LAKE TAHOE BASIN | CALIFORNIA | UNITED STATES

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Summary | 500 inches a year

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The Tahoe Basin is located in the northern Sierra Nevada range, straddling the California/Nevada border. Typically the Tahoe Basin is considered to include the length of the Sierra Crest ranging from 1-80 south through Desolation Wilderness, as well as the Carson Range across Lake Tahoe on the east shore, which is geographically considered to be an off-shoot of the Sierra Nevada range. Although the mountains of the Tahoe Basin are not generally large by most standards, the sideways-adhering snow offers some incredibly steep and technical skiable terrain.

Snowpack
Tahoe typically receives a creamy maritime snowpack known to settle into stability quickly, hence the nickname "Sierra Cement". Occasionally in the early season, at high altitudes cold and dry snow can accumulate causing stability concerns later on. The good news is that the sheer weight and thickness of 400-500" of annual snowfall compresses early season depth hoar, and protects the snowpack from extreme temperature gradients.

Mountains

ANGORA PEAK (2)

BECKER PEAK (1)

CASTLE PEAK (0) Elevation: 9,103 ft

Castle is the prominent peak visible from Interstate 80 as you travel over Donner Summit. There are skiable lines on WNW, SSW, and NE aspects. The most interesting lines are NE-facing. There is also a prominent SSW-facing couloir that goes at moderately high snow-levels (see the photo at right). While not technically in the Tahoe Basin, I thought it was close enough.

CATHEDRAL PEAK (1)

INCLINE PEAK (1)

JAKE'S PEAK (2) Elevation: 9,186 ft

Take the long and icy drive down the west shore near the scenic Emerald Bay, and it's hard to miss Jake's Peak towering over the bay entrance like a fortress, guarding the beautifully endless Desolation Wilderness to the west.

JANINES RIDGE (0)

KIRKWOOD (1)

MAGGIE'S (1)

MT. TALLAC (2) Elevation: 9,739 ft

Mt. Tallac is arguably the most aesthetic mountain in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Although it rises to a mere 9375', its terrain is enough to satisfy any backcountry enthusiast for years on end.
The most traveled routes up Tallac in winter are via the NE ridge from Spring Creek rd. off highway 89 (powder), and up the SE bowl from the summer trailhead (corn).

RED LAKE PEAK (2)

RIDGE (1)

SIERRA AT TAHOE (1)

SILVER PEAK (0) Elevation: 8,424 ft

Silver Peak is located just east of the Sierra Crest between Squaw Valley and the Pole Creek drainage. There are skiable lines off essentially all aspects but the best aspects are the large east-facing bowl (avy terrain) and the north-facing treed terrain heading down toward Pole Creek. The photo is of the East Bowl from the bottom in lowish snow coverage.

SUGAR BOWL (0) Elevation: 8,383 ft

Sitting atop the Northern Sierra's Donner Summit, Sugar Bowl Resort encompasses 4 peaks and 1500 skiable acres. The resort is celebrating 70 years of incredible in bounds and backcountry skiing. With the grand opening of the Summit Chair accessing the top of Mt Judah and endless backcountry coupled with the addition of the new Backcountry Adventure Center, Sugar Bowl continues to be a pioneer in skiing on Donner Summit. The BAC offers daily tours, overnight tours, educational programs and an avalanche beacon field. For more information on the BAC call (530) 426-7005 or visit alpineskills.com. For information on Sugar Bowl call (530) 426-9000 or sugarbowl.com

WATERHOUSE PEAK (3)



Photos

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View from Jake's Peak summit looking NE over adjacent slopes and Lake Tahoe.
By glissethegremlin
Dropping in off the summit of Jake's almost feels like you're dropping right into Lake Tahoe.
By glissethegremlin
  
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Vert Tracker

Darkstar: June 19, 2010 Uphill: 2,000 ft. | Downhill: 2,000 ft.

A 3 minute walk from the car and you can ski 2k+ at Kirkwood right now. Worthy for a mellow hike and some turns!...[view]

Darkstar: June 13, 2010 Uphill: 1,000 ft. | Downhill: 1,000 ft.

