California is the surfers capital of the US. Skiers and snowboarders find the
best ride though is in the California mountains. We’re not talking Mountain High
or Mt Baldy – those are just ski day trips from Hollywood and LA. We’re talking
about the best California ski resorts – where your ski and stay for a week – a
Mammoth ski week.
The Sierra Nevada Range that stretches from Mammoth up to Lake Tahoe creates
fantastic big mountain skiing. Mammoth is an incredible California ski
destination.
The resort at Mammoth is a beautiful Intrawest ski development, with nicely
appointed condominiums and a handful of good après ski bars and shops. The skiing at
Mammoth is vast, with spectacular summit skiing, and the best
terrain parks in the country. Mammoth has more ski terrain than you can explore in
a California ski weekend. And Mammoth has the longest ski season around.
Lake Tahoe is a jewel-colored body of water surrounded by black diamonds – 18
ski areas are within a snowball fight radius of Lake Tahoe. Come for a Lake
Tahoe ski week, and ski a different California or Nevada ski area every day. The
biggest ski resorts are Squaw Valley, Heavenly, Alpine Meadows,
Kirkwood, Northstar at Tahoe and Sierra at Tahoe. But there are plenty more to hit – Homewood, Diamond Peak, Incline Village, Mount Rose, Sugarbowl.
Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly resort borders California and Nevada (where just about
everything is legal), in fact you can ski from state to state. Take advantage of
the ski and stay casino packages if you are a high elevation high roller. Just
remember, its hard to ride Heavenly’s’ gondola for first tracks when you have
been hitting Heavenly’s casinos and Lake Tahoe’s nightclubs on a Nevada
all-nighter.
The slopeside lodging at Squaw Valley is ideal
for core-skiers, either The Plumpjack at Squaw
or the Resort at Squaw Creek. The Ritz Carlton at Northstar is a great on
mountain luxury ski hotel as well. What’s amazing about
a Lake Tahoe ski trip, the scenery as you ski around the Lake, at every ski
turn, at every Tahoe ski resort - there’s the spectacular deep blue waters that
never freeze. If you are lodged on the California side of Lake Tahoe, and you
want to ski Heavenly one-day, just take the ski cruise boat across for first
tracks and enjoy a booze cruise on your return for après ski.
California is the surfers capital of the US. Skiers and snowboarders find the
best ride though is in the California mountains. We’re not talking Mountain High
or Mt Baldy – those are just ski day trips from Hollywood and LA. We’re talking
about the best California ski resorts – where your ski and stay for a week – a
Mammoth ski week. 
