Sugar Bowl Ski Resort

The Belt Room on the village side of the mountain rocks. Sunny deck, great food and plenty of craft beers on tap

Do not rent your equipment at Sugar Bowl!
LIABILITY!
The snowboarding equipment is so bad that you will definitely get injured. My bindings were so loose that they shifted throughout the day. I took my board in several times but they were unable to fix it or refund and admitted the equipment is in bad condition. But they could not replace what I rented with better equipment because everything they have is old and in terrible condition.
While the runs at Sugar Bowl were good I’ll unfortunately only be going to Squaw in the future because their rental equipment is better quality.

Number 3 on my California ski resort list, Sugar Bowl is where I learned to ski. It has some of the best snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, a northern exposure at Donner Summit and excellent terrain. Relative to Squaw Valley and Mammoth, it has the steep pitch, however, it does not keep up in the vertical foot count. The steeps are more of a burst than an explosion.
It is the most old school, nostalgic resort in California originally developed by the Disneys and popular with the Hollywood elite in its original heyday. It has moved on to be a great family resort and has modernized the lift system and parking over the past several years.
LIFTS
Mount Lincoln has enormous terrain and manages to offer great descents for intermediate, advanced and expert skiers. The top section looking up the mountain is littered with steep chutes that retain snow quality. Silver Belt is a favorite for thrill-​seekers. Lakeside for the less aggressive.
Mount Disney also offers great terrain but gives up some vertical footage to Lincoln. Looking up, the left (east facing) side has a good fall line. A short climb will lead to the Sugar Bowl which is a nice cornice bowl leading to a tree glade run-​out. This is a powder day run. Nancy’s Couloir is less remote and offers a long, straight fall line.
Moving west, there is Pony Express (formerly Crow’s Nest) and the new Crow’s Peak lift. These have still less vertical but, still some really nice tree and bowl skiing.
East of Lincoln are Christmas Tree and Judah which are primarily ski school and low impact areas. Judah has some great hikes for powder skiers.
PARKING
Back in the day, the only access to the ski area was by gondola or a chair lift that goes from the main road into the resort. Since they built the Judah Lodge and parking lot, I’ve never gone back to the old way. Advice: park at the Judah lot.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Nother new or original. Burgers, chili, sandwiches, pizza and the like. There are (at least) three lodges. Like everything about Sugar Bowl, they are quaint and charming rather than big and bustling.
GRIPE
After exploring the new Strawberry lift, we took the natural traverse trail back toward Disney. A ski race was put into action and cut-​off the trail. We were forced to ski down a narrow trail that would otherwise not be used by most people. Eventually we came to the racing school «crossing guard». My gripe is not that they installed a race in the middle of an active mountain. My gripe is that THEY SHOULD HAVE MARKED THE NATURAL TRAIL AS «CLOSED».
LODGING
I’ve never spent the night here and I assume that the lodging option exist but are limited.
WHY HERE AND NOT SQUAW?
It has lots of terrain, gets the same snowfall (if not better), a smaller and less zealous crowd. Short lift lines although it can draw a crowd. So, it’s perfectly good skiing if the stay is short (1 – 2 days). It does not have a big apres ski drunk appeal — which can be a good thing. I have skied here several times on a single day road trip from the Bay Area.

Came here Dec 19 2015. Getting up the mountain was a pain because the shuttle we were on had a flat tire and the chains kept flying off so actually getting there is ruff. The mountain itself is Great. I’ve never been to squall yet but from what people told me this is a lot smaller than squall and more personal with less lines. Thats a little more my style because I hate it when there is too many people on the mountain. I gave this place 4 stars and not 5 because when we go there they were supposed to have our lift tickets printed out but «The printer wasn’t working» It was weird because I was wondering why they couldn’t just get another printer or print them out from somewhere else. The cafeteria inside is ok. Nothing really made me go wow as far as the food. There is a bar as well… The bartenders were nice and they were very attentive. The lifts tickets are;
²⁰¹⁵⁄₁₆ Daily Ticket Rates
Prices Daily Holidays
Adults (23 – 64) $ 103 $ 109
Young Adults (13 – 22) $ 84 $ 89
Children (6 – 12) $ 60 $ 63
Seniors (65 – 74) $ 84 $ 89
Super Seniors (75+) $ 60 $ 63
Children 5 and under FREE FREE
I had fun here. If you are beginning I would go here first. Easy bunny slopes and it will give you a chance to learn a bit better.

