Alta-Snowbird is fun for kids

Dictated by Guest Blogger Parker Wagnon (age 5)

I did zig-zags with my Dad.

I was good on the Sunnyside lift at Alta. From the Sunnyside lift, I could see Devil’s Castle. It’s a rocky skiing hill. It’s really high too.  Down where I was skiing, it was not rocky. Some spots were steep. I skied really fast on the steep parts. I did zig-zags. I loved skiing on Sunnyside.

We went on the Sunnyside chairlift and we went on the Cecret chairlift. I love going through the trees close to the Cecret chairlift. Part of it was steep, part of it was flat.

You can ski to Snowbird from Alta. When you get on the Snowbird side, they are green runs, but they shouldn’t be green runs. They should be black runs for kids.

It was a good sight to see the Alta mountains. We liked skiing at Alta. 

We are going to zoom underwater at the pool.

We stayed at the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird. Our room had an LG TV and we also have an LG TV at home. The room was fun and nice. The view was cool. You can see a little slope for kids and also bigger slopes up high. Our room had a window inside with a curtain, so you can open it and see in the shower and tub. It was both a shower and tub.

We went in the Snowbird pool outside next to the Chickadee chairlift and had some fun. There were three hot tubs there too and the guys were drinking beer in the hot tub. Cole and I had fun diving and zooming underwater in the big pool. It was heated, but when you get out of it, it's very cold. Cole and I love swimming and the Snowbird pool. It was still fun, but I wish they had a water slide.

Also, the Mormon Temple was sort of by it. It is in Salt Lake City. We love Salt Lake City.

Diamond Peak ski area gives value to families

The views of Lake Tahoe should put Crystal Ridge at Diamond Peak ski area in any discussion of the most scenic ski runs in the country. Located on the northeast corner of the lake in Incline Village, Nev., Diamond Peak lives up to its name as a jewel for beginners and families.

Crystal Ridge, a blue ski run at Diamond Peak, offers
spectacular views of Lake Tahoe.
                           Photo: Diamond Peak/Robyn Scarton

“We’ve just been coming here for years. We love the mountain. The price is right and no one is on the slopes, love that,” said Paula Ashcroft, a visitor from Brentwood, Calif. “You go to Squaw Valley and you’re fighting everyone and here you can ski straight on the lift and we just love it.”

Randy Paranick brought his young son, Mason, up from Sacramento, Calif., to teach him to ski. “We chose Diamond Peak, because we heard it had a good family-friendly atmosphere and had a good friend who taught their four-year-old son how to ski here last year,” Paranick said.

“We really like the fact that they offer the $23 lift ticket for the Lodgepole and Schoolhouse beginner lifts,” he added. “That way if Mason decides he wants to build a snowman or throw snowballs, I’m not out a whole bunch of money for a full lift ticket for myself.”

The lift-ticket pricing is indeed a draw for many families. Along with the beginner ticket for adults, the resort offers free skiing for children six and under. Full lift tickets for children ages 7-14 cost only $18. Youth tickets for ages 15-17 are $39. The full adult ticket costs $49. Also for $49, parents can buy an interchangeable pass to alternate "kid duty" on and off the slopes.

Diamond Peak has 655 skiable acres and a vertical drop
of 1,840 feet.                                         Photo: Eric Wagnon

“We get a lot of intermediates, a lot of beginners and a lot of kids,” said Milena Regos, Diamond Peak marketing director. “The cool thing about the mountain is that the runs funnel like a martini glass, so the runs end up at the same place.“

Diamond Peak is owned by the Incline Village General Improvement District, a quasi-public agency that also operates a pair of golf courses and a tennis center. Thanks to the healthy tax base of affluent Incline Village and Crystal Bay, the community manages to help support Diamond Peak as a modern ski area. For example, the base facilities were recently expanded and renovated. The resort also installed a high-speed quad chairlift to the summit in 2003.

The area started as Ski Incline in 1966 and changed its name to Diamond Peak at Ski Incline when the upper mountain with more black-diamond runs opened in 1987.  The Diamond Peak part of the name that has stuck seems ironic in light of the mountain’s reputation for beginners and intermediates.

