planning a trip this winter, 4days in L.A., the rest in tahoe (family reunion). after reading different posts, pretty much figured doing the 3day-hopper for both disneyland and ca adven. thanks for the help...

question is June Lake? never been there but i hear it's family-oriented and less crowded than mammoth and tahoe.

Is June Lake what?

Better for skiing and less crowded than mammoth and Tahoe? I'm sorry - with the vast wealth of knowledge from this forum I thought it was safe to assume you could read my mind on what I wanted. Since it’s the only activity that can be done in December or is it, LOL. Actually, it was 2am and I had lau-lau fingers, accidentally clicked on "post my reply," instead said forget it and went to bed.

Back to the subject, I haven’t skied in 10 yrs but I loved it - should I take lessons again or is like riding a bike? My kid wants to learn snowboard, I’m debating on taking those lessons with him or stick to skis. Still checking for places that rent skis on a weekly basis. Any idea? We’ll most likely rent from tahoe, go to mammoth or june and back to tahoe. Not sure about the rest of the fam, but the skis I rent will only get 4days on it at the most, skipping every other day, all with half-day passes.

I’ve booked our flights, just waiting for a couple places (lodging) to call back in tahoe. thanks in advance for any help, ideas, suggestions, etc...

As a somewhat rusty skier, I preferred Mammoth for a return. There seemed to be less conflict between bunny/intermediate skiers and experts since the runs are more spread out.

Although I'm a big fan of June for family skiing, I'm not sure why you would leave the Tahoe area to ski elsewhere (unless there is no snow in Tahoe). There are plenty of ski areas in or near Tahoe from which to choose, without making the drive down the 395.

It is unlikely that any of those resorts will be very crowded in early-mid December, unless there is a special event being held there. NorthStar at Tahoe gets good reviews as a family ski resort.

As for the lessons, I would recommend private snowboard lessons for your son (or semi-private, if you want to join him). He will learn so much faster with the one-on-one attention.

If you haven't skied in 10 years, then you probably haven't skied on parabolic skis. You will love them! The cut makes them much easier to control. Some resorts have 1-hour "ski with a pro" lessons to tune up your skills.

Have fun!

I would just ski at Tahoe. If there hasn't been a lot of snow, you might avoid Heavenly - it gets the least natural snow, and while they have a lot of snowmaking, they still seem to end up with too much mixing of fast and slow skiers on certain slopes. I second Northstar as a good family resort.