Skip to content
parksandtripslogo
  • Travel ArticlesExpand
    • Explore the Parks
    • Ski & Snow
  • DestinationsExpand
    • National Parks
    • Ski Resorts
  • Road TripsExpand
    • National Park Road Trips
    • Winter Ski Trips
parksandtripslogo

Tahoe Donner

Home / Ski Resorts / Tahoe Donner

Tahoe Donner 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 Tahoe Donner stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!

Season Passes

Tahoe Donner is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Tahoe Donner. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Tahoe Donner's website.

Lodging Options

There are numerous options to stay at Tahoe Donner around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.

Tahoe Donner Terrain Overview

Tahoe Donner has a total of 17 ski trails, which are serviced by 2 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Tahoe Donner is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 120 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 49 hectares, 0.2 square miles, or 0.5 square kilometers.

Tahoe Donner's slopes see on average 80 inches (2.4 meters) of snowfall a year.

Trails
Total Runs
17
Ski Lift
Lifts
2
Skier
Skiable Acres
120(0 km2)
Snow
Annual Snowfall
80"(2,438 cm)

Tahoe Donner Elevation

Tahoe Donner has a summit elevation of 7,350 feet, or 2,240 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 6,750 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 600 feet (183 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.

Tahoe Donner's summit elevation is higher than average. There are a lot of ski slopes that are much higher than this one (some stretch to 12,000 feet!), but it is not small by any stretch of the imagination.

Mountain Summit
Summit Elevation
7,350'(2,240 m)
Vertical Drop
Vertical Drop
600'(183 m)
Mountain base
Base Elevation
6,750'(2,057 m)

Tahoe Donner Difficulty Level

Score
Difficulty Score™
25.1out of 100
←  EasyHard  →
Tahoe Donner is an extremely beginner-friendly ski area. It is in fact one of the easiest ski slopes in all of North America, ranking in the bottom 10% of overall difficulty. This is due to it having 40% of its trails are rated as "beginner", and a vertical drop of only 600 feet.

 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

Tahoe Donner has 120 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.

Since Tahoe Donner is an extremely beginner-friendly ski area, it has 40% of its trails are rated as "beginner-level". 50% trails are rated as intermediate.
Green Circle
Beginner
40%(48 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.

Blue Square
Intermediate
50%(60 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%.

Black Diamond
Expert
10%(12 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 Tahoe Donner good for beginners?

Tahoe Donner is a very beginner-friendly course. In fact, it is one of the easiest ski slopes in all of North America, ranking in the bottom 10% of overall difficulty. 40% of its trails are rated as "beginner".

Tahoe Donner Location

Tahoe Donner 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:
tahoedonner.com

GPS Coordinates:
39.35400, -120.25900

Getting to Tahoe Donner

By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Tahoe Donner), its coordinates of 39.35400, -120.25900 (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 Tahoe Donner.

NameCodeCityDistance
Reno–Tahoe International AirportRNOReno, NV28 mi
Sacramento International AirportSMFSacramento, CA85 mi
Oakland International AirportOAKOakland, CA155 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 Tahoe Donner.

NameCodeCityDistance
Sacramento Mather AirportMHRSacramento, CA79 mi
Redding Municipal AirportRDDRedding, CA134 mi
Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County AirportSTSSanta Rosa, CA149 mi

There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Tahoe Donner, 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 Tahoe Donner.

NameLocationSummitDifficulty Score™Distance
BorealSoda Springs, CA7,700 ft29%5 mi
Donner Ski RanchNorden, CA7,781 ft36%5 mi
Sugar BowlTruckee, CA8,383 ft51%6 mi
Soda SpringsSoda Springs, CA7,300 ft30%7 mi
NorthstarTruckee, CA8,610 ft51%9 mi
Palisades TahoeOlympic Valley, CA9,050 ft76%12 mi
Alpine MeadowsOlympic Valley, CA8,673 ft56%13 mi
Granlibakken TahoeTahoe City, CA6,350 ft14%15 mi
Mount RoseReno, NV9,700 ft58%18 mi
HomewoodHomewood, CA7,800 ft51%20 mi
HeavenlySouth Lake Tahoe, CA10,067 ft71%34 mi
Sierra-at-TahoeSouth Lake Tahoe, CA8,852 ft51%39 mi
KirkwoodKirkwood, CA9,800 ft56%47 mi
Dodge RidgePinecrest, CA8,200 ft52%83 mi

Tahoe Donner Mountain Stats

NameStatistic
Summit Elevation7,350 ft
Base Elevation6,750 ft
Vertical Drop600 ft
Trails17
(40% Beginner,  50% Intermediate,  10% Expert)
Lifts2
Skiable Acres120
Avg. Annual Snowfall80 inches
Tahoe Donner Mountain Stats
  • Travel Articles
  • National Park Road Trips
  • Winter Ski Trips
  • Find a Ski Resort
  • Our National Parks
EPIC Ski Pass
Ski & Snow · Travel

EPIC Ski Pass Resorts: 2022-23

Vail Resorts created the EPIC ski pass in 2008. Back then, passholders only had access to 7 partner resorts, and…

IKON Ski Pass
Ski & Snow · Travel

IKON Ski Pass Details for the 2022-23 Season

The IKON ski lift ticket was created by the Alterra Mountain Company in 2018. What is the IKON Ski Season…

Canyonlands National Park
Explore the Parks · Travel

The National Parks of Utah: The Mighty 5

Utah is well known as one of the “must visit” states that national park enthusiasts need to travel to. Utah…

Powder Alliance Ski Pass
Ski & Snow · Travel

Powder Alliance Ski Pass Resorts 2022-23

The Powder Alliance is a group of ski resorts in North America that offers reciprocal benefits to season pass holders….

Parks & Trips was created to help guide those that want to travel the National Parks and ski resorts of the US and Canada. All of our travel itineraries have the exact details you'll need to create your next memorable family road trip.

About     Contact     Privacy Policy

Road Trips

  • Travel Articles
  • US National Parks
  • Canadian National Parks
  • National Park Road Trips
  • Road Trips by Region

Snow

  • Ski Articles
  • All Ski Resorts
  • Winter Ski Trips

National Parks

  • Acadia National Park
  • Arches National Park
  • Death Valley NP
  • Glacier National Park
  • Grand Canyon NP
  • Mount Rainier NP
  • Olympic National Park
  • Rocky Mountain NP
  • Yoho National Park
  • Zion National Park

Ski Resorts

  • Alta Ski Area
  • Aspen Snowmass
  • Banff Sunshine
  • Big Sky Ski Resort
  • Breckenridge
  • Heavenly Ski Resort
  • Keystone Resort
  • Mammoth Mountain
  • Palisades Tahoe
  • Vail Ski Resort

Parks & Trips makes money through affiliate partner links: If you click on a link, we may earn a commission. Our writers create all reviews, patterns, and other content to inform readers, with no influence from our advertisers. Learn more about our policies and disclosures.

© 2023 Parks & Trips, a Cagle Online Enterprises, Inc. Company

Scroll to top
  • Travel Articles
    • Explore the Parks
    • Ski & Snow
  • Destinations
    • National Parks
    • Ski Resorts
  • Road Trips
    • National Park Road Trips
    • Winter Ski Trips
Search