The crowds are developing around Truckee and it’s looking and feeling a bit more winter-like in this weekend. The only thing missing is enough snow to make skiing and riding worthwhile. With only three resorts open this weekend, they can charge just about anything they want. It actually makes some sense when you see that terrain is open only due to extensive snowmaking effort, and making snow is not cheap.

Here’s the current roundup of offerings, with no changes expected until Wednesday of next week:

Boreal

• Running Nugget & Castle Peak Quad  (see the green area on the map)
• Shortest run but a few park features added into the mix
• Easy access from the parking lot
• $52 for an adult ticket

Northstar

• Running Vista for skiing & riding plus gondolas for access
• Roughly 2% of the mountain open: Skid Trail, Lumberjack and Main Street (That would be only the green runs within the orange box)
• Requires parking, riding a shuttle bus, walking through a village and riding a gondola to access the Vista lift.
• $86-90 for an adult ticket

Heavenly

• Running Tamarack Express for skiing & riding plus gondola for access
• Roughly 2% of the mountain open: California Trail (see the trail marked in black)
• Requires parking, walking through a village and riding a gondola to access the Tamarack Express lift.
• The best we can tell, it’s $87-90 for an adult ticket

Obviously, that does not sound as bad if you have the Epic pass or a Boreal pass. You can also add to your fun quotient and terrain value by going to both Northstar and Heavenly in the same day. That would get you three different gondola rides and two different villages, as well as doubling your skiing and riding terrain. 🙂

Mammoth Mountain is still an option as well. No new terrain has been opened yet since our last report. Ticket prices have gone up to $79 for an adult, or roughly $40 via Mountain Collective pricing for Squalpine gold pass holders. I’ll probably hold off on another Mammoth trip until more terrain is open. Update: Just a few hours after writing this, Mammoth did announce the opening of Chair 2. No only does that really spread out the traffic, it also makes parking much easier and offers up another food venue at The Mill. For the money, Mammoth is still the winner.

We’ll be interested to see what Squaw can get open for the Thanksgiving holiday….