Mountain Layout—Skiing

Here is a detailed trail map.

Expert and Advanced: Experts who expect a real challenge should go elsewhere, you won’t find any scare-the-pants-off-you terrain here.

Lookout Mountain, with 200 acres of terrain and a high-speed quad, finally gives Northstar some bite. Here you'll find steep runs, trees, and great views overlooking Truckee's Martis Valley and the surrounding mountain peaks. There are five steep drops named after the surrounding reservoirs: Prosser, Stampede, Gooseneck, Boca and Martis. The trails can be classified as advanced, but the trees are clearly expert. Stampede, Gooseneck and Boca are left to bump up while Prosser and Martis are groomed regularly. After a storm, Northstar is one of the prime areas where you can enjoy powder through the trees long after Alpine and Squaw's powder has been skied off.

The Backside has nine moderately steep, sustained pitches off Northstar's back side. Advanced skiers or those aspiring to the upper levels of intermediate will find some challenge in the short drops off the East Ridge. Tonini's is the longest, but The Plunge is the steepest. Chute, Crosscut and Powder Bowl are also fun—short but sweet.

Intermediate: Excellent grooming and a commitment to families colors the majority of Northstar’s front side Easy Rider Blue. Ride the Vista, Comstock or the new six-passenger Tahoe Zephyr Express lifts, and choose your sweet poison, but try to avoid Main Street, which is more like an expressway during rush hour; crowded, crowded, crowded. This group will enjoy most of the mountain, particularly the smooth blues that descend from the two ridges into Main Street, an intermediate run that nearly every other run on the mountain feeds into. Avoid Main Street except when you need to get to a lift. Strong intermediates should try some of the black runs here, perhaps Burnout or Rail Splitter on the backside, if they’re groomed. Be forewarned: Both are looonnggg, and neither has an escape hatch. They will provide a good challenge to an intermediate looking to improve. The 2006-07 season sees 60 acres of new intermediate terrain on the Backside, reached by the new high-speed 6-pack lift.

Beginner and First-timer: Northstar is the best first-timer and beginner resort in the region because its gentlest terrain is below the gondola, while all other runs are above it. Better skiers leave this area to the learners except at day's end, when some of them use it to practice tucks. Luckily for everyone, it's fairly flat, so no one can keep up excessive speed.