Sierra at Tahoe, California

Sierra at Tahoe is the 2nd closest ski area to our Tahoe house. It has a good combination of attributes that make it a very popular choice for Tahoe skiers.  This review is based on many visits from the 90’s to present, including several full years with season passes as our main Tahoe resort, and limited days using the Ikon pass.

Caldor Fire

Sierra was severely impacted by the Caldor fire in September 2021.  The fire burned about 80% of the trees at the resort, including nearly 100% in the West Bowl pod.  The only areas that still have trees are the upper portion of the Grandview chair, some of the terrain out of the gates (Huckleberry), and pretty much all of the El Dorado chair.  All the buildings survived except the maintenance building, but the Grandview chair and others were damaged and the resort never opened for the 21/22 season.

After skiing there for many years with trees, and then 2 seasons without trees, we have a good perspective on the effects the fire had on the skiing.  Once known for excellent tree skiing and relative calm on storm days, it’s now known for wide-open treeless skiing and the positive “Sierra Fam” vibe.

The lack of trees has had a significant effect on snow depth and quality during marginal seasons like 25/26 was.  I assume it just blows off now, because there seems to be a lot less of it generally.  Areas that used to fill in by mid January are now boulder fields in March.  Our favorite tree zones are gone and the off-piste gets hammered with wind ridges, so going there a few days after a storm often means groomer skiing only.  22/23 was a record season for snowfall and we didn’t really notice this, but we definitely noticed it in 24/25 and 25/26.

Sierra at Tahoe is still a 3-star resort, but we lowered the ranking to match the new reality there.

Stats and Rating

Real Vertical ?	2,212′, Rank: 57
Size	2,000 Acres, Rank: 44
Annual Snowfall ?	480″ claimed / 389″ actual, Rank: 15
Lift Pods ?	7, Rank: 36
Distinct Trails ?	46, Rank: 87
Review Date	Multiple visits from 1995-present
Number of visits	50+
Our Rating	★★★
Resort website	https://www.sierraattahoe.com

Sierra at Tahoe Review

I started skiing Sierra in the mid-90’s as a convenient and cheaper option from the Bay Area. I even visited as a snowboarder once or twice.  The area is very popular with snowboarders because there are very few flat spots that require snowboarders to unclip.  It also has a younger vibe to it.  Before becoming part of the Ikon pass, they offered more lift ticket discount programs than the Vail resorts nearby, which attracted the more occasional skier who didn’t want to buy a season pass.  That has all changed now that it is an Ikon pass resort.  Since base Ikon passes allow only 5 days of skiing, powder days are crazy and the rest of the time it’s pretty empty, so plan accordingly.  Powder days are better spent at nearby Heavenly or Kirkwood.

The mountain

The terrain is pretty good, facing predominantly northwest on the western slope of the Sierra Crest.  Due to its favorable location, it picks up a lot of snow — just behind Kirkwood and Sugar Bowl in annual total.  We skied there on one 36″ powder day and had trouble even making it down because the snow was so deep.  They even have some snowmaking to augment in a dry year, but not enough to make it worth going if there is no natural snow.  Since the fire, snowmaking seems to be focused only on the Broadway beginner slope and the Corkscrew run.  I’m not sure if this is a fire issue or not, but they really do need more snowmaking coverage.

As mentioned above, the snow falls in great amounts, but now after the fire without trees it doesn’t stick very well, so although it ranks high on snowfall, it ranks much lower on actual snow quality.

The 2 longest lifts that serve the 2 main ski pods have been upgraded to high-speed quads, which is ideal.  There are many other lifts serving smaller pods, but the only one that really adds anything is the El Dorado double at the top facing south serving some short blue runs.  This rarely opens.  The last time we saw it running was before the fire in 2021.

Grandview

The Grandview lift from the upper base area goes to the summit and serves some long blue and black runs.  This is also where the only tree skiing is, to the north of the lift line (skier’s right) around the upper 1/3rd of the mountain.  Just like at Heavenly, the trees are widely spaced and very skiable, but it’s only a shadow of it’s former glory now.

West Bowl

The West Bowl lift serves the best natural intermediate terrain, with long consistent runs ideal for most skiers.  The elevation at the base is a bit lower there, so in some years it starts to thin out toward the bottom, but it’s usually just high enough to work — especially with the usually deep snow.  West Bowl is almost completely devoid of trees now, so the named runs are really just legacy paths that the groomers create where they used to have runs defined by trees.

One interesting side effect of the lack of trees is that bumps rarely form now.  The area is huge and there isn’t enough traffic in any particular spots off-piste to push the snow around to form bumps.  This is also true of the formerly bumpy Castle, Preacher’s, and Dynamite runs off of the Grandview chair.

West Bowl is very windy on a storm day so they actually shortened one of the towers after the fire to give it less exposure.  That works up to a point but the lift often closes for wind now.

Gates

In the early 2000’s Sierra added Huckleberry Bowl.  There are 5 gates into this area, and all of them are steep.  The area has a definite back-country feel with lots off rocky drop-offs, pillows, chutes, and some steep trees remaining.  There are very few signs or ropes.  This area is great fun, except for the hike out at the bottom.  It’s a long uphill slog getting out of there if you go all the way to the bottom on skiers right, and it takes some time so laps are difficult, but rewarding.

The good

• Long, consistent groomers and grooming is high quality
• Challenging skiing in Huckleberry
• Usually good snow conditions.

The bad

• The Caldor fire burned 80% of the trees which has resulted in less snow sticking and higher wind speeds.  There is very little tree skiing left.
• Getting there on a powder day is a huge pain because the chain control checkpoint is at the bottom of Echo Summit, on the way to the ski area.  It backs up there and ends up taking a lot longer than it should.  Add in the inevitable spin-outs and cars getting stuck and it’s pretty bad at times.
• At the end of the day the traffic tends to be bad as well, so the 15-minute drive to our house can turn into 45 easily.  Just getting out of the ski area road onto highway 50 can take 30 or more minutes depending on whether there is a police officer directing traffic or not.
• It’s popular and thus can be crowded on weekends, holidays, and powder days.
• The base lodge is small, crowded, and old.

Would we go back?

Sierra is a solid choice for Tahoe skiing and is one of our favorites due to proximity to our house and the positive “Sierra Fam” vibe. The Caldor fire took away some of what we really loved about it, but when we have Ikon passes we still really enjoy our 5-7 days there.