Après Ski & Social Club

Awesome club to be in! The lodge is a centrally located to ski resorts and the culture of the club is amazing. Great place to stay during summer and winter season

Skiing for me is about a gathering of friends and family, potlucks, joy, laughter, music, warm fires and if you are really lucky an amazing hot tub. Apres community members young and old all come together in great spirit. From the very beginning I felt welcome. And best of all I have met, skied with and shared many beautiful powder days with some of the most down to earth people in Tahoe. Thank you each and every one of you for making this a special place for us to share friendships, experiences and joy!!

Fantastic ski club and apres ski chalet for both summer and winter seasons in Tahoe! Great amenities and wonderful members that make your stay at the Lodge very memorable.

A feeling of companionship spreads over the entire place when mutual goals of enjoying nature places calm feelings in a one's soul.

I recently joined this club after hearing about it from ski friends for several years. So happy I did! It's a communal "co-op" lodge (started in the 60's, I believe), which operates very similar to a hostel. Bring your own sleeping bag, towel and pillow. Members can bring guests (up to 5), bunk bed spots are $22 for members, $27.50 for guests. You can Paypal or leave a check. Cash is not accepted. The lodge is 20 minutes from Northstar and 45 minutes from Squaw/Alpine. There is also a nearby bus that can take you to these ski resorts which is $2 each way. There is an off-street parking lot which holds ~10 cars. The kitchen is well-stocked with everything you may need to cook with, and there's free coffee and tea available. There are several co-ed dorm rooms with bunk beds, several private rooms (which are $5 more and can be reserved in advance). The dorm rooms are first-some, first serve and beds are almost always available. The upstairs area has several showers and toilets. The downstairs area has one shower and toilet. There is also a waxing shed outside (bring your own wax) and a great outdoor hot tub. There is a live-in manager (Merritt) who is super helpful and friendly and you will definitely interface with during your stay. The procedure is simple after you stay there the first time. Here's a run-down: 1) Join in advance via the website http://www.apres.org/ Annual membership is $60 (you get a $20 coupon mailed to you to use for a future stay) and then you are able to access the door code, which changes monthly. 2) When arriving, wipe snow off your shoes before entering and leave your snowy skis and boards outside in the shed (get code from manager). You may bring in dry equipment. 3) Pick a room and an open bed and write your name on the white board on the bed you choose. Erase your name when you check out. P.S. There is a snorer's room (Room #1) next to the living room. 4) Limit time to 10 minutes in the bathroom during busy hours. 5) If using hot tub, shower (with soap) before getting in the tub. 6) Label your food if you put something in the fridge. 7) Clean all pans, utensils, etc after using (and before) eating. 8) Do a chore before you leave (empty dishwasher, vacuum your room, clean bathroom, refill wood pile, etc) There isn't a stated rule but PLEASE be quiet if arriving late at night! This is common courtesy. Don't slam doors, speak in whispers, use a flashlight if entering a room where people are sleeping. You would think this would not need to be stated, but I recently stayed there and a group of people arrived at 3:00 a.m. and were speaking for half an hour in loud voices, slamming doors, and generally being very loud. They entered a bunk room and turned on the lights, waking up the person sleeping there. There are people of all ages and generally everyone is VERY friendly. It has a nice comfortable vibe. With accommodation in Tahoe being so $$$, this is a fantastic option, especially if you are skiing Squaw/Alpine or Northstar. It's open year round too.

I've been a card-carrying member of the Apres Ski club since March of 2007. The facility is efficient, with communal bunk-house style or "youth hostel" accommodation. Ample parking is a definite plus as are the high speed WiFi and the huge jacuzzi. This Ski Cabin could be so much more. The update to this review is due to the fact that there is a faction within this ski cabin community that want to infuse it with younger members and make it the vibrant, dynamic, fun environment it truly has the potential to be. Meanwhile, the core membership, who started the house in the 70's, are still there and have a distinct antipathy to younger members. I'm talking about 'veteran' members in their 50's, 60's and older demonstrating a disdain of younger members in their 20's and 30's. This has been a very dysfunctional ski cabin community that can lash out at younger members for minor or imagined 'lodge rule' infractions (which I have been at the business end of). All the while, the 'pay as you go' pricing model makes it stupid to NOT join. Note for summertime usage; this ski lodge is a great jumping off point to and from Burning Man. I've used it as such for four years in a row. I'd like to see a group of 20-something ski and snowboard enthusiasts infuse themselves here and take control of the Board of Directors that governs the non-profit organization.

