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Backcountry Ski Tours & Dog Sledding

* Ski Touring * Dog Sledding
* Winter Adventure Courses*

Sierra Ski Touring / Husky Express presents Back Country Winter Fun!

CLICK HERE for Tahoe Area Dog Sledding! Ski Touring! Adventures!

Go ski touring, dog sledding or take a course in outdoor skills.

COURSES include: AVALANCH COURSES, LAND NAVAGATION, SNOWCRAFT, and MOUNTAIN MEDICINE: HOW TO COPE WITH CASUALTIES. SKI TOURS INCLUDE: THE SIERRA HIGH ROUTE, THE TYNDALL HIGH CAMP, THE WHITE MOUNTAINS HIGH CAMP, TELEHUT TOURS AND MORE.

For details, Visit our Web site!

Alpine Skiing Near Lake Tahoe

Tahoe Cross Country Ski Areas Here's a guide, unabashedly biased, about places to take your skinny skis in this part of the Sierra Nevadas. As avid XC skiers who have traveled far and wide to track ski, we hope our opinions will help you to choose the ski area that fits your skills and mood on any given day!

Spooner Lake Cross Country Ski Area

This ski area is the absolute best Cross Country Ski Area at Lake Tahoe! More new trails, a wide variety of terrain, OUTSTANDING VIEWS of Lake Tahoe, impeccable grooming and the addition of wilderness cabins for overnight stays have continued to make Spooner Cross Country Ski Area our favorite.

Incredible views and destinations, new trails, wilderness cabins you can ski or hike to, plus a commitment to great grooming characterize the Spooner State Park Spooner Cross Country Ski area. Take a gentle tour in the sun around the lake, or enjoy the rolling ups-and-downs of the lake loop trail. Spooner has plenty of beginner and advanced (rolling and mountainous) terrain. For those who enjoy wearing a hair shirt, there's still the Canyon Loop to Marlette Lake and beyond. Be prepared for a long ski and some leg-burning climbs, but you'll be rewarded by grand views of Lake Tahoe and exciting screamer downhill runs on the way back. When you're through, have one of Amy's big chocolate chip cookies and a cup of hot java in the cabin-lodge. (91 K of trails)

Wilderness Cabins: Reservations Required for Overnight Stays
Ski and Snowshoe Rentals: Touring, skating
Children's Pulk (pull-sled) Rentals
Lessons: One hour group lesson & trail pass & equipment rental
For rates, visit the Spooner Web Site

Spooner Summit is near the Northeast shore of Lake Tahoe
State Route 28, 12 miles south of Incline Village, NV
Phone: (775) 749-5349
More: wilderness cabins
More: Visit CrossCountrySkiTahoe.com

Auburn Ski Area

Auburn Ski Club does a great job with their steep and twisty-turny and up and down trails! Their programs include a full winter full of events for children and adults.

Located on Hwy. 90 West of Truckee
Phone: (530) 426-3313

Bijou Park

A freebie, set by the South Lake Tahoe Parks Department when they are able to find the track sled (they told us that). Classic tracks only. Flat, flat, flat golf course with some teeny hills right by the park. If you have track skis you'll spend almost all of your time double poling. A good spot for beginners or if you're already in town and just need to get in a quickie.

Al Tahoe Blvd.
South Lake Tahoe, CA
Phone: (530) 542-6095

Blue Lakes Road

If you have even the slightest antipathy toward snowmobiles go somewhere else. Skiing here is free; the road is groomed regularly for a snowmobile tour concession that operates here. So, the grooming is ideal for skating.

The two-strokes swarm pretty thick on weekends. However, if you can get there mid-week or before 10 a.m. (when snowmobilers wake up) you'll usually find the green traffic light. We try to maintain friendly relations by stepping off into the powder at the side while the sleds pass. Smile and wave. Most sledders smile and wave back, proving they're decent folk who just happen to be deluded into thinking that squeezing a throttle and going like hell is fun (which is exactly what we used to do as motorcycle racers in a former childhood!)

The road itself is basically a long gradual climb out and a downhill back. Views are magnificent. Once you make a short climb up through a canyon leading from the valley floor, the terrain on either side opens up into rolling hills with scattered forest.

Spring skiing here on packed crust in the morning, going in any direction whim dictates, is a delight beyond words. Try it, you'll see.

