Michael R.
Yelp
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!
