our Squaw Valley ski adventure!

Jan 21

Written By

when robbie and i were invited to Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows' 'Learn2Ski' trip in Lake Tahoe, we jumped at the opportunity! it’s been years and years since we’ve both been on the slopes… and in all honesty i really was looking forward to dressing the snow bunny part haha! it just doesn’t get cold enough in SF to really justify lots of fun layers and cute beanies and gloves. plus, we really wanted to throw it back to the 80s with some wild & colorful ski suits!

keep scrolling to read all about our experience, see all our photos from our ski adventure at Squaw Valley, and shop all my looks at the very bottom! Tahoe is only a three hour drive from San Francisco, but thanks to super convenient flights by Southwest, we flew from Oakland to Reno in just 30 minutes! from there, we took a 45-minute shuttle to the Village at Squaw Valley, which put us at the resort around noon! super easy and stress-free travel. were able to check-in early and settled into our cute and cozy room {the heated floors and fireplace were amazing. stay in building three for those extra bonuses!}. we arrived before most of the group, so we spent the afternoon taking photos, exploring the resort, and snuggling up together! we had a lunch at Soupa, which is conveniently located right inside the Village. what's great is that you never really have to leave the resort to have a variety of tasty restaurant options {see all here}! Soupa has soups, pressed sandwiches, and salads. i’m still drooling thinking of the caprese pressed sandwich and delicious tomato soup. must try! when we got back to our rooms after lunch, we had the most fun goodies bags waiting for us! Squaw Valley was so generous and gave us Oakley goggles, items for our ski days like Clif bars, neck scarves, water pouches, portable phone chargers, etc. it was such a warm welcome and we really appreciated the personal touch! that evening, we had a small tour of the Village by a few members of the PR team at Squaw Valley and then the entire group {about 12 of us} had dinner at Rocker@Squaw. the food was so incredibly good! we had so many amazing apps {the humus plate! the wings! the cheese fries!} that robbie and i just ended up splitting an entrée. highly recommend for American food with a twist. we had an early call time for our ski day the next morning, so we went to sleep early that night. we brought our own snow clothes for the trip, but we did rent all other equipment: skis, poles, helmet, and boots. the next morning we ate breakfast at Coffeebar {the vegan donuts... yummm!} and then headed to Alpine Meadows for our first lesson! renting skis was so quick and easy, and everything ended up fitting perfectly. {tip: you want your ski boots to be snug so you're not sliding around and imbalanced!} our ski instructors, Tim Reeve and his daughter Kiersten, were the best ski instructors imaginable. Tim has been at the resort for nearly 40 years and is a former professional skier, not to mention the nicest guy {he even used to compete in professional ski ballet, did you even know that was a thing?!}. we all started by doing some simple drills on a small hill with a conveyor belt before heading to the actual bunny slope. robbie picked everything up super quick {he used to ski all the time as a kid growing up in Utah and is an athlete in general}, so he was off to bigger hills while i made sure i had mastered the basics and felt safe. he kept telling me i’d make the A-Team soon enough haha! i only fell once the first day, so i was pretty proud of that. {for first timers: skiing is a lot easier than snowboarding, in my opinion, and the instructors said so as well!} i also can't stress enough how important it is to have patient and kind instructors. we can't recommend Tim enough! if you need ski lessons at Squaw Valley, i have his contact info so feel free to email me for it! our first day was just a half day of skiing and then we went on to enjoy some tubing. i’ve always loved tubing because it's not as demanding as skiing and so fun to go fast! it snowed while we skied, but by the time we got to tubing, it was sunny and warm, which made it even more fun! the photographer for Squaw Valley, Ben Arnst, was there to shoot some fun photos and they turned out so great {one of my faves}! so glad he captured these fun memories. robbie and i found the best hot tub with an incredible view of the resort {there's eight at the Village!} to relax before dinner and rest sore muscles. we had drinks with our group at the legendary Le Chamois {also nicknamed The Chammy by locals} before heading to an incredible dinner at Six Peaks Grill, which is about a 12-minute shuttle ride from the Village. it was one of those dinners where we ate for three hours--just relaxing, chatting, and enjoying the atmosphere. the food and drinks were all so delicious, so if you’re looking for a more fancy meal in Tahoe, Six Peaks Grille is it! their steaks are like butter, and i absolutely loved the S’mores dessert plate. the next morning, we ate at Wildflour for breakfast {they are famous for their chocolate chip cookies!} and then took the cable car up to High Camp to ski at Squaw Valley for a full day on the mountain. that in and of itself was a fun experience! fun fact: the 1960 Olympics took place in Tahoe! we took of our training wheels so to speak and skied some of the bigger runs. i stayed on the beginner hills while Robbie went off with one instructor to do some extreme black diamond runs or something {okay, maybe not i don’t know what they're really called, haha}. we had a delicious lunch at Granite Bistro Cafe {seriously, every food spot was on point!}. i was pretty sore after a couple days of skiing, but we both had such a fun experience learning to ski at Squaw Valley! we can’t wait to go back, practice more {me}, ski harder slopes {robbie}, and soak up all of the incredible mountain vibes! we loved that there were so many food options right at the Village {including a candy and gelato shop!}, our cozy room, and the incredible people we were able to travel with and meet! it was a diverse group of all kinds of bloggers: travel, fashion, food, lifestyle, etc. i love when it’s a good mix of the industry! you get to learn from one another and make new friends! also, the staff at Squaw Valley, from the PR team to the ski instructors to the employees running the ski lift were so incredibly friendly. it almost feels like one big ski family up on the mountain, everyone smiles and chats with you. when you're a beginner, that goes a long way to make you feel comfortable. special thanks to Cinch PR and the entire Squaw Valley team for such a great trip! we will definitely be back and highly recommend the Village at Squaw Valley. i loved being a snow bunny and dressing for après ski just as much as being on the slopes. who knew we had to leave Utah to fall in love with skiing?! if you have any other questions about our trip or learning to ski in general, let us know in the comments below! lastly, there are some awesome deals going on right now for the current ski season! from now through January 24th, ski any 4 days for less than $98/day {valid any day of the 2017-18 winter season}. see more details here about the Tahoe Super 4 Ski Pass. view all current lodging deals to go along with your Lake Tahoe Ski Vacation here. ski gear: