Lake Tahoe-area ski season has its first ski slope opening set for Friday, as Tahoe’s highest base elevation resort Mount Rose opens Friday, November 10, and more ski resort openings are scheduled for the weeks to follow.
Last winter was the second-snowiest winter on record in the Sierras, which certainly introduced some hazards, but also had the upside of presenting a pretty long and glorious ski season (except when roads and resorts were closed). We don’t know if a looming El Niño will bring similar levels of record precipitation this winter. But we do know, from the Chronicle’s new roundup of when Tahoe ski resorts are opening, that Reno’s Mount Rose ski resort is opening this Friday, November 10.
Three-day weekend, anybody?
It's official! We are opening Lakeview Express THIS FRIDAY to begin the 2023/24 season precisely one day earlier than last season. Keep a lookout for more terrain to become available as we continue to make the flakes and ramp up for another fantastic season at Mt. Rose -Ski Tahoe pic.twitter.com/3n2MgBtmoU
— MtRoseSkiTahoe (@MtRoseSkiTahoe) November 7, 2023
More ski resort openings will follow the next weekend, and successive weekends into November and December. The Chronicle reports a number of other ski resort opening dates, which are listed below:
- Friday, November 10: Mt. Rose
- Friday, November 17: Boreal, Heavenly, and Northstar
- Wednesday, November 22: Palisades Tahoe
- Friday, November 24: Sugar Bowl
- Friday, December 1: Kirkwood
- Saturday, December 2: Sierra-at-Tahoe
- Thursday, December 7: Diamond Peak
- Friday, December 15: Homewood
Above normal precipitation is likely throughout California next week as a storm system moves in. The Northern Coast Ranges, Klamath Mountains, and Sierra Nevada have a 40 to 60% chance of heavy precipitation, with snow expected at higher elevations. https://t.co/miSniPw0d6 pic.twitter.com/v4D9KjK0w7
— NWS Climate Prediction Center (@NWSCPC) November 7, 2023
And according to the National Weather Service, there may be more snowfall in the Sierras in the near future. The NWS adds above that “Above normal precipitation is likely throughout California next week,” and that the Sierra Nevada Mountains “have a 40 to 60% chance of heavy precipitation, with snow expected at higher elevations.”
Tahoe ski resorts opening for Veterans Day weekend is pretty normal, and last year, six of the above-named resorts opened on the second weekend of November. But it remains to be seen if, like this past ski season, some California ski resorts are open all the way until August.
Related: Tahoe Sees Second-Snowiest Winter on Record; Snow Buries Ski Lifts in Sierras [SFist]
Photo: Mt. Rose - Ski Tahoe via Facebook