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Heavenly/Sierra/Northstar ?

SNsMoto

SNsMoto

Don't be that guy.
Joined
Apr 9, 2008
Location
South Bay, CA
Moto(s)
04 Suzuki GS500F & 07 D675
Name
Steven
Which of the 3 resorts do you guys recommend for snowboarding? I've only been to Heavenly so I'm not sure how the other ones are. Pros and cons? Is one less busy than the others?

Thanks in advance! :thumbup. We are trying to decide which one to head to for the coming up weekend or following weekend.

Also, any tips for the drive there aside from carrying tire chains etc? Coming from San Jose.

-Steven
 
welll...

northstar is practically at lake level, so they get slightly less snow and it isn't as cold. but awesome terrain parks. its also nick named flatstar for a reason... i like it a lot tho

heavenly is huge

sierra is awesome, high up, lots of riding. a bit on the smallish side, but there's tons of terrain, and they just got more area past the gates that i can't wait to hit once it dumps. i hit sierra up more than northstar.
 
If you like tricks, Northstar is awesome. They have a course with trees bent over as rails, a little cabin you can ride over the top of and all kinds of little fun natural features. Sierra's a fun one for crusing, and Heavenly is huge. If they have good powder, Mott and Killibrew Canyon kick ass.
 
why just those 3? Kirkwood, Squaw, Alpine Meadows....there are like 8 ski resorts up here. From those I know who snowboard a LOT, they like Heavenly, Kirkwood and Squaw, not in that particular order.
 
northstar is crowded on a slow day. i'd go if tickets were free.

sugar bowl is a fun, smaller place that gets good snow
 
I'll throw in Squaw is awesome, and Sugar bowl is fun, but I found a lot of flat spots that left me hiking a lot:( Particularly at the top and bottom of the lifts. At Squaw you can pretty much board off of the chair and back in line at the bottom of the lift:thumbup.
 
If you're staying the weekend and you want a bit of night life then head to Sierra as they have the Casinos there.

The thing with Northstar you have to deal with are the crowds, and I avoid the frontside like the plague past the afternoon. Northstar probably has among the best park and tree runs in all of Tahoe IMO.
 
Weather at Sierra this weekend was amazing. The snow wasn't fantastic (read: I'm a spoiled CA kid who only likes fresh powder days) but it was still fun. Crowds picked up as the day went on but we left the parking lot at 10 to 4 (lifts close at 4) and didn't hit any traffic getting out.
 
I'm biased, I love Heavenly. I've renewed my pass there for last 4 years because it's so cheap and the mountain is so huge. I've been to Northstar twice, wasn't a huge fan and don't think I'll be going back. Feels like amateur hour there. Sierra was cool but too small for me. I've heard great things about Kirkwood but haven't had a chance to hit that mountain yet.
 
My brother's friend has a cabin on ski run blvd just a few blocks away from heavenly, so we will be staying there for 2 nights. The reason between the 3 is because Shell is having a deal where you fill up a tank of gas and you can get a buy one get one free lift ticket offer. From the other forums, kirkwood and squaw seem to be preferred as well, too bad they aren't participating in this deal :(.

Is Northstar really that much more crowded than kirkwood or squaw? I def don't mind paying full lift ticket prices if it means a much emptier resort.
 
I fucking hate Squaw, you couldn't pay me to go to that resort.

Northstar has a ALOT of groomers and is more popular with the younger crowd. There is no resort in all of Tahoe that has a better park than Northstar, intermediate / advanced wise. Most of the freestyle competitions also make a stop through Nortstar as well.

Kirkwood has alot of open terrain, which is more suited for intermediate and advanced people. But it's a bitch to get from one end of the resort to the other.

It just depends on what type of riding you like to do and the terrain you prefer.
 
SNsNinja said:
My brother's friend has a cabin on ski run blvd just a few blocks away from heavenly, so we will be staying there for 2 nights. The reason between the 3 is because Shell is having a deal where you fill up a tank of gas and you can get a buy one get one free lift ticket offer. From the other forums, kirkwood and squaw seem to be preferred as well, too bad they aren't participating in this deal :(.

Is Northstar really that much more crowded than kirkwood or squaw? I def don't mind paying full lift ticket prices if it means a much emptier resort.
Click to expand...

yes, it really is that crowded. they've been expanding the facilities over the past 4-5 years or so too, to make the resort more attractive to the demographic that wants to park the Range Rover and never leave the place for a weekend... condos, restaurants, enteratinment for kids etc etc etc. this draws MORE people to a resort that already had crowding problems. the front side gets busy by design of the mountain and there isn't much you can do about it, the place is a funnel. if you can get one of the parking spots that you can ski back to at the end of the day (might not exist anymore) and then figure out how to to it, that's pretty awesome and eliminates many of my gripes about the mountain.


Agent Orange said:
I fucking hate Squaw, you couldn't pay me to go to that resort.

Northstar has a ALOT of groomers and is more popular with the younger crowd. There is no resort in all of Tahoe that has a better park than Northstar, intermediate / advanced wise. Most of the freestyle competitions also make a stop through Nortstar as well.

Kirkwood has alot of open terrain, which is more suited for intermediate and advanced people. But it's a bitch to get from one end of the resort to the other.

It just depends on what type of riding you like to do and the terrain you prefer.
Click to expand...

+1

squaw has some nice runs, but definitely not worth the $$$$ that they want. they have been expanding similar to northstar too, haven't been in years so i can't comment on how it's affected things. for the money on north shore, Alpine Meadows will always get my first choice. Krikwood if i'm south.

OP, what do you like to ride?
 
Agent Orange said:
I fucking hate Squaw, you couldn't pay me to go to that resort.

Northstar has a ALOT of groomers and is more popular with the younger crowd. There is no resort in all of Tahoe that has a better park than Northstar, intermediate / advanced wise. Most of the freestyle competitions also make a stop through Nortstar as well.

Kirkwood has alot of open terrain, which is more suited for intermediate and advanced people. But it's a bitch to get from one end of the resort to the other.

It just depends on what type of riding you like to do and the terrain you prefer.
Click to expand...

What, KT-22 too scurry for ya? :p :twofinger

Actually AO has a point in that Squaw is probably the least friendly for snowboarders in all of Tahoe for a variety of reasons. That being said, the boarders that you do see there tend to be epic. It's a sad day when a snowboarder beats me down a mogul run, that's for sure. :laughing You want steep technical terrain? Squaw is your place.

You can get a ton of vertical in a short period of time at Heavenly, the resort is huge, the tree skiing there is amazing and the mogul runs there are quite special. Most of the mountain isn't terribly steep but you can plunge yourself into some hairy stuff on Mott & Killebrew if you're so inclined.

Northstar has great parks as mentioned but they have no challenging natural terrain features at all and is infested with children. The one thing they did have going for them when we used to go is that they offered free group lessons on weekdays.

In terms of vertical and natural terrain features, Kirkwood is much better than Northstar but is still a far cry from Squaw or Heavenly. The culture there is very laid back and lift tickets are very reasonable there so I like to go there when I just want to relax and rail on groomers. Off-piste terrain is very limited there, at least in comparison to Heavenly.
 
Heavenly for the views. Kirkwood for more serious snowboarding.
 
I've been going to Sierra for 30 years so I too am biased as well. Two words... "Ice cliffs"
 
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