Tahoe Donner

We are really excited for the upcoming holiday period. We have snow and all of our winter amenities are open. We have some awesome activities planned for you. Check out our top 10 list of ideas!

1.) Winter Fun at Snowplay
We will be open from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. February 18 – 26. This is a huge deal, considering we are usually only open weekends. Parker the Penguin will be visiting and around for photos, and we have a great new picnic and fire pit area which is family-friendly. On a bright sunny day, Snowplay is a great place to soak up some rays.

2.) BBQ at Cross Country Ski Center
We’re breaking out the sausages and hot dogs this weekend! Come for lunch after your great workout. We’ll be grilling up chicken & apple and turkey New Mexico smoked sausages, served on a French roll with grilled onions, dill relish and sauerkraut for toppings. We’ll have all beef hot dogs for the kids. The BBQ will be open from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

3.) Winter Gear Sale at Downhill Ski Area
Have you been waiting all year to upgrade to a new helmet, flashy jacket or warmer gloves? Now is the time to check out the deals during our 30 percent off sale on all outerwear and accessories.

4.) The Pub Opens Early
From February 18 – 25 the Pub at The Lodge will open at 4 p.m. with food from the small plates menu and a wide variety of beverage options. The Lodge will open at 5 p.m.and guests can order off the full menu at that time. Best thing about this extra hour? Happy Hour is an extra hour Monday – Thursday. Come by for a delicious bowl of soup and hot toddy or nice glass of California wine.

5.) Pizza on the Hill Open All Week
From February 17 – 24, we will be open from 5 – 8:30 p.m. In addition to great pizzas, we also have burritos, tacos and delicious nachos on our menu. Feel like eating at home? Get your order to go – and maybe even snag one of our super deals like 3 for 2 pizzas this month or half price pizza hour on Sunday. Check out our specials!

6.) Build Frosty for Tahoe Donner
We’re getting close to the deadline for snowman contest entries. Get everyone together and build yours this week. Now that there’s snow in Tahoe Donner, we know you can do it, and we know that you are up for the challenge! Email a photo of your creation along with a short story about how you came up with your idea. Submissions are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, March 9.

7.) Free Kids Events
Friday Family Movie Night, Wii Night and Trivia night are always popular with the kids. The February 17 movie is The Wizard of Oz and the February 24 movie is Underdog. Show time is 6:30 p.m. at Northwoods Clubhouse. Sunday’s popular Wii Night is from 6:30 – 8 p.m. Both movie night and Wii night are held at Northwoods Clubhouse. Trivia night is Thursdays from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at Pizza on the Hill.

8.) Kids Carnival and Glow Stick Parade
The downhill ski area is the place to be on Saturday, February 25. A kids version of the Torchlight Parade – we invite all kids 10 and under who can ski or ride unassisted in the dark on the Snowbird run to participate! It’s free. The carnival starts at 4:30 p.m. in the base lodge, and kids will play games and collect glow sticks for the parade. All participants must sign-up in the lodge starting at 4:30 p.m. Parade starts at 6:30 p.m. This is a family favorite you don’t want to miss!

9.) Treat Yourself to a Massage
Work stressing you out? Did you come up to Tahoe Donner to get away for a few days to relax and spend time with the family? Consider adding a massage at Trout Creek Recreation Center to your relaxation plans! Don’t forget your bathing suit for a long soak in the spas, too.

Various events and specials will be going on all week long for the upcoming holiday, February 18 – 26. Don’t miss out on great food, amazing deals and lots of fun.

Downhill Ski Area

Ski with us all week! Kids aged 4 – 12 are invited to participate in our holiday week ski program from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. February 20 – 24. Students should be able to stop, turn and ride the chairlift. Lunch is included each day of the program. Rentals and lift tickets are not included.

Program cost is $395. This does not include lift tickets or rentals.

Program with tickets/season pass is $495.

Rental information.

To reserve your spot, please call (530) 587-9444 ext. 0.

Snowplay

Slip and slide all week! Snowplay will be open all week from 9:30 – 4:30 p.m. Starting February 18 and running through February 26. Come for tubing, sledding and maybe a visit from Parker the Penguin!

