The lake tahoe Area and the mountain range surrounding it houses 16 world-class and popular ski resorts.

111 Country Club Drive Incline Village, Nevada 89450

Because there are just too many sites to choose from, how could you possibly pick out the best lake tahoe ski resort where you should spend your upcoming winter holiday getaway?

An hour or two of driving from the city of Reno in Nevada could take you to some of the best lake tahoe ski resorts. Surprisingly, vacationers are treated not just to exquisite skiing experiences. Some resorts have in-house or nearby gambling casinos, where vacationers can spend some night trying their luck at the game of chance. For food enthusiasts, there are many fabulous restaurants around and there are even showrooms to cap every vacation experience.

Here are two of the popular skiing vacation destinations that will surely facilitate for an ideal winter holiday getaway in the area.

• Heavenly

Located in the southern area of Lake Tahoe is a skiing resort called Heavenly. The name is appropriately describing what the resort is all about. There are pretty and massive lower slopes, which can be seen even from the South Lake Tahoe, the Stateline highways and the lake itself. Looking from afar, anyone will surely be enticed to heed the call to get to Heavenly and enjoy skiing at its best.

The resort started operations in 1955. During its infancy stage, Heavenly began with a chair lift and a small unit of hut located in a parcel of land owned by the US Forest Service. From then, the ski resort has grown tremendously and is now covering more than 4,800 acres of land for a really massive skiing resort operation.

Peak season of skiing vacations at Heavenly picks up from the middle of November to April. With a top elevation of about 10,067 feet, the vertical drop is about 3,500 feet. Annual snowfall in the area averages about 360 inches but could go as high as 480 inches. Heavenly has 30 lifts, of which 15 are in California and another 15 are in Nevada. There is also an 8-person gondola as well as an aerial tram. About 20% of the trails are conducive for skiers in the beginning level, 45% are for intermediate and 35% are for the advanced level and experts.

At the northern end of Lake Tahoe could be found Squaw Valley USA. The resort is most popular because it was the venue of the winter olympics in 1960. Founded in 1949, the resort was initially consisting of about 8,000 acres of preserved wilderness along the California High Sierra.

Squaw Valley is offering facilities for a unique skiing experience. The resort is literally having thousands of acres for open bowl skiing. About 25% of total trails in Squaw Valley are for beginners, 45% are for intermediate skiers and just 30% are for professionals and experts. There are 33 lifts servicing 100 runs and 16 open bowls.