Nevada Ski Resorts Ranked & Mapped
Nevada surprisingly only has 4 ski resorts located within the date. All but one is located in the Lake Tahoe region. If you include the full Lake Tahoe region, then 11 more resorts can be added to this list.
However, if we stay strictly within Nevada’s borders, only Heavenly is South Lake Tahoe is a part of any national pass system. They are associated with Vail’s EPIC pass that allows you to ski at any of their slopes. They also have a Tahoe Local Pass that gives you access to not only Heavenly, but also Northstar and Kirkwood (both located right across the border in California) as well as six other resorts in Colorado and Utah.
| Resort | Pass | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond Peak | Eureka, NV, 89316 | |
| Heavenly | EPIC | South Lake Tahoe, CA, 96150 |
| Lee Canyon | Las Vegas, NV, 89109 | |
| Mount Rose | Reno, NV, 89511 |
Ski Season in Nevada
The ski season at Lake Tahoe typically runs from November to April, although this can vary depending on the weather conditions. Some ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area may open as early as October and remain open into May if conditions permit. All but one Nevada ski resort is located in the Lake Tahoe region.
The ski season at Lee Canyon – the one ski resort not in Tahoe – is typically shorter and usually opens about a month after the others.
Explaining Our ‘Difficulty Score’
Parks & Trips created a proprietary Difficulty Score that is generated by looking at the number of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then gives each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
The Most Difficult Nevada Ski Resorts
Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe straddles the Nevada-California border, and is a very accessible ski resort. It landed in first place as the most difficult Nevada ski resort due to it having less than 10% of its trails for beginners, as well as the largest vertical drop of any resort in the state.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Heavenly | 8% | 62% | 30% | 73.3% |
| #2 | Lee Canyon | 10% | 45% | 45% | 71.1% |
| #3 | Mount Rose | 20% | 30% | 50% | 60.3% |
| #4 | Diamond Peak | 18% | 46% | 36% | 55.5% |
The Largest Ski Resorts in Nevada
Choosing the largest ski resorts is a bit of a tricky proposition. Do you look at just the summit elevation? How about the total acreage, most trails, or steepest vertical drop?
Well, we decided to combine all four of those metrics into one ranking to get the best idea, although we fully admit this is completely subjective. We’ve given you all the data in the following table to make your own decision.
Heavenly comes out on top as Nevada’s biggest ski resort as well. It has the steepest vertical drop, most trails and most skiable acres of all Nevada ski resorts. Lee Canyon near Las Vegas has a higher summit than Heavenly, but much fewer acres and trails.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Base Elevation | Vertical Drop | Acres | Trails |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Heavenly | 10,067 ft | 6,540 ft | 3,527 ft | 4,800 | 97 |
| #2 | Lee Canyon | 11,289 ft | 8,660 ft | 2,779 ft | 445 | 29 |
| #3 | Mount Rose | 9,700 ft | 8,260 ft | 1,800 ft | 1,200 | 70 |
| #4 | Diamond Peak | 8,540 ft | 6,700 ft | 1,840 ft | 655 | 31 |
