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............. ::-::-::-::-::-::-::- ::-::- ::- ~ ::- ::- ::- ::- ::- ::- ::- ::- ::- ::- Snow Report: 530-562-1330 Season: Mid Nov- late April Ticket Price: $54 Summit Elevation (feet): 8,610 Vertical Drop (feet): 2,280 Terrain (acres): 2,420 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 25/50/25 Annual Snowfall (inches): 350 Directi ons: Fly into Reno-Tahoe International Airport and drive 40 minutes south to the resort. .. SIERRA-AT-TAHOE \;.' SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA 8 o Sierra-at-Tahoe is the most densely forested resort in the Tahoe region. Ribbons of trails are cut into these magnificent trees, offering slope angles for everyone. Steeper terrain is found on the ~ left side of the Base Lodge, intermediate runs on the right in the West Bowl area and gentle beginner slopes in front of the lodge. Last season, Sierra-at-Tahoe added five backcQuntry access gates-free with your lift ticket. Add a good superpipe, multiple funparks and the fact that it's off the Tahoe beaten track, and you' ll find Sierra an essential Tahoe stop. Telephone: 530-659-7453 Website: www.sierratahoe.com Snow Report: 530-659-7475 Season: Mid Nov-Mid April Ticket Price: $50 Summit Elevation (feet): 8,852 Vertica l Drop (feet): 2,212 Terrain (acres): 2,000 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 25/50/25 Annual Snowfall (inches): 480 Di rections: 2 hours from Reno-Tahoe International Airport or hour 30 minutes from Sacramento International Airport. A Lake Tahoe, and there are excellent lake views from every run . In V HOMEWOOD, CA Ski Homewood is located just six miles south of Tahoe City on A SKI HOMEWOOD V laid-back Californian style, Homewood offers groomed boulevards and good tree riding in a small, friendly resort. What's more, the local resort employees are willing to divulge their favorite hidden powder stashes. The real gift is the small steep bowl on the south- ern boundary called Quail Face, which has truly sick tree-riding in the right conditions. The main drawback is that all the steeps on the mountain are relatively short and it's easy for snowboarders to get caught in the long flat boundary runs back to the lift bases. For the 2001-2002 season, consider the Lakeview Pass. $299 will allow you to ski both Homewood and Diamond Peak all sea- son during weekdays. Telephone: 530-525-2992 Website: www.skihomewood.com Snow Report: 530-525-2992 Season: Late Nov- Late April Ticket Price: $25 (2000- 2001 season) Summit Elevation (feet): 7,880 Vertical Drop (feet): 1,650 Terrain (acres): 1,260 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 15/50/35 Annual Snowfall (inches): 200 Directions: Fly into Reno-Tahoe International Airport and drive 1 hour to the resort. o RUNNING SPRINGS, CA ~ SNOW VALLEY tD ft will severely test and improve your riding skills. There are e Snow Summit is a fine example of how to take an average mountain with a less than average snowfall and create an excellent snowboarding environment. The four terrain parks V 6,000 feet of tabletops, drops, gaps and spines. The rest of the mountain, however, is not very steep and doesn't offer great freeriding possibilities. On busy days things get as hec- tic as Disneyland, but if being in the air is your concept of riding, then you should definitely make the effort. The resort is perfecting its superpipe and adding a handle tow lift so superpiper's don't have to hike this season. Snow Summit has also increased its snowmaking capabilities and invested in two state-of-the-art grooming machines. Ticket sales are lim- ited to the "comfortable capacity" of the field for the day's conditions. Telephone: 909-866-5766 Website: www.snowsummit.com Snow Report: 888-SUMMIT 1 Season: Mid Nov- Mid April Ticket Price: $39 Summit Elevation (feet): 8,200 Vert ical Drop (feet): 1,200 Terrain (acres): 230 Green/Blue/B lack (percent): 35/40/25 Annual Snowfall (inches): 75 Directions: Fly into Ontario International Airport and drive 45 mi nutes northeast to the resort. ~ SQUAW VALLEY O OLYMPIC VALLEY, CA Squaw is a big brazen mountain consisting of a string of a .. surprising six peaks and ridges, with some of the most fear- \;.' some, in-bound terrain anywhere in the US. From KT22's vert A to Snow King's trees and gullies, and over to Granite Chief's V funky rollers and drops, Squaw's reputation is well-earned. And that's without considering the acres of trails to tear apart A. steeps are decent and the natural terrain throws up some nice ~"gullies and tree areas. There is a slamming one and a half mile Snow Valley is the largest ski area in southern California. It sits at the same base elevation as Big Bear, but receives more natural snow due to its location in the San Bernadino Mountains. The terrain park, with 50 to 100 fat hits depending on snow condi- tions. From the base station Snow Valley doesn't look like much but the goods here are not visible from Highway 18 and the view from the top of the lifts is much more encouraging. Telephone, 