A Snowy Vacation Home.. Where Should it Be?

[DrewDevil]

"I had no horse, but I still wanted to make the trip to Tahoe. We were told it was 11 miles. We went up one ridge and another, and no Lake Tahoe. At last, Lake Tahoe burst upon us. I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords." -- Mark Twain

Lake Tahoe is where God goes on vacation.

[NicksDad1970]

Arizona. It fits your needs and is less expensive than most places in Colorado.

[Ray Zee]

john, those pictures of skiing north lake tahoe are of skiing south lake tahoe.

but i agree tahoe has the best weather, most great ski areas in an hours drive, gambling, fantastic golf courses, night life, and services of any place.
tahoe is my favorite place for skiing when it has snowed recently other wise its cement.

whitefish mt. has great snow but not for the faint of heart weather wise. cheapest of the quality ski areas with good snow.

[nutsflopper]

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did u ever get that costa rica home you posted about 2 yrs ago or is this just another dream to get you motivated?

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i made enough money i just decided that costa rica sucks and theres better things to do with my money than invest it in a third world country that i wouldnt end up ever visiting.

[/ QUOTE ] Uhh costa rica is sick. You decided it sucks w/out ever visiting?

[PITTM]

This is so tahoe its not even funny. I go to tahoe every summer and winter a few times. Beautiful lake, beautiful weather, beautiful snow, beautiful forests,etc. If you find the right house you could be 5 minutes from the slopes, 5 minutes from the casinos and not have a neighbor for a minute. This would be my dream house imo.

[JaBlue]

I think I have a good candidate: Its close enough to the resorts but is quiet and relaxing, with no tourists, incredible in summer and hosts just about any outdoor recreation option you can dream up. The caveat is that you will have to go 25min for real groceries or nice meals.

There is a quiet place called Serene south of Lake Tahoe that is pretty much empty as most of its residents are vacationers. There is one store in town other than the ski rental and repair shop, the general store, and you'll have to go to Truckee - 25m N - if you want groceries, a good meal, nightlife, etc. There are two lakes that you can live on or within a block of as well as the world's largest cross country ski resort, Royal Gorge. This turns into all mountain bike stuff and you are also close to a great big technical loop called Hole in the Ground. You can also snowshoe (definitely worth trying if you like hiking) when the trails are too snowed-over for cross country. which is incredible. Its real close to the southern-most downhill resort which is smaller than other places and had crappy snow when I went.

Ask me if you want to know more, but I've only gone there a total of about 3 weeks. I wouldn't want to live there because it'd be hard to meet people our age close by, but as a get-away-from-it-all home, I don't think you can beat it. You can just rent it to good friends when you're not there or something.

[pig4bill]

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And I experienced possibly the coldest weather of my life. I knew it was cold b/c even though I was snowboarding and active (and dressed in "winter" type cloths) I was shivering. This freaked me out b/c usually I am hot/warm. I thought I was suffering from hypothermia.

Anyway, I get down to the bottom, which about 2,000 feet lower in elevation, and as I walk by a building, I see that the temperature at the base is in the single low teens (Fahrenheit), maybe 12-14ish. And it felt pretty damn warm down there. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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Bah, Cali has nothing on Utah for cold. The coldest I've ever been was in Utah. The town at the bottom of the mountain was 10 below zero. The resort base was 2000 feet higher than that. The summit was 2500 feet higher than that. The wind was 20 mph. I have no idea what the effective temperature was, but it was friggin cold!

OP, regarding the high cost of living in California at Tahoe, that's why I suggested the Nevada side. Unless you must live in the middle of a ski village, Nevada is a much better way to go. Look at a map, there are lots of little towns, or Reno, or Sparks, or Virginia City, where Hoss and Little Joe grew up. You can even get 40 acres for $110k, build your own place, and become a hermit!

There's also a place in Colorado near Telluride called Montrose that has a commercial airport. No big jets though, just puddle-jumpers. It's small enough that you can buy acreage just outside town, but big enough to have a Walmart. Summers are brutal though. It gets hot and because of the elevation, the sun will rip your skin off like a power sander. I got the worst sunburn of my life there.

[kid canepa]

Park City for sure. I've been there 7-8 times the slopes at Park City, Dear Valley, and the Canyons are amazing. The Park City town is awesome, the food is great, and there are some very nice homes there.

[Bukem_]

Dug up the pics I have of Squaw.

Squaw entrance, looking directly at the tram building and KT-22(best lift/area serviced by single lift in continental US).


KT-22. Looking straight at the Fingers, think this is first day they were open last year.


Mainline

Headwall

Most of the Light Towers under very bony conditions(top left section of headwall pic).

Palisade-very filled in.


Granite Chief Peak on the right. Have to hike for it but its not that bad of a hike.

Good friend of mine about to hit a double. Unfortunately don't have any pics of me skiing.

Old Apline Meadows house. We were too broke that year to afford plow service. Tried shoveling but pretty much gave up on that by mid December. Would just ram the trucks into the driveway as best as we could. This is late spring so a ton of snow has already melted/compacted. Notice the snow knocked off the top of the roof, we kept a ladder on the side of the house and would climb up and go roof jumping after a big storm. Kinda hard to tell but its a good 30ft jump.

Current Truckee house after big storm last March. My car is actually completely buried in the middle of the driveway. Def get plow service...

[mntbikr15]

FU bukem....lol

Went to Tahoe last year for a week in early Jan...didnt get an inch the whole time and there was maybe 20 inch base....

Im going to go cut myself now