Lake Tahoe Backcountry Skiing Conditions Update 2024-12-30
North Lake Tahoe & South Lake Tahoe
The 2024/25 ski season has been a wild ride across the west coast! Warm fall conditions abruptly ended with some large atmospheric rivers that dropped snow across the coast ranges, from the southern Sierra Nevada to the North Cascades. For a moment it seemed as if California would be left high and dry with high pressure building and preventing more storms from loading up the Sierra. Luckily, unsettled weather prevailed and we've had a stormy December through nearly the last days of December.
Our storms have been wet thus far this season, with some finishing warm and wet, leaving behind thick rain crusts, and others finishing cold and dry, leaving our favorite ski surface on top: cold powder snow. Our latest storm, that finished on 12/29/2024 (Sunday evening), was the latter type and finished with 7" of cold, settled storm snow at elevations above 8,000'.
While this storm was not the mega-producer some forecasts had predicted, it did serve to consolidate the lower snowpack and left us with some delicious frosting on top. The snow today (12/30) skied fast and silky smooth - the type of Sierra gold that coats rocks and stumps and generally keeps us safe from core shots and allows for skiing on thinly covered slopes. It wasn't a Japan-Depth day, but it was certainly a bluebird powder day.
North Lake Tahoe: Mt Rose
Coverage is above average for late December and the ski quality today was excellent. The warmth and rain to above 9,000' consolidated the snowpack and left us with a great foundation upon which to build the rest of the season.
The new snow was thick and wind pressed, but in most areas skied fast, silky and cold. Turns left behind plumes of powder and the snow was not grabby or slabby as wind affected snow can often be. While the depth was nothing to write home about, it was some of the best snow quality of the season. Temps at 7:30 am were 16F at 8,400' so the snow was cold and maintained is soft character and cold character throughout the day, even as the weak December sun tried its best to break it down.
It's unclear whether or not the snow surface on solar aspects became moist by late afternoon, but observations at 1pm showed no sign of warming to the point of forming a crust.
South Lake Tahoe: Carson Pass
South Lake Tahoe was in similarly good form, despite the trailhead being over 1,000' lower. It's always nice to be surprised with better than anticipated snow quality!
The rain did leave an exposed crust below 7,400', and evidence of the warm precipitation during the storm could be found to ridge tops. That didn't impact the excellent ski quality much - cold powder turns were plentiful today in the South Lake Tahoe backcountry!
Overview
The Lake Tahoe Backcountry is holding excellent skiing above 7,000' on lee aspects. Wind and rain/high snow levels haven't helped south facing slopes, especially below 7k', but there's still plenty of snow on northerly terrain and the ski quality is excellent in many of these spots!
About the Author
Zeb Blais is an IFMGA Mountain Guide and AIARE Avalanche Course Leader based in Truckee California. He loves all the disciplines of mountain guiding - ski, rock and alpine climbing - but skiing is his first love. In the winter he enjoys backcountry skiing, guiding local and international ski trips, and teaching avalanche courses across the west coast, from Bishop, California to Mt Baker, Washington.