Aloha-
We're travelling from Hawaii to Lake Tahoe in March, 2006. We've decided to fly into San Fran and drive to Lake Tahoe even though there are a lot of posts about the traffic. We would love to fly into Reno but not for $400 more a ticket! A few questions:

1) What are the best times to attempt this trek from San Fran to Tahoe - we are attempting this on the Friday before Spring Break?
2) Best route?
3) Is north tahoe or south tahoe better for beginner skiers with an 8 and 5 year old?
4) Which ski resorts have the following activities: snowmobiling, tubing, adaptive ski programs and are kid friendly?


We would appreciate any help at all in planning this trip. We usually go to Whistler but plane fare to Canada is at $850 a pop! Mahalo for your help!

heavenly is the biggest tahoe resort, squaw valley is a former olympic site

squaw.com
skiheavenly.com
- i'd check both of them out. lots of smaller places around too. you might try googling ski tahoe. I enjoyed squaw, but only skied. don't really look at the other amenities....

Northstar is known for it's family- and beginner-friendly features. Best route from SF is Hwy 80 to 50, depending on weather related road closures. Chains are frequently mandatory. Snowmobiling as far as we experienced, was handled by 3rd party companies not associated with the resorts. Anyone else?

Any of the Tahoe resorts would be great for kids. Sierra at Tahoe and Northstar at Tahoe are smaller ski areas that are particularly family and beginner friendly. Tahoe and Squaw have big ski school programs, and you'll probaby find the best adaptive skiing programs there. ST, NaT, and Heavenly have tubing (and there are probably others). Squaw has ice skating, an outdoor pool, and a rock climbing wall. Snowmobiling is easily found but not at the actual ski resorts.

We took our boys ages 7 and 9 to Tahoe last year. We skied at 5 resorts over 9 days of spring break. Unless you stay and ski at just one resort for the whole trip, be prepared for the car trips to ski resorts. It's a different style vacation than staying at Whistler and being next to the gondola all week- ie. you can't easily run back to the condo during the day for something you forgot.

We split our stay between north and south LT to avoid the long drives between ski resorts.

As you see from the other posts - there are good family ski areas at both ends of the lake. My preference would be either 1) stay at northshore, or 2) split the week between north and south.

BTW - the suggestion to take hwy 80 to hwy 50 ONLY applies if you are going to southshore. If you are going to the north end you'd stay on hwy 80 all the way to Truckee and then either hwy 89 or hwy 227 the short distance to the lake. 89 or 267 really depends on where exactly you are staying.

If it were me I'd probably look to rent a condo at Northstar or stay somewhere on the northshore like Incline Village or Tahoe City.

Personally I like the north side, it's much prettier than South Shore. There are a lot of places to ski in the area. You can still get storms in March but they are kind of beginning to wind down and are a little bit warmer at that time of year. Northstar is good for families. They did a lot of construction work etc. up there I think it was either last year or the year before and also opened some new runs mostly for more advanced skiers..Northstar, prior to that, was always known for it's beginner and intermediate runs. It's convenient to Kings Beach area at the lake and also to Truckee which is a great little town with lots of restaurants and shops. Kings Beach is pretty convenient to get to Tahoe City or to the North Shore casino areas if you want to gamble a bit. The casinos are smaller and quieter than those at South Shore, but will still gladly take your money. You can also drive a little further to Incline Village. They have restaurants, the Hyatt, shops, and a small ski area..Ski Incline. I think you can find all the activities you are looking for in that area. If the weather is good you could drive around to South Shore and Heavenly Valley but frankly, unless there is some compelling reason for you to do so, I don't think you'd have to bother. The amount of traffic you will run into will depend on when you land at SFO. The earlier the better but the worst traffic of course will be in the Bay Area itself, and once you get on 80 and get around Vallejo it should start to thin a bit and then it will probably start to get heavier as you get closer to Sacramento and Roseville on 80. Once you get through Roseville, it should start to thin out again. I hope we have a lot of snow for you and you have a great trip.

If you stay in Incline or Kings Beach, be sure to ski one day at Mount Rose. It's a much more low-key resort and has a great "old Tahoe" feel to it.

Hello dandy, if you are driving from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe on the Friday before spring break please allow yourself plenty of time. Friday's headed east on I-80 is always the heaviest traffic wise. Sunday's heading west is also very heavy with traffic.

Be patient and alert. I-80 has a lot of careless drivers and there are so many accidents. I am not saying this to scare you off but to alert you.

Knowing that the traffic will be bad in advance, being prepared, will keep you from being frutrated and surprised.

Best wishes and welcome to Northern California.

oops - in my post that should be either hwy 89 or hwy 267 (don't have any idea where 227 came from).

And one other thing -- being a Friday, if you land in the afternoon the drive to Tahoe will be an absolute bear. Basically bumper to bumper through the east Bay, through Fairfield, through Sacramento and Roseville, and through Auburn. you are talking about 200 miles w/ lots of bits 20 - 25 mph.