Road out bikes past the road closure, about 7 miles up Blue Lakes Road (near Carson Pass) scoping for anything fun we could find. Turns out there's still a ton of snow back there, and we were able to ...[view]

Darkstar: June 2, 2010 Uphill: 1,000 ft. | Downhill: 1,000 ft.

Got a few afternoon turns in off Red Lake this afternoon. Still amazing coverage anywhere up high in the greater Tahoe Basin....[view]

Darkstar: April 29, 2010 Uphill: 3,200 ft. | Downhill: 3,200 ft.

Blower!:) Sounds like it's not just Tahoe, but for at least today, and maybe Friday, the snow quality is unreal for almost May. I have so much to do but still had to do 2 laps because snow hitting you...[view]

Darkstar: April 27, 2010 Uphill: 3,300 ft. | Downhill: 3,300 ft.

Lugged my training rock up Tallac yesterday. Might be the last day for that, but I'm sure my pack in AK will be that much heavier. Great training run, good porn snow up high with the classic fun lines...[view]

Darkstar: April 13, 2010 Uphill: 2,500 ft. | Downhill: 2,500 ft.

Not a bad morning by any means, a few face shots for sure, but no where near the blower factor of yesterday. Snowpack felt solid, even on convex steeps. I think the sun will have its way the next few ...[view]
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Darkstar: April 7, 2010 Uphill: 3,000 ft. | Downhill: 3,000 ft.

Protected N-Facing shots are still blower. Not quite double overhead like Monday, but at least shoulder to head high. Got two nive laps in, one just in the trees for the face shot glory, one down the ...[view]

Darkstar: April 6, 2010 Uphill: 3,000 ft. | Downhill: 4,000 ft.

Went for the super dawn patrol this morning, skining in the dark, to make sure we beat the sun from zapping the major blower that's fallen around the Lake Tahoe Basin since Sunday night. Turns out tem...[view]

Darkstar: April 3, 2010 Uphill: 9,500 ft. | Downhill: 9,500 ft.

Had a pretty sizeable day out on Jakes today with 4 top to bottom 2400' laps. The winds that came in the previous day did leave their mark on the snowpack as just about everything showed some effect, ...[view]

Darkstar: April 2, 2010 Uphill: 1,500 ft. | Downhill: 1,500 ft.

Got back home to Tahoe and was stoked to get right into some mid-winter pow in the Mt. Rose area off Incline Peak. Amazing conditions out there at present, with moderate avlanche danger on NE-N-NW asp...[view]

Darkstar: March 23, 2010 Uphill: 2,200 ft. | Downhill: 2,200 ft.

Skied one of the classic chutes that drops into Emerald Bay today, and was accompanied by Tom Day, aka, the man, which was super fun in and of itself, but the porn, powder and corn we reaped was reaso...[view]
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Darkstar: March 22, 2010 Uphill: 2,000 ft. | Downhill: 2,000 ft.

Finally tagged two lines I've been wanting to ski for a while today. The "Camp Chutes" (the only name I've ever heard from anyone) are seldomly skied, even by locals, partially because access is a bit...[view]
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Darkstar: March 15, 2010 Uphill: 1,000 ft. | Downhill: 1,000 ft.

Another quick one today, but stoked to find some PORN snow after the blower that came in Friday, that all got smoked by the March sun. We should be in a corn cycle by mid-week with temps in the high 5...[view]

Darkstar: March 10, 2010 Uphill: 1,000 ft. | Downhill: 1,000 ft.

A couple of quick laps was all I could fit in today, but, absolute champagne blower off Becker was a nice choice, totally protected from the crazy winds of Monday....[view]

Darkstar: March 9, 2010 Uphill: 3,500 ft. | Downhill: 3,500 ft.

A great Tahoe ski and surf day today, with 2 laps on Tallac, skiing the Cascade drainage pitch first, then the other n-face tree pitch, followed by some COLD waves in Incline Village. Needless to say,...[view]

Darkstar: March 5, 2010 Uphill: 4,000 ft. | Downhill: 4,000 ft.

Always nice to come home from traveling to Tahoe, especially when its Grade A Blower. Went up Echo Peak today, then over to Angora to ski the classic Halls of the Gods Couloir, with 2 mini laps of blo...[view]

Darkstar: February 6, 2010 Uphill: 50 ft. | Downhill: 9,000 ft.

