Palisades Tahoe, California

Palisades Tahoe is the most well-known of the Tahoe resorts and was the host of the 1960 Winter Olympics (formerly as Squaw Valley).  There is a lasting legacy of ski culture from that which attracts and cultivates some of the best skiers in North America.  Most people would rate it as the best ski resort in Tahoe.  This review is based on about 12 visits under all types of conditions.

Alpine Meadows is part of Palisades Tahoe and as of the 22/23 season they are now connected via a gondola.  You cannot ski between the 2 parts of the resort though, so we have divided the review into 2 parts and show the combined stats as well as the individual stats.  The Base to Base gondola is amazing with 2 angle stations and 3 sections.  It takes 13 minutes at a pretty high speed so it’s a very long lift.

Stats – Palisades Tahoe

Real Vertical ?	2510′, Rank: 46
Size	6000 Acres, Rank: 3
Annual Snowfall ?	450″ claimed / 369″ actual, Rank: 19
Lift Pods ?	26, Rank: 2
Distinct Trails ?	250, Rank: 2
Our Rating	★★★★
Resort website	https://www.palisadestahoe.com

Stats – Olympic Valley

Real Vertical ?	2,510′
Size	3,600 Acres
Lift Pods ?	17
Distinct Trails ?	150
Review Date	(multiple visits from 1972-2026)
Number of visits	12 +-

Review

I (Ron) first visited Palisades Tahoe in 1972 sometime around Christmas, only 12-years after the Olympics.  I remember there not being much snow, and that was before snowmaking so there was a lot of hay skiing at the bottom.  After I moved out here in 1993 I skied Palisades Tahoe several times in the 90’s.  AiRung first skied there very early in her ski career in 2002.  They used to have $5 tickets for the kids with the purchase of an adult ticket, so it was a great deal for the family.  We have been back several times since 2002.

The ski terrain

There is a lot to choose from at the Olympic Valley side of Palisades Tahoe, but the most popular lifts are Shirley Lake, Gold Coast, and Siberia.  This is where most of the intermediate terrain is.  Advanced and expert skiers have a lot more to choose from at lifts like KT22, Silverado, Cornice, Emigrant, and Granite Chief.  They do a great job with steep grooming there, so even lifts like Olympic Lady usually have at least one way down that is groomed.

One problem that isn’t apparent when looking at the trail map is the shortness of the most popular lifts.  Shirley Lake with only 712′, Gold Coast at just 560′, and Siberia at 900′ are 6-pack chairs with some of the longest lines on the mountain.  There just isn’t much terrain for intermediates on this side of the resort.

The Village

Somewhere around 2004 they put in the Village, which is a nice walkable collection of restaurants, lodging, and stores.  We like the Euro Crepes place.  The on-mountain food service and facilities are good, but we always eat lunch in the village because it’s different from what ski resort food service provides.

Ski culture not the best

All this sounds really good, so why did AiRung rank Palisades Tahoe #3 and me #4 in Tahoe?  The problem is the attitude we almost always encounter there.  It seems like every time we go something happens which spoils it.  Examples are things like being trapped on the Funitel with some really rude kids, getting yelled at by locals (twice), and being followed around by someone yelling “Happy 420 day!” to us on April 20th a few years back when we were skiing with the kids.  Add in the locals straight-lining the Mountain Run at the end of the day, and we’d just rather go somewhere else.

Crowds

Palisades reminds us a bit of Disneyland on weekends.  Palisades is on the Ikon pass and they have left it as an unlimited visit resort in their portfolio for years.  Weekends are crazy from parking hassles to lines.  Weekdays aren’t bad and we would highly recommend skipping weekends if possible.  We come in the back way from Tahoe City since we are coming from South Lake Tahoe, but we hear of epic backups that lead to 2-hour drives from Truckee.  The traffic backs up all the way onto I-80.  That’s 10 miles and takes 15-minutes with no traffic.

Beginner Terrain

The Olympic Valley side of Palisades actually has some ideal terrain for beginners and novices on the Big Blue express chair.  This chair is long, flat, and loads slowly being a detachable.  It is accessible for beginners who can download the Tram or Funitel instead of skiing down the intermediate terrain on the Mountain Run.

The good

• Lots of steep groomers and steep ungroomed terrain
• Good lift network
• Great views
• Good on-mountain services
• Nice base village
• Good snow
• Combined with Alpine Meadows, this resort has the largest number of ski pods (lifts) and distinct runs of any resort on our list and is the 3rd largest in acreage

The bad

• Although the top of Palisades Tahoe is at just over 9,000 ft, most of the terrain is below 8,500 ft, which seems to be more of an issue in the past few years with higher snow levels and warmer temps.
• The real vertical drop (top of Emigrant to base of Funitel) is not that great for a resort of this size.
• Due to lack of trees and exposed terrain, wind can be really bad.
• Lift lines are common on the intermediate terrain.
• The most popular chairs are short on vertical

Our best experience

We skied there midweek in March 2010 on a moderate powder day with cool temps and very few people.  The light crowds allowed us to find some pretty nice powder even hours after opening.

Would we go back?

It isn’t our first choice, but we have been going a couple times a year on our Ikon passes since it’s less than an hour drive from our house in Tahoe.