challenging techy terrain available is never open.
6 years ago
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