North Lake Tahoe: Resorts adding ski lifts, other amenities

North Lake Tahoe resorts were busy this summer and fall building new lifts, increasing snowmaking capacity and adding other amenities.

Northstar is celebrating its 40th anniversary this winter by adding more glade skiing on the Backside, a new Burton Riglet Park that introduces snowboarding to 3- to 6-year-olds, and EpicMix Racing that lets participants compare their times against those of Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn.

In addition, the resort will offer snowcat tours on Sawtooth Ridge for the first time.

Also new this season is Tavern 6330’ in the Village at Northstar with seating for up to 200. Officials said the restaurant will feature grill dishes inspired by California farm-fresh ingredients served in a tavern-like atmosphere suitable for the whole family.

This season marks the second year of Squaw Valley’s $50-million upgrading effort, which officials say is aimed at improving the experience for first-timers and novices and enhancing the flow on the upper mountain. The resort has also made improvements to its terrain park.

Squaw also is installing Big Blue Express, a high-speed six-pack chairlift, to replace the High Camp lift. The bottom terminal of Big Blue will start where High Camp’s base was located and extend to the top of the ridge, providing easy access to the Shirley Lake, Solitude and Granite Chief lifts.

The Links double chairlift will be removed and replaced with the Mountain Meadow triple lift, which will be realigned to bring skiers and boarders to the ridgeline near the top of the terminals of the Solitude and Silverado lifts.

Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe, just outside Incline Village on Highway 431, has realigned the Little Mule conveyor lift and made improvements to the Rosebuds teaching terrain. Decorative rock walls were added around the Main Lodge with the added perk of aiding erosion control.

Woodward Tahoe, an action-sports training center and youth camp, will be open daily through April 14. The 33,000-square-foot indoor facility, at the base of Boreal Mountain Resort on Donner Summit, offers multilevel Olympic trampolines and a concrete skate park for skateboarding and BMX biking.

Its Bunker Pass is available for $279 and includes eight months of daily access for two-hour sessions.

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