The Way Skiing Should Be
Quality: * * * *
SUMMIT ELEVATION: 8,383'
VERTICAL DROP: 1,500'
BASE ELEVATION: 6,883'
ACREAGE: 1,500
SKI TERRAIN: 17 percent beginner, 43 percent intermediate, 40 percent advanced
TRAILS: 84
LONGEST RUN: 15,840 feet
SNOWMAKING: 27%
ANNUAL SNOWFALL: 500 inches
LIFTS: 13: 1 Gondola, 3 HiSpeed Quads, 4 Quad Chairs, 4 Double Chairs, 2 Surface lifts
UPHILL LIFT CAPACITY: 15,188 per hour
NIGHT SKIING: Yes
SNOWBOARDING: Yes
TERRAIN PARK: Yes
RECREATIONAL RACING: New Championship Race Arena
CROSS COUNTRY: 328 km
RESTAURNTS: Several
SPORT SHOPS: Two
LOCKERS: Yes
CHILD CARE: Yes
SLOPES OPEN: Open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Donner Summit on the south side of Old Highway 40. Exit I-80 at Soda Springs and drive three miles east on Highway 40. Or take narrow, winding Highway 40 for 10 scenic miles up from Donner Lake and Truckee.
TICKET PRICES: Call for the latest information. Rental, ski-school and multiple-day packages and lodging available. There is the "Cool Deal" if you turn in your lift ticket by 12:30 p.m., you receive $14 off your next day's ticket. Five-dollar-off coupons available at participating McDonald's restaurants.
REVIEWERS: Dr. Ted Baehr & family
There are those who remember the golden age of skiing, when prices where low, the snows were plentiful and the skiers knew each other (wherever they met in the world). Visiting the original area of Sugar Bowl is like stepping into that wonderful world of skiing the way it used to be - a rustic, Austrian-style village, with a twist: the latest in facilities, amenities and snow grooming. Sugar Bowl is known for its quiet mountain atmosphere and beautiful setting. The lodge with its old world atmosphere is a wonderful place to stay, and the sundeck is the perfect place to soak up the California sun. The only area I have skied which is comparable is Val d'Isere.
Established in 1939, Sugar Bowl is the first ski area in the Lake Tahoe region, and, as they say, "it just keeps getting better with age. It is the ski area that Walt Disney made famous, and my parents visited it on their honeymoon when they were both movies stars in the 1930's (my father Ted Baehr (stage name Robert "Tex" Allen) and my mother Evelyn Peirce).
According to the official history: "on July 4, 1938, ski champion Hannes Schroll [ a friend of my father] noticed the snow still clinging to Mount Lincoln near Donner Summit. Schroll was determined to open a resort to help spread the epidemic of ski fever in the East to the West. The greatest snow levels ever recorded in the United States at the time (only the snow levels at Paradise on Mount Rainier have since measured greater), plus the Southern Pacific Railroad and Highway 40 less than a mile away convinced Schroll that Donner Summit was the place. In 1939, after numerous investors followed an enthusiastic contribution from Walt Disney, and only three years after the first chair lift in the West appeared in Sun Valley, Schroll built Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. Like Sun Valley, Sugar Bowl enjoyed an elegant heyday, attracting Austrian expatriate ski champions, jet-set stars such as Errol Flynn and Claudette Colbert and many of the West's business elite. Over the ensuing decades, the owners of Sun Valley developed the resort into one of the country's glitzier and more expensive ski resorts; Sugar Bowl's owners preserved its Old World charm and quiet setting."
Unlike many ski areas, perched on the crest of Donner Summit, Sugar Bowl has an abundance of great snow - purportedly the deepest annual snowfall in North America. This epic snowpack combined with a greater percentage of advanced and expert terrain than any other resort in Tahoe makes Sugar Bowl a resort that has some of the best skiing to be found anywhere. Furthermore, it has a great mix of runs, from first time beginner to steep and deep expert runs, as well as every level in-between.
