Well, small is a relative term. I skied yesterday at Diamond Peak, on the NV side of Tahoe and Wednesday at Sierra, on the CA side. They are off the mainstream and not on any of the big conglomerate passes. In the Tahoe area the crowds are found at Squaw, Heavenly, Northstar, Alpine, more or less in descending order. The rise of the big 3 season passes has amplified the trend and left these 'smaller' areas crowd free on weekdays and much less crowded than the big guys on weekends. Diamond Peak has 1800 vertical and Sierra has 2200. Both have extensive tree skiing. Sierra in particular has very good wind shelter and it is rare for a lift to be on wind hold. At my age I have unrestricted season passes at both for a total of just over $300.
yesterday was my first ever at Diamond Peak; it's a gem. Slow lifts but I have old legs and the views are gorgeous. About 60% of the trail map is single black, but I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the blues and blacks. There are many rollovers and drops interspersed with flatter sections, something I love. One could choose their pitch by taking skiers right or left for the rollovers. It was a typical sunny warm Sierra afternoon on the deck after skiing.
My old terrain park supervisior for 7springs works at Diamond Peak now. It looks pretty awesome.
You can check him out on Instagram at:
Tahoe is pretty great that way. I don't know if it would be in the exact same camp (as I haven't been to the two you mention) but Mt Rose was always a favorite of mine in that area. Northstar is worth the stop. And if nothing else a beer at the top of Homewood.
You could spend a week at Tahoe and have a great time without ever hitting a major resort.
Denis wrote:
Well, small is a relative term. I skied yesterday at Diamond Peak, on the NV side of Tahoe and Wednesday at Sierra, on the CA side. ..
Denis! You've found my secret spot ! ShhhhHHHHhhhh - keep it on the down-low! I am so sorry we could not hang out; i've been in Florida for two months due to a family crisis but if you stand on top of Showoff, G.S or O God you can see our place a little to the right in the development opposite of those runs. Next time, give me a shout we can make some turns together. So glad you found it!!
I first heard of Diamond Peak couple weeks ago, from this article:
The Best Ski Resorts in the U.S. and Canada: 2019 Readers' Choice Awards by Condé Nast Traveler
2nd time is from this thread. This will be on my bucket list
Crush wrote:
Denis wrote:
Well, small is a relative term. I skied yesterday at Diamond Peak, on the NV side of Tahoe and Wednesday at Sierra, on the CA side. ..
Denis! You've found my secret spot ! ShhhhHHHHhhhh - keep it on the down-low! I am so sorry we could not hang out; i've been in Florida for two months due to a family crisis but if you stand on top of Showoff, G.S or O God you can see our place a little to the right in the development opposite of those runs. Next time, give me a shout we can make some turns together. So glad you found it!!
I almost slacked you that your hood was getting repped here...
Small ski areas are great fun for a day or two as part of a driving ski trip. I thoroughly enjoyed Homewood as part of a ski week around North Tahoe a while back. The Indy Pass certainly will help people consider places they may not have even heard about before.
Diamond Peak has pretty creative management. They were the first to invest in SnowSAT several years ago, which is one of the systems that allows a groomer to know exactly how deep the snow is in real time as grooming is under way. Apparently you can ski free on your birthday. If your birthday falls outside of ski season you can ski for free on March 20, 2019 as part of their UnBirthday event.
https://www.diamondpeak.com/tickets-specials/specials/other-specials
https://www.diamondpeak.com/events/details/unbirthday-celebration
I love the little places
I'm going to be in Montana for the first time in a couple of weeks and want to ski a classic small place Lookout Pass on my way back to spokane my last day
1200 stunning vertical feet
-- it also looks like it has classic sidecountry lines
Lookout was on the list during my Montana year, but somehow didn't get there. If you are going to be in MT for a while,here are some recommendations,
'Lost Trail, my favorite.
Discovery,
'Montana snow bowl,
whitefish, not small, nor unknown, but a great place.
Turner mountain.
I have three free days at Whitefish with my Loveland pass and intend to use them all!
interestingly they have night skiing on weekends which is a rarity out west in my experience
The back side of Whitefish has great tree skiing .
Denis wrote:
Lookout was on the list during my Montana year, but somehow didn't get there. If you are going to be in MT for a while,here are some recommendations,
'Lost Trail, my favorite.
Discovery,
'Montana snow bowl,
whitefish, not small, nor unknown, but a great place.
Turner mountain.
I had to cancel a drive about trip two winters ago since my travel bud broke his ankle. Fly into Spokane, 2 days at Schweitzer, 1 day at Turner, 2 days at Whitefish, 1 day at MSB. I am still regretting have to cancel that trip, but too much driving in some very remote areas to do the trip alone on a fixed schedule.
I'll be back next winter. Looking at possible retirement up there.
Denis,
Your travels to ID/MT were the inspiration for the cancelled trip. Hope all is well with you.
Denis wrote:
whitefish, not small, nor unknown, but a great place.
Very true. I had several visits to Montana in 2019 including 10 days over xmas week at Whitefish. I'd call it a Medium compared to Big Sky.
JohnL wrote:
Denis wrote:
Lookout was on the list during my Montana year, but somehow didn't get there. If you are going to be in MT for a while,here are some recommendations,
'Lost Trail, my favorite.
Discovery,
'Montana snow bowl,
whitefish, not small, nor unknown, but a great place.
Turner mountain.
I had to cancel a drive about trip two winters ago since my travel bud broke his ankle. Fly into Spokane, 2 days at Schweitzer, 1 day at Turner, 2 days at Whitefish, 1 day at MSB. I am still regretting have to cancel that trip, but too much driving in some very remote areas to do the trip alone on a fixed schedule.
I'll be back next winter. Looking at possible retirement up there.
Two years ago I flew into Spokane and hit Schwietzer, Red Mountain and Whitewater. It was amazing
https://www.skisoutheast.com/redefining-next-destination/
I am beyond excited to fly into Spokane in two weeks and ski Schwietzer and Whitewater again and Whitefish and Castle Mountain for the first time -- I don't think I will make it to Lookout this time
Just found this article posted in a thread at Pugski -- https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/01/06/northwest-montanas-ski-areas-still-independent/
(in praise of small local newspapers as well)
Turner above Libby in the Kootenai national forest looks like a great little (still over 2000 ft continuous vert and trees galore) independent that would be an easy stop on the drive between Schwieitzer and Whitefish.
Denis I take it that you have skiied at Turner?
Haven't done Turner mountain. One of my Seattle/Mt. Hood friends has scolded me for the lapse. It is not open every day so check before going. Same for Lost Trail.
That's a great article kemperski; thanks for posting.
Kemperski, nice choice of areas. I know peeps who used to work at Castle.
Red and Whitewater was option B.
Turner looked to be an easy stop on the way from Schweitzer to Whitefish - hence worth the planned stop. But looked like some serious and remote roads in that stretch, but IIRC, roads stayed low.
Spokane to Schweitzer is an easy drive, we did that about 8 years ago, it's a very cool ski area.
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