Solitude Canyon can hold powder for advanced skiers
at Diamond Peak ski area.                 Photo: Eric Wagnon

The advanced terrain on the upper mountain such as The Glades and Solitude Canyon can keep good skiers reasonably entertained for a day. Real adrenaline seekers, however, would likely be happier at Squaw Valley or Alpine Meadows. One exception might be on a storm day, because those other resorts have a much greater probability of wind holds for the lifts.

Diamond Peak draws a fair number of visitors from the nearby Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe. A complimentary ski shuttle carries guests the mile distance between the hotel and the ski area.

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe offers convenience, solid terrain

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe overlooking Reno, Nev., may be the most conveniently located ski area in the country. At just 22 miles from Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Mt. Rose is closer to a major airport than any other U.S. ski area of more than 200 skiable acres.

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe may be seen in the distance above
downtown Reno, Nev.            Photo: Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe

While local Reno skiers account for many of the resort’s visits, destination travelers can get in some bonus skiing on a travel day in or out of Reno. In fact, through Mt. Rose’s new “Happy Landings” special, visitors by air can ski on the day of arrival and receive a free lift ticket for the next day.

The ski area’s name is a misnomer, because the ski runs are on Slide Mountain across the highway from the actual Mt. Rose. The eastern side of Slide Mountain was once Reno Ski Bowl, then renamed Slide Mountain Ski Area. Slide Mountain’s north-facing slopes were the separate Mt. Rose Ski Area until the two merged in 1987.

Between the two formerly distinct ski areas, 200 acres of north-facing extreme terrain known as “The Chutes” was opened in 2004. The addition brought Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe’s skiable terrain up to 1,200 acres and a vertical drop of 1,800 feet.

Unlike many smaller areas burdened with antiquated lifts, two 6-pack chairlifts dominate the ski experience at Mt. Rose. The lifts were installed in 2000 and 2004. “We have two six-pack, high-speed detachable lifts that take you to the top of the mountain in three-and-a-half minutes,” said Kayla Anderson, Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe’s PR and web manager. “The liftline is never long. We definitely try to make improvements. We just built our Winters Creek Lodge over in the Slide Bowl two years ago, so any way we can improve this mountain and we’ve got some money to do it we will.”

Gold Run at Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe offers soft moguls
in the morning sun.                         Photo: Eric Wagnon

On a bluebird day, most skiers start the day on the sunny east-facing Slide Bowl and make laps on the Blazing Zephyr 6 chairlift. The terrain is relatively mellow with the bumps on the black-diamond Gold Run and Washoe Zephyr quickly softening up in the morning sun.

A very short hike around to Wild Card on the backside of the mountain generally offers solitude in a quasi-backcountry experience with views of Lake Tahoe. 

Wild Card goes around the backside of Mt. Rose Ski
Tahoe.                                                  Photo: Eric Wagnon

The route comes around to the other side of the ski area where the Main Lodge is located. The side that was the original Mt. Rose Ski Area is served by the Northwest Magnum 6 chairlift and a couple of lifts catering to the beginner terrain.

Both sides of the resort have solid terrain, but The Chutes really elevate Mt. Rose above most locals’ mountains. “We really worked hard to try and get the permitting to open that terrain and we do avalanche control in them,” Anderson said. “We got everything secured to be able to open it in the ’04-’05 season, so we can offer all of our guests black-diamond and double-black diamond terrain which adds a whole new level of what this mountain is about.”

The Chutes give Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe a section of very
challenging terrain.                            Photo: Eric Wagnon

Skiers can enter through nine control gates to reach 16 named chutes— most with 40-55 degree pitches to deservedly earn double-black designations. For maximum challenge, the chute named El Cap provides the full 1,500 vertical feet of The Chutes. 

On the other end of the difficulty spectrum, the much shorter, single-black Cutthroat, Exhibition and Lowball chutes have more of an eastern exposure, so they can soften up and be more forgiving on days when firm conditions predominate elsewhere.

Although Mt. Rose had on-site lodging until 1984, today’s destination visitors either come through on the way to or from other Tahoe resorts or stay in Reno. For a budget ski vacation, many of the casino-hotels in Reno offer amazingly inexpensive room rates and stay-and-ski specials.