Tahoe ski season has started: Mt. Rose is open, and here are the target opening days for 12 more resorts

The Lake Tahoe ski season is underway. Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, above Reno, opened Friday, Nov. 6, according to the resort’s website, and the rest of the region’s resorts have set target opening days over the next six weeks.

Target opening days

• Heavenly Mountain Resort: Friday, Nov. 20. Heavenly straddles the California-Nevada line above South Lake Tahoe, with nearly 5,000 acres of ski terrain and 111 trails, owner Vail Resorts says.
• Northstar California: Friday, Nov. 20, also a Vail Resorts mountain, near Truckee.
• Palisades Tahoe, including Alpine Meadows: Wednesday, Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. Alpine Meadows is now the Alpine side of Palisades Tahoe, linked to the Olympic Valley side by a gondola, and the resort lists a single opening day. Which lifts and runs open first depends on snow.
• Sugar Bowl Resort: Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving, on Donner Summit off Interstate 80, the resort says in its conditions report.
• Boreal Mountain Resort: Friday, Nov. 27, the projected opening listed by KUNR Public Radio on Nov. 10. Visit Truckee Tahoe, the Truckee area’s visitor bureau, listed Nov. 20 in its Oct. 21 update, and the resort had not posted a date on its own website as of Nov. 10. Boreal sits on Donner Summit off Interstate 80, is home to the Woodward Tahoe action-sports center and offers night skiing, with new LED lighting this winter, the bureau says.
• Diamond Peak: Thursday, Dec. 3, the projected opening on the events calendar of this community-owned ski area above Incline Village, Nev., which calls the exact date “TBD” and plans to open in early December as conditions permit. This is its 60th season.
• Kirkwood Mountain Resort: Friday, Dec. 4, Vail Resorts’ third Tahoe mountain.
• Sierra-at-Tahoe (the former Sierra Ski Ranch): No set date. The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority lists the resort’s projected opening as late November or early December, weather permitting. The resort on Highway 50 near Echo Summit was called Sierra Ski Ranch until 1993, when it was sold and renamed, its history page says.
• Donner Ski Ranch: Friday, Dec. 11, the projected opening listed by KUNR Public Radio in Reno. The resort had not posted a date on its own website as of Nov. 10. The independently owned area on Donner Summit, off old Highway 40, has operated since 1937 and has more than 500 acres of terrain and six chairlifts, the resort says. Its ski hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Homewood Mountain Resort: Friday, Dec. 11, weather permitting, on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore, according to the resort’s website.
• Tahoe Donner Downhill Ski Resort: Saturday, Dec. 12, according to KUNR Public Radio. Visit Truckee Tahoe listed Dec. 11, and the resort had not posted a date on its website as of Nov. 10. The small, beginner-friendly hill is run by the Tahoe Donner community north of Truckee. This is its second winter with a new lodge, and it is adding two- and three-day lift tickets, the bureau says.
• Soda Springs: Friday, Dec. 18. The small, family-focused area on Donner Summit had not posted a date on its own website as of Nov. 10; Dec. 18 is the projected opening shown in Tahoe Getaways’ event listings.

The dates are targets. Palisades says which lifts and runs open on its first day depend on the weather and snow conditions, and that it will post details as Nov. 25 gets closer. Vail Resorts, Sugar Bowl and Homewood also call their dates targets or say they depend on conditions. Lift ticket prices change by date and are listed on each resort’s website.

Do you have to carry tire chains?

Not every driver, every day. Neither California nor Nevada requires all vehicles to carry chains all winter, but both state highway departments tell drivers headed into the mountains to always carry them, and the rules get strict as soon as chain controls are posted after a storm.

• California, level 1 (R-1): Chains are required on all vehicles except cars and light trucks with snow tires on at least two drive wheels, and those drivers must still carry chains, according to Caltrans, the state highway department.
• California, level 2 (R-2), the other common level: Chains or other traction devices are required on all vehicles except four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles with snow tires on all four wheels, and those vehicles must carry chains in chain control areas, Caltrans says.
• California, level 3 (R-3): Chains are required on all vehicles, with no exceptions. Caltrans often closes a highway before it reaches this level.
• Nevada: When chain controls are posted, vehicles must have snow tires or chains, or chains unless they are four-wheel drive with snow tires, depending on the sign, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. On the Mt. Rose Highway (State Route 431), Kingsbury Grade (State Route 207) and U.S. 50 between Glenbrook and Carson City, only vehicles with chains or four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles with snow tires are allowed when chain controls are up.

Snow tires are marked “M+S,” “M/S” or “Mud and Snow” on the sidewall. Drivers who don’t put on chains when signs require them can be cited and fined by the California Highway Patrol, Caltrans says. Check chain controls and closures on QuickMap, Caltrans’ free live road map, or call 800-427-7623, which also covers the Nevada side of the lake, before you leave.

Source: Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe; Vail Resorts Newsroom: Experience Tahoe press kit; Palisades Tahoe: Opening Day; Sugar Bowl conditions; Diamond Peak; Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority: What to expect this ski season; Sierra-at-Tahoe: History; Donner Ski Ranch; KUNR Public Radio: This year’s ski season kicks off in the Lake Tahoe region, Nov. 10, 2026; Visit Truckee Tahoe: Ski resort opening dates, 2026–27; Boreal Mountain Resort; Tahoe Donner Downhill Ski Resort; Homewood Mountain Resort; Tahoe Getaways: Soda Springs Opening Day 2026; Caltrans: Chain controls; Caltrans: Winter driving tips; Nevada DOT: Traction and chain requirements; Nevada DOT: Safe winter driving; Caltrans QuickMap, checked Nov. 10, 2026.