I have skied Mount Rose for the past 3 seasons since moving to Reno, NV, and consider it my home mountain. It is a mid size resort with the highest base elevation in the Lake Tahoe area with 1200 acres and 1800 vertical feet. There is a wide variety of terrain for skiers of different levels from the Wizard area for children to the Chutes for serious skiers. The Chutes rival the steepest terrain at other California/Nevada resorts. And there is plenty of terrain - groomed, ungroomed, and glades for intermediate and advanced skiers. Due to the Lake effect, Rose gets plenty of snow and the trees are great days after a snowfall. If there is a shortcoming, its the lack of park terrain though I have yet to hear anybody complain about that. The food is still reasonably priced and tasty! There is ample parking - free of charge with no reservations required and ample seating in the main lodge with additional seating upstairs. Even on weekends there is room to park, room to ski ,and room to sit!

Mount Rose is the best "locals" city-proximate ski hill in North America and one of the very best in the world. I don't offer that up lightly. It remains an insider's gem. Great steep terrain, tree and off-piste runs, backcountry access, brilliant beginner intermediate runs and one of the most consistent snowpacks in the US. The Chutes remain the signature expert ski area in the resort and live up to the local hype - they offer proper steep-skiing, but with options at easier levels, so kids or advanced skiers can have the enjoyment of having "skied the Chutes". Mount Rose retains a fun, down-to-earth, functional and friendly vibe. You will see generations of families up there at the weekends, older skiers or snowboarders, who have been shredding these slopes for 4-5 decades, and high school kids or students taking advantage of the many locals offers. Ticket prices remain reasonable and aren't oversold. Queues do occur at peak weekends, but even then are not too bad compared to other Tahoe resorts. By and large, especially weekdays, you don't expect to wait more than 5 mins to get on a lift ... and regularly it is effectively ski-on at most lifts. Mount Rose is perfectly located on the most awkward side of Lake Tahoe to get to from the Bay Area. Hence, the other bigger Tahoe resorts soak up a lot of the skiers & snowboarders from that area, leaving Mount Rose to remain the perfect locals ski hill. Reno/Sparks/Carson City is now a population area of over 400,000 folk; there's a good-size airport and major industry employers (Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft, etc): but the brilliant lift system and terrain is more than able to cope with that. Do come and ski Mount Rose, but just don't tell anyone else about it!

Mt. Rose is my favorite mountain in the Tahoe region. A five minute lift line is considered long at this favorite spot of many Tahoe & Reno locals. At 8260, Mt Rose has the highest base elevation of all Tahoe resorts. When many resorts in the region are getting rain, Mt. Rose is typically getting snow. Their high elevation usually allows them to start making snow in October and open in early November with excellent conditions. They have a separate beginner mountain with two chairlifts that give access to multiple green runs. I taught my three kids to ski in this area and the terrain was perfect and varied. Mt. Rose has two base areas with the Main Lodge and the smaller Winters Creek Lodge. Tip: On crowded days park at Winters Creek. Both areas have a multitude of Blue and Black runs for intermediate and advanced riders. Later in the season when there has been abundant natural snow, The Chutes are opened. These are a collection of Double Black Diamond expert runs with pitches of 40-55 degrees and vertical drops of 1000+. They are the steepest and longest in the Tahoe area and are served by their own chair. Mt. Rose doesnt have any lodging or apres ski activities onsite. This is the resorts only drawback but likely contributes greatly to keeping it from being overcrowded. Accommodations can be found in North Lake Tahoe (15 minutes away) or in Reno (30 minutes away). Abundant night life can be found in Reno. They offer a number of special discounts each week including Hospitality Mondays where people who work in the hospitality sector get discount lift tickets, Twofer Tuesdays when you get two lift tickets for the price of one and Ladies Day Thursdays when all ladies receive discount lift tickets. Additional discounts can be found on their website. I truly love Mt. Rose because of the friendly atmosphere, great snow, fun runs and being able to spend my time riding instead of standing in lift lines. Ive even found this to be the case even on weekends and holidays. Its a great alternative to the overcrowded, over commercialized EPIC and IKON resorts in the region.