Olympic Valley, California — I don’t think it could be much worse start to the season for Tahoe than what happened over the past month. Yes, some mountains are open, but only with very limited terrain. To demonstrate how bad it’s been, I think Palisades Tahoe is a good place to analyze.
For the past few weeks, Palisades Tahoe has been skiing solely in its beginner area. This gave them one trail open: Start Me Up. Great song reference. The ski resort also put in a small terrain park, which is a nice way to get stoke going in less-than-ideal circumstances.
While Palisades Tahoe does have a recently improved snowmaking network, it’s been too warm to make snow. That changed last weekend, with snowmakers able to get terrain available off the Exhibition chairlift, albeit only to the mid-station. Then the rain came through, and reduced their terrain back to Ahoska and First Venture lifts.
However, a miracle is coming. Powderchasers is projecting 4-6 feet of snow this week for Tahoe. Palisades Tahoe is expecting around 2 feet at its base. If these projections come to fruition, it would effectively allow the ski resort to open a lot of terrain.
Let’s hope that the forecast proves accurate and that Santa provides the needed goods for Tahoe.
Image/Video Credits: Palisades Tahoe, KTVN 2 News Nevada
