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	The Funnel at Squaw Valley Photo by Alex West

So that's why you never want to have a South Shore hooker watch your chips while you jump into the bathroom for a second. Now, how to take advantage and maximize fun for a ski week in Tahoe?

To start, open a new window and go to www.skiresorts.com. Then open the Tahoe section, which has a map that will open in its own window. Keep that map available and come back to this article.

You probably want to ski what you've heard of - Squaw Valley, Heavenly, Alpine Meadows. These are great ski areas; the trouble is that there are a number of other ones that each have their time and place. For example, if it's snowing so hard that 'everything's closed,' you have to go to Homewood. It's protected from westerly winds and always makes for memorably deep, deep powder days. If it's raining at 'all of the base areas' you need to go up to Mt. Rose, Tahoe's highest elevation resort. They always get snow. If the parents or in-laws are around, then it's Northstar's east coast-style groomers for you. The beauty of Tahoe is that you can literally pick the resort of the day depending on current weather and your mood.

Squaw is an amazing place with a lift network that resembles an amusement park with quick rides to every thrilling peak - "Step right up!" It's got the most skiable acreage for experts and the short hikes available from the tops of chairs usually weed out enough people that you can find lingering fresh tracks. Riding Squaw on a good day can be more entertaining than a ski movie - in fact, you'll likely see one being filmed! Powder stashes include the Silverado and Broken Arrow chairs (when they're spinning), the Enchanted Forest, lower Granite Chief and the Funnel. Apres bar bragging rights: anything rocky off the Palisades!

Alpine Meadows and Squaw are brother/neighbors - they share a long ridge line, a love of the same sport, and there are underlying feelings of competition between them. Alpine's reputation is of the mellow, laid back joint with lots of terrain, less chairlifts, fewer lodges and is now the cheaper date of the two (a day lift ticket at Alpine is $39; Squaw is $59). Fewer lifts means more traversing to find far-off shoulders and glades. The Hi T (or High Traverse) is a long, corniced ridge that drops into a long backside area that can feel pretty remote. Alpine has an open-boundaries policy, but if you are thinking of heading out to Grouse Rock or Twin Peaks you need more info and prep than this article so maybe save that for later! Powder stashes include Our Father, Keyhole and Subdivision (out of bounds). Apres bar bragging rights: Munchkins One.

Also in the north shore region of Tahoe are Sugar Bowl and Boreal, located high up on Donner Summit. If Sugar Bowl had Squaw as a neighbor it would probably be as well known as Alpine Meadows. It 's used to standing on it's own, though, since it was the first resort in northern California to open many years ago (1939). Sugar Bowl was home to some of the first huckers(!) who tamed the resort's steep fingers called the 48s which are like scaled-down versions of Alaska's infamous Chugach steeps. Boreal is a small place right on Rte. 80, which caters mostly to jibbers and snowboarders with its big terrain parks and pipes.

Heavenly is the huge resort in south Tahoe, which is over an hour from the north shore resorts. For experts the big draws here are two canyons and ten casinos. You can (almost) literally take a hit on a Soft Fourteen then walk to the other side of the room and hop on to the most scenic lift in Tahoe with chips spilling out of your pockets. The two canyons are Mott and Killebrew, named after resort founder-types. They are steep with Colorado-like technical tree sections and nice, open drops. Keep your speed at the bottom for the extended run-out to the chairlift. These canyons are the pow stashes and apres bar bragging rights around here.

Roughly thirty miles from the south shore stands Kirkwood, one of the best places to ride powder in the whole Tahoe area. It is similar to Alpine Meadows in that it has a large front face, a mellow backside and a moderately-sized lift network. But it's location just below the Tahoe basin sometimes results in a disproportionate amount of snow to the rest of Tahoe ski areas. Powder stashes include Thunder Gully, One/Two Man Chutes and the options below the Sisters. Apres bar bragging rights: anything in the Cirque (usually out of bounds so be careful who you tell your story to).

The third resort near South Lake is Sierra-at-Tahoe. It is mainly an intermediate mountain, although has been recently billed as having good tree skiing.

By Alex West