If you have young children or are children at heart, Donner Summit provides a few nice fun sledding spots, but they’re not super easy to find, so we decided to help with a list of great spots for affordable snow fun.  Be sure to bring knit caps, gloves, snow boots, waterproof pants and jackets and lots of layers in case the truckee weather decides to cool down – that way you’ll be sure to be comfortable and the kids will have more fun.  On sunny days, sunscreen, goggles or sunglasses and SPF lipbalm are a must.

Soda Springs provides groomed tubing spots for kids over 42 inches – check out their new 390 foot magic carpet.  $25 a day – take the soda springs exit from highway 80 to the yellow blinking light and take a left – soda springs parking is right across the railroad tracks.

Donner Ski Ranch provides a nice groomed tubing area with a magic carpet for $20 a day.

In Kingvale, there are nice tubing facilities and you can rent sleds as well – managed by Sugar Bowl Ski Resort and is a little closer for the bay area or sacramento area guests – one of my best friends took his kids there and had rave reviews.

Tahoe Donner also has sledding for $12 … they say not to bring your own sleds or tubes – they will provide them … just take the truckee exit off highway 80 and head up Northwoods and follow the signs to the ski area.

If you want more ideas on tahoe area tubing and sledding you can visit http://tahoetubing.com/

Rainbow Lodge – 10 miles from Donner Ski Ranch Condos on old highway 40 off 80 – take rainbow exit.  530-426-3871 – a gorgeous historic stone building overlooking the Yuba River has wonderful ambiance and delicious food.   This can be a nice place to celebrate a special occasion, or you can belly up to the bar (separate room from the cloth table dining room) in your hiking or ski clothes and enjoy a nice lunch or dinner.  Sunday brunch is very good.  Be sure to call for hours – I’ve been unpleasantly surprised to find them closed.

The Summit Restaurant and Bar – 3 miles away 22002 Donner Pass Road 530-426-3904 – just off the soda springs exit and Hwy 80.  Good affordable food and nice service, casual, kid friendly – a nice bar to share with locals, TV’s for sports and a pool table.

Tinker’s Station – 2.5 miles away 21728 Donner Pass Road – across the street from the Soda Springs Post Office and general store 530-426-3204 – very friendly and nice couple own and run this place.  It feels like family.  Occasional live acoustic music, decent food variety and affordable prices and beer.  The locals can get rowdy at times, but it’s all in good fun and harmless – easily ignored and charming if you keep a positive attitude or just join in.

Ice Lakes Lodge – 5 miles away 1111 Soda Springs Road 530-426-7660 – take the exit off donner pass road towards serene lakes at the yellow blinking light.  A nice open lodge with full bar and menu.  Good service, food quality varies.  Convenient for summit dwellers or vacationers.  Also be sure to call first – sometimes they’re closed for private parties, weddings or just plain closed.

Truckee is only 10 – 15 minutes away from the donner ski ranch condo vacation rental, and there are many choices in town – just Google “Restaurants Truckee CA” and you’ll have a variety of choices.

Bon Appetit!

The end of 2011 has brought perfect conditions for ice skating in the Donner Summit area.  Local friends that live near Serene Lakes report that the lake is frozen and solid enough to skate on (in some parts ** note – this, of course, would be an activity that you do at your own risk).

In fact, the perfect “non-storm” is what has caused these excellent skating conditions.  We had very cold and blustery weather a few weeks ago, but it’s been calm, sunny and cold – most evenings in Norden get down to 7-12 degrees, and only a high of high 30′s during the day.  What this means is that the lakes – Serene, Dulzura, Mary, Angela, Long, etc… around here are smooth ice – you can circle around and see “fresh tracks” – beautiful.

There are also some other crazy areas that more adventurous skaters might enjoy … the parking lot in front of Norm’s Historical Society and the lodge by the yellow blinking light on old highway 40 is shiny and smooth as can be   Or you might try old train Tunnel 41 by the Judah entrance to Sugar Bowl Ski resort …

20 plus years ago I remember having a great time playing ice broom hockey with friends on Serene Lake – conditions a lot like this year.  Come and enjoy this rare event – I’ve asked around for a place to rent skates locally and haven’t found one – if you have suggestions, please comment below.  Either bring some skates or many of the local Donner Summit area rental vacation cabins have skates stored away in a closet – you might get lucky and find some.

(Photo courtesy of KCRA web archives)

After last year’s epic snow season (we got 67 feet of snow at the vacation rental condos at Donner Ski Ranch), we are all wondering when it will snow.

We got a foot and a half of snow in October, another foot and a half in November, the nights have been cold enough to do snowmaking.  Sugar Bowl ski resort and Boreal are now open with skiing limited to snowmaking areas.  Donner ski ranch is closed, and the main run has about 25% dirt showing.  Thanksgiving weekend, the Boreal parking lot was packed!

Royal Gorge and Soda Springs in the Donner Summit, Soda Springs and Serene Lakes area are also closed for now.  Sugar Bowl will be open this coming weekend with the Jerome lift and Trailblazer run open.  Maybe White Pine for the kiddies and beginners.

We’re all confident that it will snow this year … just not sure when.  Today and tomorrow are supposed to be windy with a high of around 40 degrees F.  We’re seeing storms to the west, north and east of us, so it’s just a matter of time until we get our share.  For now, enjoy the runs that are open with your rock skiis – heck, maybe even break out the retro neon body suit to match your old skiiis

With the roads clear, it’s also nice running or biking up here.  Snow shoeing is also nice, and you can enjoy the peace and quiet of the mountains without the crowds.  For truckee and donner summit weather updates and forecast check our Truckee weather page.