YOUR AD HERE »

Ski resorts open around Lake Tahoe

Justin Scacco | jscacco@sierrasun.com

Skiers and snowboarders on Lake Tahoe’s West and North Shore can celebrate the opening of the area’s three ski resorts, with Diamond Peak Ski Resort opening on Thursday, Dec. 14, and Homewood Mountain Resort and Granlibakken Tahoe each sending their first skiers and riders down the slopes for the 2017-18 season on Friday, Dec. 15.

Diamond Peak welcomed its first skiers and riders of the season just before 9 a.m. on Thursday, featuring an absolute locals’ day of freshly groomed runs and awesome corduroy with the mountain open from top to bottom to start the season.

The resort will continue opening weekend celebrations with a free Kickoff Party & Passholder Appreciation event at the Diamond Peak Base Lodge on Friday, Dec. 15 at 4:30 p.m., with food and live music by The Sextones.



Homewood Mountain Resort

Homewood Mountain Resort opened with limited beginner terrain on the north side, according to Director of Marketing Lisa Nigon, which was accessible via the Happy Platter and North Carpet surface lifts. The resort will also have children and adult lessons available on opening day.



“We’ll be hosting lessons and people can take some turns, but it’s definitely going to be limited terrain,” Nigon said.

Following the resort’s opening will be festivities at the West Shore Café & Inn, which will include the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 7:30 p.m.

Homewood has reported 4 inches of snow at the base so far this season, with 29 inches at the resort’s summit as of Thursday, Dec. 14. Dry and warm conditions forced the resort to push back its initial planned opening of Dec. 8. Since then, the resort has utilized every opportunity to make snow, according to Nigon.

New this season, Homewood has added to its snow grooming capabilities with the purchase of a PistenBully 400 4F. Homewood will also offer complimentary ski days and discounts for season pass holders this year, with deals set up through Silverton Mountain, Colo., Brundage Mountain Ski Resort, Idaho, and at Red Lodge Mountain, Mont.

The mountain is scheduled to begin spinning its lifts at 9 a.m. on Friday, and will close at 4 p.m.

Granlibakken

Just north of Homewood sits one of Lake Tahoe’s most historic ski and snowboard hills — Granlibakken Tahoe.

The resort is planning on having its small bunny hill open tomorrow, and will continue to have sledding available, which opened for the year on Friday, Dec. 8.

“We’ll have games and giveaways down at the ski hut, and it should be a festive atmosphere, despite Mother Nature not really cooperating on the snow front,” said Annora McGarry, Marketing Manager, in an email to the Sun.

Granlibakken will kick off the 2017-18 season at 9 a.m., and will have lifts running until 4 p.m.

Lake Tahoe’s two West Shore resorts, and the rest of the Truckee-Tahoe area’s 12 downhill resorts stand a chance of receiving a little help in the snowmaking department this weekend and again in the middle of next week, according to the National Weather Service Office in Reno, with a slight chance for snow late Friday night and early Saturday morning, followed by another chance of snow showers on Wednesday, Dec. 20.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.