| Royal Gorge | |
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| Current Road Conditions | Current Ski Conditions | Royal Gorge Website | |
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Anne Blamire Incline Village, NV |
Do you live in a world of rush hours and deadlines? Do you spend too many hours of your precious free time waiting in lift lines and fighting crowds? Are you looking for serenity, exquisite scenery, breathtaking views and a great workout? If so, read on!
Royal Gorge, the largest cross country ski resort in North America, was our "assignment" for the day. Royal Gorge was easy to find - right off Interstate 80 in Soda Springs. We parked in the Summit Station parking lot and were thrilled to find an abundance of snow, sunny weather, and beautifully groomed trails. Our most important decision in the parking lot was how many layers to wear. We decided to dress lightly as we planned to pack as many kilometers as possible into our day.
As we walked into the resort, we admired the Summit Station Lodge. Inside the Lodge we found helpful and friendly staff, a shop featuring all the accessories one would need for a day on the trail, and the delightful Summit Station Cafe. We studied the map of the resort, which boasts 88 trails within 8 different trail systems, 328 kilometers of groomed track, and more than 9,000 acres of skiing terrain. We decided that we would have time to explore two of the track systems, the Palisades Peak System and the Lodge Track System, and headed out.
For cross-country skiing, we almost always use the skating technique. The morning snow was still fast, and our skis were gliding easily through the trails leading up to the Palisades Track System. We skied among forested gentle slopes, climbed a few hills, admired the beautiful views, and were ready for a rest when we reached the warming hut at Palisade Peak. Royal Gorge provides ten well-situated warming huts with heaters and stoves for tea, which are scattered throughout the trails. We were happy to sit for a moment, enjoy the views and relax while taking in the scenery. We could not help but imagine what a welcome sight a warming hut would be to a weary skier on a cold and windy day.
We returned to the Summit Station Cafe for lunch, where we found a nice selection of home-style offerings from which we chose a delicious lunch. We then hurried back to the snow and took the Yuba Trail as our connection to the Lodge Track System. We came upon a ski lift, which takes skiers up a short, but steep, slope. The Royal Gorge Resort has four of these surface lifts, which may be used by skiers on weekends and public holidays.
After skiing approximately 3 kilometers down a winding slope, we found the Wilderness Lodge. What a charming and inviting hideaway, full of warm and cozy rooms, fireplaces, and what appeared to be a sumptuous selection of gourmet foods. Wilderness Lodge guests are also treated to sleigh rides, trail passes, ski instruction, tours, hot tubs, saunas...a skier's paradise! If you are a day skier only, you may enjoy the picturesque surroundings while having lunch at the Wilderness Lodge Cafe.
Before making our way back to the Summit Station, we explored a few more trails in the Lodge Track System. By the way, Royal Gorge does a fantastic job with its trail markings. There are trail signs everywhere, which make it simple to find your way around this vast trail system. One tip, however. Read the signs! We found that we accidentally ignored a few signs while admiring the incredible mountains and lakes, and needed to double back. Oh well, what's a few more kilometers!Royal Gorge truly offers something special for everyone. Not only are the skating lanes terrific, but the diagonal stride tracks looked wonderful. Telemark skiers are also welcome at Royal Gorge, as are snowshoers. The more ambitious may also choose to try one of the interconnect trails, which allow a skier to ski from either from lodge to lodge (including the Rainbow Lodge, another favorite), or from Royal Gorge to the Sugar Bowl Ski Area. So, come on up, and enjoy a whole new ski experience at Royal Gorge! |
 Royal Gorge provides ten well-situated warming huts with heaters and stoves for tea, which are scattered throughout the trails. 
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| Tahoe Cross Country Ski Area |
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WE'VE
GONE TO THE DOGS! NEW
FOR 2003-2004!! SNOW SHOE ONLY TRAIL! Find yourself winding through the Lake Tahoe Forest on a self-guided snowshoe trail. This 3km scenic trail leads you to one of our very inviting on-trail warming huts. These huts are stocked with a two-burner propane stove, water, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. A great place to warm up, have lunch on the picnic benches and help yourself to complimentary hot beverages. For more information please contact Kevin or Valli Murnane (530) 583-5475 or visit our web site at www.tahoexc.org |
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We
would like to introduce you to the Tahoe Cross Country Ski Area.
We are located only 2.5 miles east of Tahoe City, on the North
Shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe. With 65km of groomed trail and
spectacular lakeviews, Tahoe Cross Country has some of the finest
cross country skiing on the lake. Snowshoeing is also popular
with our 3.5km snowshoe only trail that leads to one of our
on trail warming huts. Also available are lessons, rentals,
cozy day lodge and snacks. SnoWeb Home | Ski Conditions | Snowoman | Bookstore | Featured Products | Backcountry
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