I'm going into my second ski season being an Apres member. I want to tell you what I really think about Apres in the hope that you will be encouraged to join and experience everything that Tahoe has to offer on a shoestring. In particular I'd like to address one particular three-star yelp review that almost scared me away. It's true that the membership of the club in a bit tilted at present towards people in their late 50's and early 60's (I'm 49) but usually on weekends at the lodge you can find some younger folks in attendance. Many people who don't live on the mountain can't afford to ski or board as much as they want using conventional accommodation (which is incredibly expensive), and Apres can help with that. The reviewer I'm thinking about seemed to think that Apres was a great jumping off place for burning man - it's really not. It's a ski-and-social club, as advertised. I've run into everyone from hardcore extreme skiers to telemarkers to complete beginner snowboarders at Apres, and everyone is generally really friendly. He seemed bemused by what appears to be a long list of dos-and-don'ts at the chalet. I prefer to think of these little notices as introductions to the "Apres system". Apres is a little like your mom, but it's more like your mom who grew up on a high altitude mountain and had to deal with a million people tramping through her kitchen. Your mom just wants you and your friends to have a good time, but there are some limits. For example, walk into your high-altitude mom's nice warm kitchen with dirty snow on your snow boots, you are going to get muck on the floor which you (or someone else) is going to have to clean up before it migrates someplace else. To avoid this happening, Apres put a boot snow brush by the door on the way in, with the intention that you might clean your boots before tramping in. However, many people didn't immediately get the shoe brush thing, so Apres put up a polite notice. Similar "rules" exist for other things, like the hot tub. All of them make sense. One important thing to realize is that Apres is a 401c non-profit organization - a co-op run by-and-for the benefit of the members. It's a very rare thing in today's world. The price for a night's stay, once you are a member ($60), is currently a very reasonable $22 (including Tahoe room tax) per night. This means that if you get yourself a reasonable condition AWD car, and buy a season pass at one of the nearby resorts like Northstar or Alpine, you can ski most of a whole season of weekends spending only a little more than you'd normally spend back in the valley. It also means you get to do a really minimal set of chores, like cleaning your bathroom when you leave and taking out the trash (or similar) in order to keep the price down, and the place clean, for everyone else. The kitchen is amply stocked with every kitchen gadget you'd every need and there are two stoves to cook on - so really no need to eat out unless you want to, just bring up the food you would normally eat and cook for yourself. If you bring some extra wine and snacks to break the ice and share with other people after skiing I almost guarantee you are going to have a good time. Time spend talking with other people allows for the discovery a wealth of secrets about Tahoe, from the places with the best pow through to hidden little bays on the lake. And who knows, you might just find someone to go skiing with. It is a singles club, after all! Finally, I want to address what might be stopping you from skiing if you are a beginner or lower-level skier and possibly preventing you heading up to the mountains. The best way to get good is to ski a lot. Apres has several members who started skiing in their 40's and are now considered strong skiers, and today's shaped skis make skiing easier than ever. Modern bindings which release upwards at the toe help a lot with safely, and all the resorts now have great snow-making so that even in bad years, you can still ski. I've been told that Northstar in particular has a permit that allows it to draw a lot of snow-making water from the lake by Trukee (which then of course flows back into it when the snow melts). Anyhow, have fun, and see you at the lodge!

The Aprés Ski Club is a phenomenal club with very friendly and welcoming members. I joined the club just two weeks ago and have spend 5 nights at the lodge at Kings Beach so far. I am in my late 20'ies and I've felt very welcomed by everyone I've met so far. The club isn't designed for college kids but instead for responsible adults who are willing to clean up after themselves and who will contribute to the club in a positive way..that's the only way we can keep the rates at this very affordable level. If you're interested in joining a great community of outdoor people and passionate skiers and gain year-round access to a huge lodge in north lake Tahoe then this is a good club for you.. check out http://www.apres.org/ for more info. -Henrik