March 24-31, 2026

Palisades Tahoe, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics, was the destination for 16 OC’ers. After a poor snowfall and a “heat dome” over the west, we weren’t sure if there was going to be any snow left for us to ski on. However, we had beautiful corn snow conditions along with warm bluebird days. We were able to ski the upper sections of Palisades and its sister mountain, Palisades Tahoe Alpine.

The Base to Base gondola connecting these 2 separate mountains made transferring between the two a beautifully scenic breeze. Even though we enjoyed the spring conditions, we agreed that the club should make a repeat trip during winter to enjoy the full mountain.

Besides skiing, we enjoyed an up-close view of the Toyota U.S. Mogul Freestyle Championships, both individual and dual. This is definitely a young person’s sport.

The 2026 Olympians were there as ambassadors and graciously took photos with us. Although Liz Lemley won a Gold Medal in freestyle moguls and a Bronze Medal in the dual moguls, she and her teammates were happy to receive our OC ski pins.

We also enjoyed the many free activities including the 1960 Olympic Museum, bands and parties at the base of both mountains, bus rides to and around Lake Tahoe, and local vendors during the mogul championships weekend. As a bonus, most of the retail stores had end of season sales. Although we hoped for soft powder, the soft spring snow and energizing sun, along with the party atmosphere, made for a fun week with a great crew of happy campers