Gorgeous venue, Wedding Coordinator is amazing, the staff very helpful and the food is delicious! (Way better than the standard wedding food!)
We got married Oct 17,2015 at Sugar Bowl. After the wedding both my parents said that the staff was so wonderful and helpful that they did not have to worry about a single thing all weekend. Everything was taken care of and They got to relax, party, and enjoy the day. Some Highlights:
1. wedding coordinator (She is the absolute best!!! She is an amazing person, very easy to get along with. She made our entire planning process almost completely stress free!) out first meeting with Meghon went great. We walked the grounds during winter so we had to use our imagination for what it would look like during summer/​fall. Saw ceremony site, cocktail site and dinner set up, as well as back up plan right off the bat to make sure we understood where we moved if weather was being tricky. We used Plan B and The rain brought us in front of a beautiful fireplace. They had everything under control and I did not worry about A SINGLE THING the whole day. Meghon is fantastic. As well as the rest of their team!
2. Fabulous Vendor List!!! We picked out photographer off the vendor list, and he was perfect for our family. Great sense of humor, always willing to go above and beyond to get fabulous photos. Which included us in a field in the middle of a thunderstorm but the pictures are phenomenal. He has photographed many weddings there, he knows all the best hidden places! Christopher Cooke photography. Highly recommended if you choose sugar bowl!
3. Meghon the coordinator did my flowers, and incorporated personal touches.
4. we were the only family in the lodge all weekend. Everyone had a room and there were so many places to hang out. Fire pit to make smores, big living rooms, and a place in the basement for the kids with butcher block paper, and Games. My adult guests went down to play board games, have a few cocktails, and color. I’m not sure who had more fun there!
5. Loved that everything was onsite. The Chef who prepared dinner, also did our wedding cake. They also did our rehearsal dinner on site Friday, and the morning of the wedding they offer a deli tray to bring to the bridal suite and grooms quarters of lunch meats, breads, salads etc, well worth the money. Plus continental breakfast all the days we were there. My coordinator Meghon did our flowers. We only outsourced The DJ and Photographer.
6. The setting is so gorgeous and the flowers Meghon does really take care of the decorations. We brought some candles, frames, and some other small items and Meghon put them where she thought looked best.
7. Love the fire pit they light it and keep it running until the last person went to bed. We spent lots of time around it having S’mores and cocktails. Booking the venue was very easy, and completely affordable. It was very convenient to get there Thursday and not move until Sunday. They did our rehearsal dinner, continental breakfasts during the entire stay, and deli trays the morning of the wedding. The staff during the entire day was fantastic. They constantly checked in on us to make sure we were eating and hydrated. Everyone says weddings are the most stressful events in the world and i didn’t hit a stress level until 2 days prior to the wedding when I was trying to pack. Meghon: Meet her! She is an angel and is extremely helpful. She gives you logistic sheets that asks any question relating to the wedding. She made our vision come to life. My flowers were stunning and she incorporated small touches that were very important to me. With all the emails I sent, she was always prompt to answer even a ridiculous question. Once on site for the wedding we were able to text her anything we needed or thought of she could help with. The staff goes above and beyond. One of my packages wouldn’t arrive before we left for the venue, so they let us mail it them. One staff member even went to the post office to double check that it did not get lost or left behind They helped us load and Unload everything. Another thing that sold me was her guarantee to have everyone through the line with hot food in 15 mins. I had my doubts because we had 140 guests and from past experience if you are the last table you always get cold food and whatever was left. ALL OF OUR GUESTS WERE SEATED and all had hot dinners, and many raved about how delicious everything was and was Surprised that they were fed so quickly. The staff was constantly bringing out hot dishes. The prime rib was excellent, as well as everything else. Meghon kept our wedding to a strict time frame so we had extra time for pictures and partying.
I appreciated that everything was all in one spot, loved that you end up using the entire lodge all weekend for just your private family. Check them out! You won’t be disappointed!