We sat down with several locals and visitors at Sugar Bowl to find out what made the hill special to them. We found out that the lift lines are short, there’s a lot of snow, and the hill has a lot of history. It is, after all, home to the first chairlift in California.
We also asked the locals about where they liked to ski, snowboard, and eat, as well as what else is fun to do in the area. This is what we learned.
Sugar Bowl is one of the lesser-known resorts in the North Lake Tahoe area. I’m very happy about that, because it means that whenever I visit, the lines will be short, and the fresh tracks will be long.
Sugar Bowl is only 1500 acres, but it feels much bigger — especially the area between the Disney Chair and the Mt. Lincoln Express, where there are cliffs, steeps, a gorgeous frozen waterfall, and chutes that rival extreme legends like Squaw Valley’s Pallisades and Jackson Hole’s Corbet’s Couloir.
The locals told us that they liked Sugar Bowl because of it’s homey atmosphere, short lift lines, and friendly staff. I liked it because Brian (of Exploring Elements) and I did basically one awesome powder run all day long on the first day and never crossed a track that wasn’t ours.
Here are some of the photos we took. Thanks to Brian for providing the photos of me (the snowboarder in the blue jacket and green pants). He also published his photos of Sugar Bowl.
We visited Wolf Creek Ski Resort on the Sunday the 11th and Monday 12th of February. From the 9th to the 11th Wolf Creek was slammed by a massive storm. The resort received 48″ of fresh snow, which they added to the 200″ they’d already received, giving them more snow than any other resort in Colorado by leaps and bounds.
I went out both days with Wolf Creek ski instructor Steven Baird both days to take some photos. Here’s what we came up with.
It was a serious powder day when we interviewed skiers and snowboarders at Sugar Bowl. Surprisingly, when we asked them what they liked about the resort, nobody even mentioned the snow (though it was fantastic). Everybody did, however, mention the friendly atmosphere. A lot of people also liked the terrain. I thought the terrain was … Read more
Squaw Valley is the birthplace of extreme skiing in the USA and has been the backdrop for more ski and snowboard videos than I can count. It’s a destination that every serious skier and snowboarder pines to visit, and is widely recognized as one of the best and most extreme ski resorts in the world.
We learned a lot about Squaw Valley from our interviews with locals. Of course, a lot of people talked about the amazing terrain and snow, but we already knew about those.
What we didn’t already know, though, was the best places to go when the snow is deep, and where to get a good california roll when the hill closes.
Now we do know, and so will you. Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Squaw Vally.
I’ve wanted to visit Squaw Valley — the birthplace of extreme skiing and backdrop for many of the ski movies I watched as a child — since I was young. I was thrilled when we arrived there in early January.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t had much snow since Christmas, and the crowds of holidaymakers that visit the hill and left little behind. So, the first two days were less than ideal for sampling extreme terrain that the locals rave about.
On the night of the second day, however, it snowed nearly a foot. So, on the third day we did a bit of hiking and put in some of the best turns of the season.
All’s well that ends well, especially when you walk away with photos like these!
**Special thanks to Bryon of Exploring Elements for the photos of me (the snowboarder in the blue jacket). You can find all of Bryon’s photos here.
