Recommend a ski spot

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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Lake Tahoe really is beautiful and fits your criteria of being close to Vegas. Squaw Valley is a great resort.

For the future though:

For the skiing, if you go for a tough mountain with great skiing the two best in the states are Aspen Mountain (if in Aspen I would stay away from Snowmass, too many frickin' people and its really a crappy mountain) and Taos which is tough little mountain.

One of my favorite places is Sunshine Village near Banff, Alberta. A neat mountain, always sunny, you ski above the clouds at the peak. The mountain is a little less than a half hour from the town of Banff which has the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, I wouldn't stay anywhere else.

These are my favorite places to ski.

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respectfully disagree with some of this. The terrain (as far as difficulty/steeps goes) is tougher at Squaw/Alpine Meadows than at Aspen or Taos. As overall resorts those places might be better, but I don't think in terms of difficulty.

the other places to go for nasty terrain are Alta and Jackson Hole. I love Tahoe, but mostly in spring time when the cement is more like corn. Alta and Jackson are better winter (Jan, Feb) resorts.

[Knight Vision]

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mostly in spring time when the cement is more like corn

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Serious question - what does this mean?

OP - In terms of drive time, you'll probably find world class skiing to be closer in Utah. That said, I spend 3 months a year in Incline Village (north shore Tahoe), and there is no nicer place I've been - though night life in IV is very tame.

Sierra's a fun mountain actually, and relatively cheap. Heavy on snowboarders as it's closest to Sac/BA so the High School hitchers go there. By no means world class, but worth a day. Sierra is south shore though, as is Kirkwood. Kirkwood is an excellent alternative to Heavenly. Mount Rose off IV is pretty good and Squaw is <45 mins from IV.

[cbloom]

Isn't Mammoth closer to Vegas? Yeah, it is, quite a bit, I think Mammoth is solid.

[Boris]

Mid December is very hit and miss for good skiing. Whether you go to Utah or Tahoe or Taos should be determined by the snowpack.

[DrewDevil]

Heavenly is the best place I've been to.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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mostly in spring time when the cement is more like corn

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Serious question - what does this mean?


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to an East Coast skier, the snow that falls in the Sierra Nevada is extremely wet and heavy. IE, like cement.

(as the storms move over the desert, they dry out, so the snow falling in Utah is much much lighter and drier)

but in the spring time in the Sierra, the weather is warm enough that there is a lot less 'cement' snow - the snow goes through a freeze/thaw cycle that leaves it as 'corn' snow - something with the consistency of mashed potatoes, rather than heavy, wet cement.

oh and yes, I think Kirkwood is >>>>>> Heavenly. Heavenly has some good cruising runs and is conveniently located. There is 1 good area there - Mott Canyon - but the rest of that resort is a big gigantic meh.

[tdarko]

Zod,

Squaw Valley has some of the best cliffs and steep runs but the ratio of difficult runs to easy runs doesn't compare to Aspen Mountain.

There isn't a green run on Aspen Mountain and its a mountain where many of the blues run like blacks anyway--the only blue runs that are "simple" are your standard runs coming off the mountain. I love this mountain b/c most of the time everyone around you can ski, you don't see those women snow plowing and screaming down the mountain or kids out of control etc.

Squaw Valley:

25% Green
45% Blue
30% Black

Aspen

0% Green
48% Blue
26% Black
26% Double-black

Squaw Valley has some of the best cliffs you can find and there is no comparison to some of its moments but as far as an overall mountain being on a higher level I don't think there is any question that it is Aspen Mountain.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

yeah, I agree with this. Aspen as a resort and as a whole is better than Squaw, and if anything it's an underrated place.

But Squaw has more "holy [censored] !!!" terrain.

[Yawning Chain]

Ski at Squaw, stay at the Peppermill. They are both underrated.

[Bukem_]

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The gf and I have never been skiing before

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Do not go to squaw. It is a horrible resort for beginners. There is not one wide, long groomer on the entire resort.

The run(mountain run) to get to the bottom is fairly narrow, winding, and has lots of people who will ski fast past you.

Go to Heavenly or Northstar. Heavenly is probably best if you also want a nightlife, they have casinos and nightclubs very close. Northstar isn't really near anything, though its not too far from either tahoe city or reno. Both are very good family/beginner-intermediate oriented resorts. If you do go to tahoe, def do check out squaw, they have a nice village there, and the surrounding terrain is outstanding.