Northstar-At-Tahoe

Northstar is the best place to learn how to ski or snowboard. I had been to several ski sites in Tahoe, but none of them had as many coaches as Northstar. I thought there is a specific time to wait, but students can just wait at a site and about every 10 min., a coach will come. The ratio was about 1 teacher to 4 students for the intermediate level. more

Northstar at Tahoe is one of Lake Tahoe's best ski resorts. Located at the northen tip of Lake Tahoe, Northstar is a family-friendly place to take the kids, your snowboarding friends, your ski buddies, and any other snow lover to have fun during the winter. I purchased a season pass to Northstar at Tahoe last winter, and had a blast. The mountains ranged from super challenging to really easy. As you become a better skier or snowboarder there is always terrain that will challenge you. The resort's amenities are great. The food isn't cheap (then again, what ski resort has cheap food) but good and hearty. There's a cabin at the base, one mid mountain, and one at the peak, all serving different kinds of meals. The village at the bottom of the resort has nearly 10 stores, from a place where you can get your skis tuned to a couple of restrauant. more

northstar-at-tahoe is one of my favourite snowboarding spots in lake tahoe. the company that owns it also owns its sister site: sierra-at-tahoe. they're both good. northstar provides a good variety of terrain. i personally am more of a freestyle snowboarder, but being a silicon valley engineer, about to turn 30, i guess i have more friends that are into downhill than parks and pipes, so i'm glad northstar has good downhill runs as well, as i often just give in to doing downhill boarding with them instead. anyway, most seasons (of course depending on the snow) they build some nice parks with a good mix of ramps and rails. on good seasons, they'll have two pipes instead of just one. one thing i wish they would do is put some jumps on their featured black diamond mountain: lookout mountain. that'd be awesome. one awesome feature about northstar is their "home run" run that lets you by pass all the newbies on "village run," which is the default way back to your car (and is really flat). "home run" takes you to the middle of their parking lot. there's good variety, as i said; and the resort is decently big. some other tahoe resorts like heavenly and squaw boast how they've got so much land, but at those resorts, they don't make good use of their land. for example, at heavenly, to get from one good area to another, snowboarders end up having to walk across a whole vast expanse of flat. that's no fun. at northstar, you've got lookout mountain, you've got the main mountain off of comstock, you've got the back side, you've got that roller area and park around pinball off of vista. there's lots to do. i've never had a disappointing season at northstar.... that being said, i'll tell you what the biggest negative is: the crowds!!! northstar's really crowded. in recent years, the company that owns it has been selling these awesome double whammy passes, which let you go to northstar _and_ sierra. let me tell you, it's an awesome deal... but well, everyone else agrees, and the northstar gets really crowded. i don't want them to raise their prices again. rather, i hope they continue to make more terrain. then i'd really like them. more