Summary: Where do I begin? Let me start out first by saying that I have been a season pass holder at Northstar for 2 seasons now. What originally attracted me to this resort was it competitive season ticket prices and diversity of terrain. That being said, this season has been a major disappointment. Even though I have approximately 2 months left in the season, I will probably opt to pay full price to go to either Alpine Meadows or Sugarbowl than return to Northstar.
In December, my sister-in-law was severely injured by a reckless snowboarder who was underage and under the influence of alcohol. And this past week, a friend of mine broke his collarbone when a snowboarder collided with him. Although snowboarding and skiing are inherently dangerous, Northstar makes matters worse by their failure to limit ticket sales. This mountain is SO crowded that many days you feel like you are navigating a freeway with numerous obstacles in you way. Crowds at Northstar have progressively gotten worse over the past few years. For those interested in coming up for a Saturday or Sunday, forget it. I was taking with a gentleman a few weeks ago who told me it took him and his family:
20 minutes to find a parking spot;
20 minutes to walk to the ticket booth from the car;
60 minutes to get on the gondola to take you the main lodge;
40 minutes to get on the first lift.
In a nutshell, one hour and forty minutes of wasted time to get your first run in. Half hours waits on not uncommon here on the weekends. This coupled with the fact that it takes 2 lifts just to reach the top of the mountain. I have been able to avoid a lot of this mess by going mid-week, but I have noticed that crowds have gotten worse Monday through Friday this year.
I have been snowboarding for 5 years and have sampled most of what Tahoe has to offer. I am a firm believer that there are more attractive options to spend your hard earned dollar. I could probably get more runs in two hours at Alpine Meadows for instance, than eight hours at Northstar. If you think I am nuts, try going there on Saturday during this year's Spring Break, and you will see firsthand what I am talking about. Meanwhile, this Northstar season ticket holder will be enjoying himself elsewhere.
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Summary: If you are looking for double diamonds and your idea of an easy run is a 1 mile long mogul run...this place is not for you.
But if you are an intermediate/advanced looking for a nice variety, this is definitely for you.
The backside has some nice long steep runs and there is a section of the mtn (name escapes me) that is kinda its own little world, also steep blacks. So the other rviewers claiming it's all blues, are not really giving an accurate picture.
The walk from the parking lot is a good hike. I always hate that, after skiing a whole day, walking 1/2 a mile to the car carrying the skis is not fun.
Next time I go up to Tahoe, Northstar will be on the itinerary.
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Summary: Northstar-at-Tahoe is a very good resort, it has good snow conditions with plenty of terrain, ranging from the bunny hill to double blacks. I enjoy Northstar whenever i go to the Lake Tahoe area and it is my favorite resort
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Summary: Everyone likes to say that Northstar aka "Flatstar" has very easy runs. When it first opened it did not have the "Backside" or the "Lookout" lift. Back then it truly had nothing more than intermediate runs. Northstar was expensive and easy. Things are much different now.
The "Backside" lift is a high speed quad that has a series of about 6 advanced runs that come off of it. The runs are long and have a consistent steepness. Some of the runs are groomed nightly and some are left to develop moguls. There are also some excellent tree skiing runs when the snow is right. For the intermediate skier developing their technique this is one of the best lifts in Tahoe. Most Northstar skiers are afraid to come back here so the combination of a high speed quad with short lift lines and long consistant runs means that you will improve quickly.
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