Cross Country

Participate in a classic clinic for intermediate to advanced skiers on Saturday, February 18, from 9 – 11 a.m. with Olympian Glenn Jobe. Cost is $37 per person.

Looking to buy new gear? Check out our Free Demo Day on Sunday, February 26. Equipment from Salomon, Fischer, Rossignol, Atomic and Madshus will be available for you to try. Ticket or season pass required.

Dining

Pizza on the Hill will be open all week long – including February 20 and 21 – for the holiday week. Join us for dinner from 5 – 8:30 p.m.

The Pub and the Lodge will open an hour early, beginning at 4 p.m. That also means an extra hour of Happy Hour, Monday – Thursday! After you are done slipping, sliding, skiing and skating, come enjoy a great meal!

The downhill ski area is now open for the season with all lifts running and most trails open.

The cross country ski center is now open for the season with new terrain opening daily. We offer scenic trails with climbing peaks and gentle rolling hills. We also offer skiing on the beautiful flats of Euer Valley.

Come on out and play!

Monday early evening update (5 p.m.)

The lifts will spin tomorrow!
That’s right, the downhill ski area is set to open tomorrow morning. Snowbird lift, Caterpillar Conveyor and Learning Conveyor are on the list for first thing, with potentially more throughout the day. The Cross Country Ski Center anticipates they will open at some point tomorrow as well. Check back for specific details in the morning.

Monday afternoon update (2 p.m.)

After experiencing difficutly trying to groom trails today, its been decided that the Cross Country Ski Center will not open by the end of the day. The snow is wet and heavy, thus creating some challenges for setting proper skiing tracks. Our crews outside are trying their best to get things up and running. Hopefully we’ll have a solid confirmation for you tomorrow morning. We have been watching lots of white flakes fall outside the marketing office window with bright smiles. It seems like we have been waiting forever and the snow is great news!  Trust us, we are just as excited as you are to finally open and play outside. Fingers crossed tomorrow will be our big day!

Monday update

We have been challenged at the cross country center today to find the right equipment to groom this heavy snow. We hope to have at least a small loop open by 3 p.m. today and expect to open tomorrow with more terrain. No guesses at this point how much, but be assured that we are putting all resources into getting as much terrain open as quickly as possible.

Monday, January 23

It’s a beautiful Monday morning in Truckee! We are packing down copious amounts of snow at both the downhill and cross country skiing centers, trying to create a nice surface for skiers. We’ll likely have a few kilometers at XC this afternoon and more trail by tomorrow. At downhill, we should have the Snowbird lift and the lesson area open by tomorrow. And there’s another nice storm rolling through today!

Sunday, January 22

We tried grooming the snow at the cross country ski center this morning, but the consistency of the snow isn’t allowing for that to happen. We will try again tomorrow. The good news is that it looks like more snow is on the way!

Saturday, January 21

Overnight we received 6-10 inches of snow at the downhill ski area and 4-6 inches at the cross country ski center. The snow is quite wet and it’s sloppy underneath, so we’re keeping the XC groomers off it and waiting for the water to drain out. It’s still snowing and a Sunday opening there is possible. The downhill ski area will still need a couple more feet, so a midweek opening is our hope there. Do you have a Twitter account? You can follow the cross country center at @tdxc and the downhill ski area at @skitahoedonner. Keep doing those snow dances – it’s working!

Friday, January 20

The storm we’ve been waiting for hit Truckee last night and we’re expecting waves of snow throughout the next few days. We received 3-5 inches of snow overnight at the downhill ski area but will need a good 36 inches of snow to get that facility open. We expect that to happen by the middle of next week. The cross country ski center doesn’t need as much snow to open, so potentially we could be open there as early as tomorrow. Snowplay needs a little more snow on which to put a groomer but will be open at least for sledding by late next week. If we get enough snow to build banked turns, there will be tubing as well.

Don’t miss out on our contest to guess when there will be 18 inches of snow at Northwoods Clubhouse. You could win a prize!

For up-to-the-moment info this weekend, keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages. After being closed for a few days this week for kitchen renovations, the Lodge Restaurant & Pub is back in action with its regular hours. Stop by for dinner, drinks and one of the NFL playoff games there or at Pizza on the Hill! And on that topic, we’ll add a partisan comment: Go Niners!