Homewood, CA business model change

[Amie H]

I saw this article via LiftBlog's Twitter account. Homewood moving to a semi-private/membership model.

Homewood Switches Gears - Moonshine Ink

With passholders and skier visits in decline, Homewood plans to become a semi-private ski resort in order to remain open.

www.moonshineink.com

 

[Christy]

Wow, traffic really killed their business to that extent?

 

[santacruz skier]

That is interesting, for sure.

 

[marzNC]

One of the deficiencies of Tahoe for travelers is that the any bus option is not really that useful for most locals or travelers. Meaning pre-pandemic. Very different from the UTA ski bus in SLC or the public transit options for people in the Denver area.

Back in 2010, my ski buddy Jason and I went to Homewood as the warm up day on Saturday. We arrived at the small parking lot near the smaller lodge at 8:00am. By 8:15 that was already almost full. Jason wasn't used to arriving an hour before lifts opened up. After that, he didn't question the advantages of getting up a little earlier to get good parking and avoid traffic on Sunday at Alpine Meadows. We were staying in Tahoe City, so were relatively close.

 

[marzNC]

Wow, traffic really killed their business to that extent?

The traffic coming from the Bay area into north Tahoe is pretty intense. Has some factors in common with the traffic on I-70 for people starting out in the Denver metro area who do day trips on weekends.

 

[Christy]

And no one can get to it from any direction? Not people from Sacramento (@Pequenita?) or Carson City? There aren't places to stay/rent to the south so you can go there for a weekend and overnight?

If I had a ski area near-ish to me that only got 100 people a day I'd sure try to make that work.

 

[santacruz skier]

You can take 267 as if you were going to Northstar and then 28. A longer route but wouldn’t have that Palisades congestion.
Other routes would be from the opposite direction on 28. Homewood one day ticket was expensive this year…. thought about going one day as close to Tahoe City.

 

[RachelV]

And no one can get to it from any direction? Not people from Sacramento (@Pequenita?) or Carson City? There aren't places to stay/rent to the south so you can go there for a weekend and overnight?

If I had a ski area near-ish to me that only got 100 people a day I'd sure try to make that work.

That's what I was thinking! There is no way a small, uncrowded place on the I-70 corridor would experience these issues. Between people with little kids, older people, people who value ease over SHREDDING THE GNAR (which is def me now), locals, etc etc etc, there is just no way enough people wouldn't go there to make it work.

Honestly the way they described Homewood made me think of Ski Cooper, and they're doing fine: https://www.skicooper.com/

 

[marzNC]

And no one can get to it from any direction? Not people from Sacramento (@Pequenita?) or Carson City? There aren't places to stay/rent to the south so you can go there for a weekend and overnight?

If I had a ski area near-ish to me that only got 100 people a day I'd sure try to make that work.

Once you get to north Tahoe from any locations with lots of people, the roads are 2-lane. The road from south Tahoe that is shorter way is often closed during the winter. There is a section that is very steep with tight curves. Very scenic but not with snow on the road.

Homewood is 1200 acres served by 4 chairlifts. No comparison to the destination resorts in north Tahoe. Keep in mind that there is a regional pass called Epic Tahoe Local for around $550, Tahoe Value is about $450 without holidays and Saturdays. Hard to compete with the combination of Northstar, Heavenly, and Kirkwood for people who live within driving distance.

The view from Homewood of Lake Tahoe is gorgeous. But few travelers would pay a premium price for a day ticket just for the view. The situation for Tahoe and SLC is unique because there are so many destination resorts close together.

 

[Pequenita]

And no one can get to it from any direction? Not people from Sacramento (@Pequenita?) or Carson City? There aren't places to stay/rent to the south so you can go there for a weekend and overnight?

If I had a ski area near-ish to me that only got 100 people a day I'd sure try to make that work.

Homewood is located in one of the most inconvenient places when it comes to skier traffic. The only way to Homewood from the interstate means potentially sitting in traffic to another ski area.

