Kirkwood Mountain Resort
Kirkwood (Amador County) · near South Lake Tahoe (35 miles) / Markleeville · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Skiing & Snowboarding
At a glance
- Pass
- epic
- Vertical
- 2000
- Size
- 2,300 acres
- Season
- Mid-November–late April · Often the last major Tahoe resort to close due to sustained snowpack
What is here
- Best for
- Expert Terrain · Deep Snowpack · Serious Skiers · Storm Skiing
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Skiing & Snowboarding detail
- Summit
- 9800
- Lifts
- 15
- Avg snowfall
- 500+ inches
- Night skiing
- No
- Terrain park
- Yes
- Ski school
- Yes
- On mountain lodging
- Yes
- Signature runs
- Cirque / The Wall · Sentinel Bowl · The Wagon Wheel
- Intl tip
- Kirkwood is accessed via Highway 88 through the Carson Pass — one of the most scenic Sierra Nevada highway crossings in any season. The drive from South Lake Tahoe on a clear winter morning, with the Carson Range in the rearview and the Kirkwood valley opening up ahead, is genuinely beautiful. Stay in South Lake Tahoe and drive the 35 miles each day — or book the slopeside condos for a proper Kirkwood immersion.
The guide
Kirkwood is where serious Tahoe skiers go when they want to be serious. The resort sits at 7,800 feet base elevation in a valle…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Kirkwood Mountain Resort — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.6853, -120.0644