Special Events in Tahoe Area Are Icing on Christmas Cake

Those traveling to any of California’s major ski areas during the holidays can be sure of one thing: a white Christmas.

Therefore, in an effort to determine which area is exhibiting the most holiday spirit, I made some calls, sent some e-mail and opened some press releases, and came to the conclusion that, if I were taking a family on a skiing vacation for Christmas vacation, I would go to Lake Tahoe.

From Alex West at Squaw Valley USA on Tahoe’s south shore:

“There is a multitude of special events surrounding Squaw this holiday season. The [University] of California Marching Band takes to the slopes, carolers stroll through the base village, and Santa does it all--ice skating, snowboarding, joining ski school lessons and even bungee jumping.

“Christmas eve is spectacular when the Squaw Valley Ski School brightens the slopes with its famous Torchlight Parade while the Squaw Valley freestyle team performs an aerial extravaganza.”

Among the activities geared more toward teenagers and adults are a demo day offering free product trials Dec. 22 and freestyle clinics by Olympic mogul hopefuls Jonny Moseley and Curtis Tischler Dec. 22-23. Bring $70 if you wish to attend, though.

At Northstar-at-Tahoe, six miles beyond the north shore of the lake, the atmosphere is equally festive. Santa Claus will be spending the week on the slopes sharing hot chocolate with children. On Tuesday, there will be fireside storytelling followed by a selection of classic Christmas movies in the Chaparral Room in the Northstar village starting at 7 p.m.

Carolers will stroll the village Saturday and Sunday and a snowman-building contest will be held Sunday. Sleigh rides will be offered throughout the holidays. Skiers at all Tahoe-area resorts, meanwhile, will enjoy themselves on two to four feet of packed powder.

At Mammoth Mountain and June Mountain, Santa and his elves will be skiing, taking pictures with kids and passing out candy canes on Christmas Day. But other than that, one will hardly know it’s Christmas. Carolers won’t be singing and sleigh bells won’t be ringing despite what it says in the vacation planner put out by the visitors’ bureau. Seems nobody got around to organizing the events in time.

Skiers won’t mind too much, though, as Mammoth boasts five to seven feet of packed powder and 95% of the mountain open.

June Mountain opened Wednesday and the turnout was good, in large part because lift tickets are only $10 on Wednesdays. Expect to pay the full $37 next Wednesday, though. No discount during the holiday week.

“It’s going great; I’d say we’re about three-quarters full,” marketing director Paul McCahon said of the $10 Wednesday opener. “We opened on a base of three to five feet of mostly packed powder and everything but the face from the chalet down [to the parking lot] is open.”

Locally, requests went out to Mountain High, Bear Mountain, Snow Summit and Snow Valley to see what’s in store leading to Christmas.

At Mountain High, marketing manager John McColly explained the Christmas plan with a brief recorded message to callers to the Wrightwood ski area: “It’s that ho-ho-ho time of year and Santa Claus is coming to town. Avoid the malls this weekend and come have your child’s picture taken with Santa Claus in the snow, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.”

And you can ski on two to three feet of packed powder to boot.

At Bear Mountain, public relations manager Judi Bowers e-mailed what basically amounted to a request for some free advertising for the Big Bear Lake resort. This being Christmas, what the heck?

“Something we’d like to focus on here at Bear for the holidays,” Bowers said, “is the $32 ticket price for young adults, ages 13-22. It never goes up. . . .”

Adult prices, currently at an early-season rate of $36, will increase to $42 as soon as the mountain is at or near 100% open, which probably will happen before Christmas, and stay at $42 the rest of the season.

As for St. Nick, he’ll be around daily beginning Saturday. You can find him at the Magic Minor’s Camp.

Nearby Snow Summit and Snow Valley have nothing special planned for Christmas, just plenty of snow.

“We’ve decorated our resort and it looks really nice,” said Genevieve Paquet, spokeswoman for Snow Summit. “We’re about 95% open and very close to being 100% open. And we’re much better off than we were last year at this time, so we’re really happy.”

Happy indeed. They’re having a white Christmas.