If you want to experience the Golden Age of ski areas, park at the gondola and travel over a gorge to an old fashioned lodge and village reminiscent of the best Alpine ski areas in Europe. The lodge itself is so wonderful that it is worth staying there, even if you don't ski. The lodge has a special plan with meals included that it will give you a sense of family rather than searching for sustenance after a hard day of skiing. It's rare to have so many amenities so well organized and so compact, easy to get to and fun to stay at.
If you want a contemporary base, drive to the new Mt. Judah base area with its gigantic new base lodge, easy parking, and terific facilities. A greeter in front of the new lodge makes you feel welcome. The only complaint was that the new base restaurant is too small, and it closed at 4:00 so there was no place to wait or the other skiers in our group who were over at the other base area.
Having skied many areas for many years, I was particularly impressed with the sports shop. It was the first shop that fixed a pain caused by my boots which had bothered me for years and helped one of my sons with ankle pain.
With a beautiful setting, Sugar Bowl is a vast area with a lot of expert terrain as well as immediate and beginner. The snow grooming is excellent, and, sitting on the top of the Donner Summit, Sugar Bowl boasts one of the highest average snowfalls of any Sierra resort. The Silver Belt Lift is thrilling in itself and opens up miles of picturesque expert skiing.
In the Lake Tahoe area Sugar Bowl boasts some of the best package prices for beginners. The instructors were so attentive that it was almost a private lesson. They had a great attitude and showed interest in making the customer happy, including helping to put on the skis and picking them up when they fell. The two novices in our group said that the instructors treated them like royalty.
Much of the skiing at Sugar Bowl is trail skiing with vast vistas that will take your breathe away. For Snowboarders and younger skiers Sugar Bowl has a fun terrain park. When we skied it, the popular terrain park was better than ever, designed for both snowboarders and skiers.
Sugar Bowl is what skiing should be.
For More Information:
Sugar Bowl Ski Resort
P.O. Box 5,
Norden, CA 95724
PHONE: (530) 426-9000
SNOW PHONE: (530) 426-1111
WEBSITE: www.skisugarbowl.com
E-MAIL: [email protected]
FAX: (530) 426-3723
SUMMIT ELEVATION: 8,383'
VERTICAL DROP: 1,500'
BASE ELEVATION: 6,883'
ACREAGE: 1,500
SKI TERRAIN: 17 percent beginner, 43 percent intermediate, 40 percent advanced
TRAILS: 84
LONGEST RUN: 15,840 feet
SNOWMAKING: 27%
ANNUAL SNOWFALL: 500 inches
LIFTS: 13: 1 Gondola, 3 HiSpeed Quads, 4 Quad Chairs, 4 Double Chairs, 2 Surface lifts
UPHILL LIFT CAPACITY: 15,188 per hour
NIGHT SKIING: Yes
SNOWBOARDING: Yes
TERRAIN PARK: Yes
RECREATIONAL RACING: New Championship Race Arena
CROSS COUNTRY: 328 km
RESTAURNTS: Several
SPORT SHOPS: Two
LOCKERS: Yes
CHILD CARE: Yes
SLOPES OPEN: Open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Donner Summit on the south side of Old Highway 40. Exit I-80 at Soda Springs and drive three miles east on Highway 40. Or take narrow, winding Highway 40 for 10 scenic miles up from Donner Lake and Truckee.
TICKET PRICES: Call for the latest information. Rental, ski-school and multiple-day packages and lodging available. There is the "Cool Deal" if you turn in your lift ticket by 12:30 p.m., you receive $14 off your next day's ticket. Five-dollar-off coupons available at participating McDonald's restaurants.
REVIEWERS: Dr. Ted Baehr & family
There are those who remember the golden age of skiing, when prices where low, the snows were plentiful and the skiers knew each other (wherever they met in the world). Visiting the original area of Sugar Bowl is like stepping into that wonderful world of skiing the way it used to be - a rustic, Austrian-style village, with a twist: the latest in facilities, amenities and snow grooming. Sugar Bowl is known for its quiet mountain atmosphere and beautiful setting. The lodge with its old world atmosphere is a wonderful place to stay, and the sundeck is the perfect place to soak up the California sun. The only area I have skied which is comparable is Val d'Isere.