If you arrive in the a.m. get on your way ASAP to be in front of the madness. If you land after noon - I'd SERIOUSLY consider getting a hotel for the first night either at SFO or in Berkeley and start your drive up really early Sat. morning. If you left at 5 a.m. you'd be at Tahoe (assuming the roads are clear and chains aren't required) before 0900

dandy, janis posted what I actually wanted to post...but didn't want to put a lot of stress on you so tried to gently inform you of the traffic conditions. I live between Fairfield and Sacramento and I can honestly say on Friday afternoons during ski season when I go over the freeway overramps and look down on I-80 it has sometimes been like a parking lot! And being that you say will you be travelling to Lake Tahoe on a Friday before the start of Spring Break I cringe at what you will face if you don't get out of San Francisco in the morning. If you can't leave for Lake Tahoe until Friday afternoon I too suggest that you don't leave for Lake Tahoe until early Saturday morning. Best wishes. Have a fun and safe trip.

Yikes, now you're making me nervous. Sorry to highjack your thread, dandy.

Is I-50 as bad as I-80 on a Fri. afternoon? We're talking the Fri. after Xmas here. We're driving from LA, leaving Friday am, going to the South Shore. We're currently debating whether or not to take 395 vs. I-5 to I-50.

We have flown in the past, but I talked DH into driving this time. I might regret it!

Hi lvk, when my family members in S CA go to Tahoe for skiing in the winter they go up 395 as they say they find this quicker and easier. Just FYI, for whatever it is worth. Have a fun time in Tahoe!!

I wasn't quite awake when I posted this morning. Driving directions stand corrected/amended.

Also, consider that the NW side of the lake receives drier snow and receives snow first, when compared to the rest of the lake. In the NW area are Sugar Bowl, Boreal, etc. that may not have been mentioned already.

lvk: OK -- listen very carefully here The Friday after Christmas is the day before new years eve! Hwy 50 will be aparking lot. Much of it is still 2 lanes. New years has major, MAJOR crowds and having an extra day for the weekend celebrations will only make it more crowded than usual.

Things you should consider: If there is a snow storm chains could be required over hwy 50, or the road could even be closed. And even when the road is open -- there are often closures at the summit for avalanche control. And I-5 will be VERY heavily patrolled and very possibly fogged in. 395 doesn't have the fog problem but it is a very long drive.

You will have no idea if there are weather problems until the last minute -- by then it will be too late to get flights.

So if you want to go to Soth Lake Tahoe on the Friday between Xmas and N. Years -- I would book a flight into Reno ASAP.

Unless, of course, you want you DH to have major "I told you so" ammunition for years to come

lvk,

We always drove the 395. Now we fly.

8-)

oops - " . . .you want YOUR DH to have major . . ."

Thank you for all your wonderful replies. We actually get in on Thursday night and were planning to drive out Friday morning so I'm hoping traffic won't be that bad.
I know this is a dumb question but keep in mind we're from Hawaii and have never used chains on our tires:
Where do you get these chains and do the rental companies allow you to put them on their cars?

no - with some very rare exceptions, you can't put chains on a rental car.

Definitely rent a 4wd. Sometimes when chains are required on 2wd cars. 4wd's are allowed through. But I would contact the rental agency - I mean the actual rental site, not the national customer service number - and see if they rent 4wd's w/ snow tires. In the average snow situation chains OR 4wd w/ snow tires are allowed. Believe me -- if the storm is bad enough that they require 4wd's to have chains too you don't want to be driving anyway.

But you are going in March -- of course nothing is certain - but normally unless you are very unlucky, a regular 4wd w/ regular tires will be fine.

Since you are leaving friday a.m. you wil have a much easier time than later in the day. I'd leave after about 8:30 or 9 a.m. If you leave earlier you will end up going through Sacramento during the morning commute.

And even if there isn't any snow, watch out for ice on the road - especially on bridges and in shady spots after you are in the mountains.

Thanks very, very much for your replies. I didn't know about the fog problem. (and thanks for letting me highjack your thread, dandy).

DH is already going to have an "I told you so moment", because he and his friends thought that 395 would be faster than I-5. We drive the 395 quite often to Mammoth/June, and I know how slow it can be when it gets down to 1 lane in each direction. Also, we've frequently had the chains requirement from just north of Bishop in the past, and that made for very slow going.

I wanted to drive because 1) I hate flying during the holidays, 2) Lugging all the snowboards, skis, boots and winter clothes through airports is no fun. 3) I don't want to rent an unfamiliar car to drive in the snow/ice.

Oh well, at least 395 is a prettier drive. We can stop for jerky at our favorite place in Olancha and stop at the Eric Schats bakery for some treats.

dandy, If your rental co. doesn't let you use chains, see if they let you use "cables". We switched to them last year after the chains took a major chunk out of our tire. Also, many times you can get someone at a service station to put on the chains/cables for you for about $20-$30, which is well worth it, IMO.

If leaving on a Friday, try to do so not later than 1 p.m. After that you will get horrendous traffic, if not the rush hour traffic in S.F., than the rush hour traffic around Sacramento.

For ski resorts, I would recommend Northstar or Squaw, the latter especially because the beginning slopes are on top of the mountain with beautiful views. For cheaper and more run-of-the-mill resorts, you could go to Boreal or Donner Ski Ranch. Good skiers thumb their noses at them, but I liked them when I was a beginner/intermediate.