Northstar
Northstar Ski Resort is a ski area located in the state of California in USA. The resort is in the town of Truckee, CA.
We recently ranked all of California's ski resorts, so you can see where Northstar stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Northstar is a part of the Epic Ski Pass network. This allows you to buy one season pass, and ski at most of the Vail owned and operated slopes with it throughout the year. There are a handful of types of Epic lift ticket passes available, ranging from 3-7 days, to season-long.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Northstar around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Northstar Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Northstar has a total of 100 ski trails, which are serviced by 20 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 3,170 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 1,283 hectares, 5.0 square miles, or 12.8 square kilometers.
Northstar's slopes see on average 332 inches (8.4 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 27 feet every year!
Total Runs
100
Lifts
20
Skiable Acres
3,170(13 km2)
Annual Snowfall
332"(843 cm)
Northstar Ski Resort Elevation
Northstar Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 8,610 feet, or 2,624 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 6,800 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 2,280 feet (695 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 8,610 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
8,610'(2,624 m)
Vertical Drop
2,280'(695 m)
Base Elevation
6,800'(2,073 m)
Northstar Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
57.8out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski 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.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Northstar has 3,170 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Northstar's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 60% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 27% as expert.
Beginner
13%(412 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
60%(1,902 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
27%(856 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Northstar Ski Resort good for beginners?
Northstar is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 73% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.
Northstar Ski Resort Location
Northstar Ski Resort is located in the state of California, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Truckee, CA.
Address:
Truckee, CA 96161 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
northstarcalifornia.com
GPS Coordinates:
39.27457, -120.12100
Getting to Northstar Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Northstar Ski Resort), its coordinates of 39.27457, -120.12100 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Truckee, CA to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Northstar Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reno–Tahoe International Airport | RNO | Reno, NV | 24 mi |
| Sacramento International Airport | SMF | Sacramento, CA | 88 mi |
| Oakland International Airport | OAK | Oakland, CA | 156 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Northstar.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sacramento Mather Airport | MHR | Sacramento, CA | 80 mi |
| Redding Municipal Airport | RDD | Redding, CA | 143 mi |
| Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport | STS | Santa Rosa, CA | 154 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Northstar Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Northstar Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granlibakken Tahoe | Tahoe City, CA | 6,350 ft | 15% | 8 mi |
| Palisades Tahoe - Palisades Mountain | Olympic Valley, CA | 9,050 ft | 62% | 9 mi |
| Palisades Tahoe | Olympic Valley, CA | 9,050 ft | 62% | 9 mi |
| Tahoe Donner | Truckee, CA | 7,350 ft | 26% | 9 mi |
| Sugar Bowl | Truckee, CA | 8,383 ft | 53% | 10 mi |
| Palisades Tahoe - Alpine Meadows | Alpine Meadows, CA | 8,637 ft | 53% | 10 mi |
| Mount Rose | Reno, NV | 9,700 ft | 60% | 12 mi |
| Donner Ski Ranch | Norden, CA | 7,781 ft | 38% | 12 mi |
| Boreal | Soda Springs, CA | 7,700 ft | 30% | 13 mi |
| Homewood | Homewood, CA | 7,880 ft | 58% | 14 mi |
| Soda Springs | Soda Springs, CA | 7,300 ft | 31% | 15 mi |
| Heavenly | South Lake Tahoe, CA | 10,067 ft | 73% | 25 mi |
| Sierra-at-Tahoe | South Lake Tahoe, CA | 8,852 ft | 53% | 32 mi |
| Kirkwood | Kirkwood, CA | 9,800 ft | 68% | 41 mi |
| Dodge Ridge | Pinecrest, CA | 8,200 ft | 54% | 76 mi |
Northstar Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 8,610 ft |
| Base Elevation | 6,800 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 2,280 ft |
| Trails | 100 (13% Beginner, 60% Intermediate, 27% Expert) |
| Lifts | 20 |
| Skiable Acres | 3,170 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 332 inches |