Lake Tahoe ski resorts

Historically speaking, when do ski hills around Lake Tahoe open (in particular Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows and Northstar)? I am seriously thinking about going there in late November/early December!

I have not skied there, but i have been looking at things online and I would say that is historically quite early.  Takes a while for the snow to cover up the rocks and open all of the terrain.  However there are years with large early snowfalls...

http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/84901/tahoe-opening-day-conditions#post_1111523

Have fun!

Thanks. Does anyone know of a website that lists all the dates the resorts have opened in the past few years?

Don't know such a site.

In recent years, most have tried for a Thanksgiving opening and failed.  Opening at the big players is usually by first weekend of December, albeit far too frequently with a mere White Ribbon Of Death.

I lived at Tahoe up in Incline Village back from 91-96 or so and snow at Thanksgiving was rare back then

You are a lot safer shooting for late Jan to end of March

Northstar has the nicest village these days

True, but I would have to go there during Thanksgiving as my trip is very time sensative :(. I maybe going to San Francisco for a wedding, so Lake Tahoe would be a side trip (or maybe even Las Vegas....)

Wait and see.  Some Tahoe resorts are usually open by Thanksgiving, but they may have very little open.  Sometimes it has already dumped several feet; sometimes nobody has opened.  If nothing is open, then the roads through Yosemite to Mammoth will probably still be open, which makes for another beautiful trip from SF, and Mammoth is slightly more likely to be open (Thanksgiving 2006 I made a great road trip of SF --> day at Yosemite --> night in Mammoth with a a half day of skiing --> weekend in Tahoe.  Bottom line: either something will be open, or the weather will most likely still be in Fall mode, in which case the Sierras still aren't a bad place to visit.

That said, there are tons of non-skiing side-trips in Northern California that would *probably* beat a machine-blown WROD unless you're really jones-ing. 

Tony Crocker provides detailed seasonal records by region on his site http://webpages.charter.net/tcrocker818/.  We haven't had a decent early snow year since 2004 when we skied for Halloween.  One way to look at it is, we are due.

Hopefully this doesn't infringe, but here is Tahoe last year 07-08

Area	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr/May	Total	Pct. of Normal
Squaw 8,000	8	82	191	94	25	10	410	92%
Kirkwood	16	62.5	216.5	124.5	17.5	3.5	440.5	93%
Mammoth	6	66	148	94	18	3	335	91%
Southern Cal	0	12	78	15	6	0	111	86%
Arizona Snowbowl	0	74	83	68	15	0	240	97%

06-07

Area	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr/May	Total	Pct. of Normal
Squaw 8,000	37	81	10	134	28	62	352	79%
Kirkwood	10	64	12.5	175.5	35	33	330	70%
Mammoth	5	58	11	100	19	34	227	62%
Southern Cal	1	11	4	18	3	6	43	33%
Arizona Snowbowl	2	30	43	20	10	4	109	44%

05-06

Area	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr/May	Total	Pct. of Normal
Alpine Meadows	18.5	54	91	30	197.5	103	494	133%
Kirkwood	43.5	101.5	140.5	44.5	201.5	92.5	624	131%
Mammoth	23	120	154	64	189	105	659	178%
Southern Cal	0	1	7	8	52	21	89	68%
Arizona Snowbowl	10	0	10	0	103	20	153	61%

04-05

Area	Oct/Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr/May	Total	Pct. of Normal
Alpine Meadows	96.3	89.5	115.5	53.5	104	55	513.8	142%
Kirkwood	138	121.5	198.5	81	130.5	52.5	722	155%
Mammoth	109	116	144	71	91	73	604	167%
Southern Cal	48	36	39	81	12	9	225	174%
Arizona Snowbowl	97	44	137	98	71	12	459	184%

In the absence of natural snow, Heavely is your best bet.  They have a large snow making system and they generally have Thanksgiving turns.

Anybody who advance-books an airfare for a ski-dedicated vacation before mid-December is bucking long odds IMHO.  Even mid-December to New Year's can be asking for trouble; if you have to do it then for family reasons, stick to the short list of resorts with strong early season records. http://www.letstalkweather.com/bskiwx/entry.php?w=bestsnow&e_id=1819

This is a different question from the one about someone who will be in SF for a family event at Thanksgiving.  Bring your ski gear just in case, but you'll just as likely be spending your free time in Napa Valley, Monterey, playing golf, or whatever else might interest you if the snow is inadequate.  Here's the 08-09 table for Tahoe.

Area	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr/May	Total	Pct. of Normal
Squaw 8,000	31	120	40	127	122	34	474	106%
Kirkwood	0	130	48.5	140.5	114.5	21.5	455	96%
Mammoth	47	123	63	142	62	42	479	138%
Southern Cal	2	54	4	72	6	0	138	108%
Arizona Snowbowl	20	92	22	58	6	5	203	82%

Probably best just to put up the link http://bestsnow.net/seas09.htm  [seasYY.htm for other years], includes selected similar data in other North America ski regions as well.  At the top of those pages are links to my archived in-season reports during those seasons.  If you check out a few Dec. 1 reports like last year http://webpages.charter.net/tcrocker818/120108.htm you will see why I don't think it's a smart idea to commit significant time and/or $ in that timeframe. 

Within your region/drive-up range it's a different story.  When it snowed early at Mammoth, I arranged mid-November ski weekends from my SoCal home in 2004 and 2008.