909-867-2751 Website: www.snow-valley.com Snow Report: 800-680-SNOW Season: Mid Nov- Late March between Squaw Peak, Emigrant and Broken Arrow. Throw into the pot one of California's best kept funparks and a razor sharp pipe, both open 12 hours a day, and you've got a veri- table bonanza. Squaw likes to bask in its former (1960) Olympic glory, but they certainly have a forward-thinking approach in wholeheartedly embracing snowboarding and holding events, which include halfpipe and extreme competi- tions. Go during the week to avoid the masses of SF-based weekend warriors. Telephone: 800-545-4350 Website: www.squaw.com Snow Report: 530-583-6955 Season: Mid Nov-Late May Ticket Price: $56 Summit Elevation (feet): 9,050 Vertical Drop (feet): 2,850 Terrain (acres): 4,000 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 25/45/30 Annual Snowfall (inches): 450 Directions: Drive 3 hours thirty minutes from SF or fly into Reno-Tahoe International Airport and drive 1 hour to the resort. 'iii' TRUCKEE, CA A 3-hour drive from San Francisco gets you to a crescent of A SUGAR BOWL V just about anywhere in North America. The bold claim is cou- pled with some seriously bold terrain, providing extreme lines ~ steep alpine peaks that reportedly receives more snow than down the clift bands of Mount Lincoln to open bowls with tree clusters on Mount Disney. Add to this some backcountry .~ ~ . .d...3' -i Ticket Price: $37 Summit Elevation (feet): 7,830 Vertica l Drop (feet): 1,030 Terrain (acres): 240 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 30/35/35 Annual Snowfall (inches): 135 Directions: Fly into Ontari o, CA, Orange County, CA, or Palm Springs, CA ,a irports and drive to the resort . a SNOW SUMMIT Q BIG BEAR LAKE, CA opportunities when conditions are safe, and you have an all-round, boarder friendly mountain still enjoying low crowd pressures and a laid-back atmosphere. New this season, Sugar Bowl is adding anoth- er express quad (for a total of four) to the top of the mountain to pro- vide access to the best intermediate and advanced terrain and snow- making to cover 25 percent of the mountain. Telephone: 530-426-9000 Website: www.sugarbowl.com Snow Report: 530-426-1111 Season: Mid Nov-Late April Ticket Price: $35-54 Summit Elevation (feet): 8,383 Vertical Drop (feet): 1,500 Terra in (acres): 1,500 Green/Blue/Black (percent ): 17/45/38 Annual Snowfall (inches): 500 Directions: Fly into Reno-Tahoe International Airport and drive 50 minutes. COLORADO _ ARAPAHOE BASIN W"DILLON, CO Arapahoe Basin is the highest lift-serviced resort in North America and remains somewhat of an enigma due to the total lack of com- mercialization and the awesome high altitude terrain. Known as ''The legend," its reputation for vicious weather and steep faces have kept the clientele in the "die-hard locals" category. There are some good slopes for beginners and intermediates in the middle slice of the ski area, but the essence of A-basin is the in-bounds and out of bounds hiking to be done on both the east and west wall arms of the basin. The steep rocky North Pole chutes are the most visible boot-tracking destination, but there are forested bowls, cornices and more chutes secreted in every direction. The resort is strictly no frills, and for anything except snow you have to bail to Keystone, Silverthorne or Dillon. Telephone: 888-ARAPAHOE Website: www.ara pahoebasin.com Snow Report: 888-ARAPAHOE Season: Early Dec-Early July Ticket Price: $44 Summit Elevation (feet): 13,050 Vert ical Drop (feet ): 2,270 Terrain (acres): 490 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 15/45/40 Annual Snowfall (inches): 367 Di rections: Fly into Denver International Airport and drive 1 hour west to the resort. A ASPEN MOUNTAIN. Aspen Mountain has excellent groomed ASPEN/SNOWMASS ASPEN, CO (Aspen Mt. , Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands) Telephone: 800-525-6200 Website: www.aspensnowmass.com Snow Report : 970-925-1220 Ticket Price: $64 Oirections, Fly into Aspen Sardy Field Airport (ASE) and drive 10 minutes to the resort . V intermediate cruising runs and fierce expert terrain with plenty of steeps and bumps. After 54 years as a skiers-only mountain, Aspen A sistent snow, both skiers and boarders will find it to be one of the ~ best in the Rockies. Season: Mid Nov-Mid April Summit Elevation (feet): 11 ,212 Vertica l Drop (feet): 3,267 Terrain (acres) : 675 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 0/35/65 Annual Snowfall (inches): 300 "iii! of this area becomes apparent. Snowmass has 3,010 acres of ride- able terrain, which is more than Buttermilk, Highlands and Aspen V" Snowmass is so named, but once you pass over the first ridge on .. either the Fanny Hill chair or the Wood Run chair, the massiveness A SNOWMASS. From the base station it's hard to imagine why Mountain put together. The area has three main areas of interest: A permanently opened to snowboarders on April 1, 2001. Aspen is a V" great all-around mountain, and with its variety of terrain and con- 53