Straddling the state line between Nevada and California, the sublime Lake Tahoe has 12 diverse resorts within easy reach.

We challenged local Jeremy Jacobson to ride seven of them in seven days. It's a hard life eh Jeremy? As told to Christine Ottery

On a snowboarding day, my favourite alarm clock is the sound of bombs going off. Unlike European resorts, US ski areas – and your travel insurers– allow you to ride off-piste everywhere within the area boundaries, so lots of time is spent avalanche-proofing the mountains. The ski patrols blast snow faces using hand charges and Howitzer cannons – powerful artillery guns – some of which have seen service in Iraq.

The North Tahoe area has the biggest concentration of ski resorts in North America. I count 12. And they get so much snow – on average 11.5m a year. Some call our particular kind of snow ‘Sierra cement’ because it is slightly more moist than the stuff in the Rockies, but I think it’s the best in the world. The moisture allows the snow to stick to the mountain, so you can ride 55 to 60-degree pitches, plus there’s less avalanche risk. Tahoe snow also recovers well from icy days – there’s ‘no dust on crust’, as our storms tend to come in warm and leave cold, which lets the snow bond to the ice. All you need is a fresh 10-20cm and you have a bottomless, beautiful, Champagne, cold-smoke powder day.

If you’re not a powder hound like me and the other locals, the resorts do a great job grooming the pistes, and there is always an intermediate groomer that you can take from the top of a mountain all the way down. Even in nasty storms there are always lifts open top-to-bottom somewhere, usually Northstar and Homewood, as they’re the most tree-sheltered mountains. Plus there are special flexible passes that let you pick and choose your ski spots on a day to day basis (details follow).

There’s just no excuse for you not to be skiing here!

DAY 1 - Squaw Valley

Extreme skiing was born here when film-maker Warren Miller came in the late Seventies and saw nutters throwing themselves off massive cliffs, skiing chutes and supersteep terrain. I can’t forget the scene last January when the first of the 5m of snow that would fall that month arrived. In the morning it was like a boardercross competition at the first lift to open, as everybody, including pro’s and gold medal-toting Olympians, jostled for position, elbows out, in the race for fresh tracks. By the end of the month, everyone had relaxed as they were so tired from trying to make the most of the powder. It was hilarious. Everybody became polite – ‘No, after you!’

Today, a beautiful bluebird powder day, I’m riding with my best friend Kelly, and we’re doing the powder circuit. You can ski untracked powder all day long because the lifts open in a sequence. You have to keep your ears open for the sound of the ski patrol bombs moving further away. That’s when you know the next lift is going to open, and it’s a race to the next chair. Starting at KT22, we move on to Headwall chair, then the Siberia chair, then Granite Chief, Broken Arrow and finally Silverado. When the planets align in your favour, like today, it’s amazing. Everybody whoops and hollers for us from the chairlifts as we pick apart the mountain and kick up powder plumes way over our heads.

If you’re wondering where to stay in the area, Squaw Valley is a good bet because it’s ski in/ski out. There’s also better après here than at some of the other well known resorts of Lake Tahoe, because locals and visitors mingle together, rather than being dispersed throughout casinos, hotel restaurants and regular locals’ bars. The food’s great at Blue Coyote grill or you can grab a handroll and beer at Mama Sake, and hang out on the outdoor deck with live bands playing in the background – it’s one big party.

Continued...

Add Comment