Established in 1939, Sugar Bowl is the first ski area in the Lake Tahoe region, and, as they say, "it just keeps getting better with age. It is the ski area that Walt Disney made famous, and my parents visited it on their honeymoon when they were both movies stars in the 1930's (my father Ted Baehr (stage name Robert "Tex" Allen) and my mother Evelyn Peirce).
According to the official history: "on July 4, 1938, ski champion Hannes Schroll [ a friend of my father] noticed the snow still clinging to Mount Lincoln near Donner Summit. Schroll was determined to open a resort to help spread the epidemic of ski fever in the East to the West. The greatest snow levels ever recorded in the United States at the time (only the snow levels at Paradise on Mount Rainier have since measured greater), plus the Southern Pacific Railroad and Highway 40 less than a mile away convinced Schroll that Donner Summit was the place. In 1939, after numerous investors followed an enthusiastic contribution from Walt Disney, and only three years after the first chair lift in the West appeared in Sun Valley, Schroll built Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. Like Sun Valley, Sugar Bowl enjoyed an elegant heyday, attracting Austrian expatriate ski champions, jet-set stars such as Errol Flynn and Claudette Colbert and many of the West's business elite. Over the ensuing decades, the owners of Sun Valley developed the resort into one of the country's glitzier and more expensive ski resorts; Sugar Bowl's owners preserved its Old World charm and quiet setting."
Unlike many ski areas, perched on the crest of Donner Summit, Sugar Bowl has an abundance of great snow - purportedly the deepest annual snowfall in North America. This epic snowpack combined with a greater percentage of advanced and expert terrain than any other resort in Tahoe makes Sugar Bowl a resort that has some of the best skiing to be found anywhere. Furthermore, it has a great mix of runs, from first time beginner to steep and deep expert runs, as well as every level in-between.
If you want to experience the Golden Age of ski areas, park at the gondola and travel over a gorge to an old fashioned lodge and village reminiscent of the best Alpine ski areas in Europe. The lodge itself is so wonderful that it is worth staying there, even if you don't ski. The lodge has a special plan with meals included that it will give you a sense of family rather than searching for sustenance after a hard day of skiing. It's rare to have so many amenities so well organized and so compact, easy to get to and fun to stay at.
If you want a contemporary base, drive to the new Mt. Judah base area with its gigantic new base lodge, easy parking, and terific facilities. A greeter in front of the new lodge makes you feel welcome. The only complaint was that the new base restaurant is too small, and it closed at 4:00 so there was no place to wait or the other skiers in our group who were over at the other base area.
Having skied many areas for many years, I was particularly impressed with the sports shop. It was the first shop that fixed a pain caused by my boots which had bothered me for years and helped one of my sons with ankle pain.
With a beautiful setting, Sugar Bowl is a vast area with a lot of expert terrain as well as immediate and beginner. The snow grooming is excellent, and, sitting on the top of the Donner Summit, Sugar Bowl boasts one of the highest average snowfalls of any Sierra resort. The Silver Belt Lift is thrilling in itself and opens up miles of picturesque expert skiing.
In the Lake Tahoe area Sugar Bowl boasts some of the best package prices for beginners. The instructors were so attentive that it was almost a private lesson. They had a great attitude and showed interest in making the customer happy, including helping to put on the skis and picking them up when they fell. The two novices in our group said that the instructors treated them like royalty.
Much of the skiing at Sugar Bowl is trail skiing with vast vistas that will take your breathe away. For Snowboarders and younger skiers Sugar Bowl has a fun terrain park. When we skied it, the popular terrain park was better than ever, designed for both snowboarders and skiers.
Sugar Bowl is what skiing should be.
For More Information:
Sugar Bowl Ski Resort
P.O. Box 5,
Norden, CA 95724
PHONE: (530) 426-9000
SNOW PHONE: (530) 426-1111
WEBSITE: www.skisugarbowl.com
E-MAIL: [email protected]
FAX: (530) 426-3723
RSS Feed