Blue Lakes Road is located on Hwy. 88 just South of Picketts Junction, where Hwys. 88 and 89 intersect.

Camp Richardson

Nice little trail system in the woods for serene and not-too-ambitious skiing. Mostly skating, but one loop is sometimes tracked for classic skiing.

Rentals: Touring, skating, snowshoes
Lessons: 1/2-hour beginners group lesson - $10 per person
Food: Great restaurant and cafe
Christmas Gift Shop through the Holidays
User fees are required.

State Route 89
(2 1/2 miles North of the "Y" in South Lake Tahoe)
P.O. Box 9028
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158
Phone: (530) 541-1801 For reservations: (800) 544-1801

Hope Valley Cross-Country

The trails are sometimes tracked with a snowmobile for the ski concession that offers rentals and lessons at the Sorenson's Lodge, which also has rustic lodging and a restaurant. We visit Hope Valley when we want some backwoods-style classic skiing. It's a long climb to the lake at the top, and a screamer downhill back when it's icy! The trails get good afternoon sun. Hope Valley is a favorite of many local ski shufflers.

Rentals: Touring, backcountry
Lessons: One and one-half hour lesson & trail pass & equipment rental available
Food: Sorenson's Resort
Cost all day: Donations Accepted

Located at Pickett's Junction where Hwys. 88 and 89 intersect.
Phone: (530) 694-2266

Kirkwood Cross Country

Try the Schneider Camp parking lot for wide open skiing on the most lovely of high-mountain plateaus! You will have to do some climbing here, but just think of the effort as your way of earning the thrills offered by Kirkwood's many exciting downhill trails. (65 K of trails)

Rentals: Touring, skating, telemark, showshoes
Lessons: Group lesson & trail pass & equipment rental available
Food: Day lodge
Trail fees are required.

Highway 88 near Carson Pass
Kirkwood, CA
Phone: (209) 258-6000

North Tahoe Regional Park

11 K of tracks, mostly for beginner skiers.
Trail fees are required.

National Ave. off State Route 28
Tahoe Vista, CA
Phone: (530) 546-7248

Real Estate Near Tahoe Cross Country

Northstar-at-Tahoe

The attraction of well-groomed and reasonably well laid out trails is diminished by a long trek through the muddy ski area parking lot, a ride up the hill on the tram, followed by a hike through the alpine ski school to get to the nordic center. If you want to alpine ski and skinny ski all in one place, Northstar may be just the place for you, but we usually go somewhere else.

There are 65 K of track and skating lanes, with new trails this season and warming huts.

Rentals: Touring, skating, telemark, snowshoes
Lessons: One and one-half hour group lesson & trail pass & equipment rental
Food: At the cross-country center and Northstar Village
Trail fees are required.

Hwy. 267 South of Truckee
Phone: (530) 562-2475

Real Estate At Northstar

Resort at Squaw Creek Cross-Country

The Resort at Squaw Creek's cross-country trails wind through the spectacular Squaw Valley meadow and the hills beyond.

Rentals: Touring, skating
Lessons: One hour group lesson & trail pass & equipment rental available
Food: Five restaurants
Trail fees are required.

Squaw Valley, CA
Phone: (530) 583-6300

Royal Gorge - USA

Affectionately known as The Gouge by skiers nationwide, Royal Gorge may charge a little more, but what do you expect for a place with 328 K of trail that is impeccably tracked for both classic and skate skiing?

Rentals: Touring, skating, telemark, snowshoes, sleds
Lessons: Group lesson & trail pass & equipment available
Food: Two restaurants, four cafes
Trail fees are required.

Old Highway 40
Exit off 1-80
Soda Springs, CA
Phone: (530) 426-3871

Tahoe Donner

At Tahoe Donner, you can find trails for everyone, from your 92-year old grandmother (who will probably ski your pants off anyway) to the hammerhead hill-weasel you wish you really were. After a cruise through the mellow flat areas, you can climb sky-high and seemingly forever, or drop down into the Euer Valley, which provides a romantic countryside tour reminiscent of the world-class ski trails in Winthrop, WA.

Off Donner Pass Road
Truckee, CA
Phone: (530) 587-9484

Tahoe Donner Real Estate

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