The Palisades Tahoe ski resort has a lot going for it: an idyllic location seven miles from Lake Tahoe’s western shore, a peak elevation of 9,050 feet with 2,850 feet of vertical, and 6,000 skiable acres spread over two bases and served by 43 lifts.
The famed California destination, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, has cool, swagger and a wealth of demanding terrain. The resort hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics when it was still called Squaw Valley, and is among the Alpine Ski World Cup’s few regular stops in the United States.
Yet at times, it feels as if all people talk about is the weather.
Take my first visit to the resort, this past February, which took place in a windy whiteout.
On the first day, I rode up the tram from the Palisades base area, then felt my way down the blue runs off the Siberia Express and Gold Coast Express lifts in a sea of white on white. Palisades Tahoe is known for its bowls, chutes and gullies, especially off the KT-22 chair, but I was not ready to venture there essentially blindfolded.
While I was trying to find my bearings on Emigrant Face — a bowl-like blue area off one of the highest lifts — a snowboarder zoomed by so fast that he didn’t see a ridge in the fog and took off like an eagle. An eagle that couldn’t fly, because he crashed.