Got to check out some of the better side country terrain in Tahoe this morning. Huckelberry Canyon offers trees, pillows, billy-goating, and everything else in-between. Worth the visit for a backcount...[view]

Darkstar: February 3, 2010 Uphill: 1,800 ft. | Downhill: 1,800 ft.

Sometimes a few inches goes a long way...4-ish new on top of old powder ='s fun, with the forecast looking better each day...[view]

Darkstar: February 2, 2010 Uphill: 1,200 ft. | Downhill: 1,200 ft.

Got a quickie in just before dark, and there is still great powder out there, and its been like this for over a month! Snow flurries falling now and a few feet possibly coming this weekend:)...[view]

Darkstar: January 26, 2010 Uphill: 1,800 ft. | Downhill: 1,800 ft.

A heavy foot+ came in to leave us about 8ish feet of new snow since last week, with the Mammoth area reporting 8-9, and the High Sierra Crest at anywhere from 11-??feet. The Powderhouse shot this a.m ...[view]

Darkstar: January 23, 2010 Uphill: 3,000 ft. | Downhill: 3,000 ft.

Sixth day in a row of overhead blower..and more on the way...[view]

Darkstar: January 15, 2010 Uphill: 6,700 ft. | Downhill: 6,700 ft.

North Facing everything is Powder...[view]

Darkstar: January 14, 2010 Uphill: 1,000 ft. | Downhill: 2,100 ft.

Sometimes skiing 18 inches of fresh with surface hoar is a fast and smooth as it gets!Dawn patrol to Red Lake delivered huge with the quick storm of 4-20" (depending) we just got...and for anyone with...[view]

Darkstar: January 3, 2010 Uphill: 4,600 ft. | Downhill: 4,600 ft.

Even though we have no storms in the near-term, there's hidden powder in N-Facing Trees!...[view]

Darkstar: December 12, 2009 Uphill: 1,000 ft. | Downhill: 1,000 ft.

It is absolutely dumping...my computer sh#t the bed, I'm supposed to be working...but it is just puking snow! Happy Powder Day!...[view]

Tahoefreeride: March 7, 2009 Uphill: 2,400 ft. | Downhill: 2,400 ft.

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Tahoefreeride: February 21, 2009 Uphill: 2,000 ft. | Downhill: 2,000 ft.

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Tahoefreeride: February 15, 2009 Uphill: 400 ft. | Downhill: 1,000 ft.

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Tahoefreeride: January 17, 2009 Uphill: 2,400 ft. | Downhill: 2,400 ft.

...[view]

Tahoefreeride: January 11, 2009 Uphill: 1,800 ft. | Downhill: 1,800 ft.

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Tahoefreeride: January 10, 2009 Uphill: 1,800 ft. | Downhill: 1,800 ft.

...[view]

Comments

Got Something to Add?

samson77 wrote on 09/07/09 at 06:31:54 am pst:

Alpenglow Sports is the local shop in Tahoe City on the north shore. They're super nice and a killer resource for local info. They get in the bc seemingly everyday in the winter.

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All Locations>>UNITED STATES>>CALIFORNIA>>LAKE TAHOE BASIN
People die skiing in the backcountry every year. Avalanches, crevasses, trees, human error, weather, tree wells, rabid sasquatches, among other things can kill you in an instant. Use this guide at your own risk, we are not responsible for any wanker getting all wanked up in the wankin' backcountry. That being said, even the most experienced backcountry skier can get caught off guard. Take avalanche classes, carry a beacon, probe, shovel and avalung AND KNOW HOW TO USE THEM. Just because you buy them, doesn't mean you get magical powers of invincibility. Many people who own beacons have no clue how to operate them. More importantly than any gear you can buy, you need to know how to safely travel in avalanche terrain, minimize potential hazards, and interpret how weather affects the snowpack. This requires time and experience. Learn from others, be safe and courteous, and when in doubt go home and live to ski another day. The amount of snow needed to be dug up to rescue a buried victim, on average weighs right around an actual ton. In North America 25% of victims die from hitting trees, rocks, and other sharp unforgiving surfaces. It only takes one miscalculation to have the mountains kick your ass. Just because you see tracks or someone else skiing a line, does not mean you should ski it. Remember, individual actions affect all of us. Take care of each other out there, we are all on the same team.