Imagine a shape that looks like an oblong potato. That's Lake Tahoe. There is a road that more or less follows the shoreline. Homewood is on the west shore. Towards the top left of the potato, north of Homewood, are two spokes going northwest-ish and converging towards (but never meeting) each other -- 89 from Tahoe City and 267 from King's Beach. The Palisades resorts are on 89; Northstar is on 267. Both roads go from the lake to I-80, which is the only way E/W to the North Lake Tahoe area.

Imagine another spoke off the potato at around 1 o'clock. That's the Mount Rose Highway, which connects to highways outside of Reno. Mount Rose is on it, and Diamond Peak is closer towards the lake. If you lived near that spoke, you'd probably ski at one of those places, rather than drive 1/4 the way around the potato to Homewood. Oh, and traffic around the potato can be a nightmare at the wrong time, too.

On the bottom of the potato is South Lake Tahoe and 50. The road around the lake from Homewood to South Lake Tahoe closes for storms. There are not a lot of residential communities between Homewood and SLT (one has residents who avidly call police to ticket backcountry skiers who illegally park in the area). If you're in SLT and east towards Nevada, Heavenly and Kirkwood are more convenient.

So yeah, Homewood is not conveniently located.

 

[Christy]

I found this.
@Pequenita I know you know what you are talking about. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that, with so many of us sick of crowds and corporate multi resort passes, more people aren't trying to make it work. 100 people a day makes me want to go there right now.

 

[Pequenita]

I should add, "sitting in ski traffic for another area" means all-black roads on Google maps. Everyone who skis North Lake Tahoe regularly has at least one a horror story and PTSD from it.

 

[Pequenita]

@Pequenita I know you know what you are talking about. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that, with so many of us sick of crowds and corporate multi resort passes, more people aren't trying to make it work. 100 people a day makes me want to go there right now.

You wouldn't be able to find convenient lodging. ;) Half joke.

 

[santacruz skier]

Camp at Sugar Pine.

 

[Christy]

You wouldn't be able to find convenient lodging. ;) Half joke.

Okay, what if I lived in Folsom...

JK. Not moving to Folsom. Poor Homewood skiers.

 

[santacruz skier]

I have been to Homewood many times but TBH it's been several years. My friend has a second home in Tahoe City and I'm always saying we should go to Homewood as it's about 6 miles away. Homewood's base is basically lake level so it needs to be a good snow year to make the most of it. Otherwise you're dealing with iffy coverage at the bottom. Summit is about 7,200 ft. I will say you do feel like you're skiing into the lake as it seems so close (unlike Heavenly where you're at 10k feet.) Homewood lake level is about 6,200 ft. It's a small resort compared to many Tahoe resorts and got larger when it merged with Tahoe Ski Bowl (which was and still is adjacent) decades ago... It's interesting how a private area can pick and choose HOA's that may be eligible for membership . It was never crowded at Homewood. It's popular with West Shore homeowners and vacation homeowners. I have other friends who have season passes as own second homes right above Homewood. Homewood definitely can't compete with Palisades, Alpine, Heavenly, Northstar, or Kirkwood but it definitely has the old school charm.

 

[Jenny]

Our condo for Diva West was very close to Homewood.

 

[santacruz skier]

Our condo for Diva West was very close to Homewood.

It was very close. Tahoma, right?

 

[Jenny]

It was very close. Tahoma, right?

Correct

 

[laine]

I owned a house in Tahoma for a period of time (2008-2014). When we first got the house, Homewood had a joint pass with Alpine - and we'd go to Alpine on Saturdays and Homewood on Sundays. Even after that pass ended, we got HW passes for another year or two b/c it was always the place to go to get away from the crowds on holiday weekends or after a storm (you could always find powder in the trees).

But once we sold and started renting seasonal rentals, we stayed in Truckee - it literally cuts 40 minutes off the drive. And I have plenty of traffic horror stories about driving from the Bay to Tahoe and it taking 6+ hours in a storm. (For comparison, it takes about 3 hrs with minimal traffic for us to get to Truckee now.)

The point about being a lake level is definitely a consideration. With the recent drought years, the snow there has not been great. We had dinner at Sunnyside (on the West Shore) on Sat night and did a drive-by of Homewood to show it to our friends, and there was almost no snow at the base. It was pretty sad looking...

Makes me sad, but just hoping the mountain can survive.