Title: Ski at Mount Rose, Tahoe Resort, Reno, Nevada

Preparation: Address: 22222 Mt Rose Hwy, Reno, NV 89511 Hours: Mon - Sun 9 AM - 4 PM Itinerary: Stayed in Reno Holiday Inn Express, $139 / night for a double queen bed room, including breakfast. 3 nights, skii for 2 days at Mt. Rose Day 1: drive from Bay Area to Reno Holiday Inn Express Day 2: drive from Reno to Mt. Rose Ski Resort, about 30 minutes in good weather Day 3: cont ski at Mt. Rose Ski Day 4: drive from Reno to home Cost: total cost for 4 members family for 2 days ski, around $3000: 1. 2 days group lessons + lift tickets including ski, boots, poles rental. $300 / per person 2. 3 nights in hotel $139 + tax /night, your cost may vary if you book a different hotel or different time period. 3. cost for buying water-proof pants, gloves, goggles, hats, etc. we bought the pants, gloves, hats in Columbia store in Great Mall, Milpitas, CA, bought snow goggles in Dick's Sporting Goods 4. Meal costs, rental SUV: this may vary and it depends on your choice. We rented a All Wheel Drive SUV from Herz. One day cost is about $165 , including insurance. I did some research online and asked friends circle and I was told that staying in a hotel at Reno and then driving about 30 minutes to Mt. Rose may lower the hotel cost. I have seen Grand Sierra Resort had $59 / night ads online but it was sold out when I tried. During the stay at Reno, I had visited Grand Sierra Resort (GSR) which is quite big and decored well. One thing I do not like is the smoking smell on the 1st floor where is full of Casino tables. We bought group lesson flight package tickets for 2 days for age 10+, about $300 / person, including the lift ticket, ski, boots, poles, snowboard if you choose snowboarding, not ski; when you book tickets on Mt. Rose website, you need to choose ski or snowboard; At the checkin, we also rented the helmets, $10/per one, per day. Before you go there, buy or rent: 1. Waterproof pants, Waterproof gloves, ski goggles. Must-have; We bought at Columbia in Great Mall; You need a coat, jackets. 2. Multilayer socks, warm hat, ski mask, optional; 3. You do not need to buy boots if you rent. The rental will provide it when you rent ski equipment; Bring multiple-layer clothes. If the weather is very cold and windy, you may need more than 3 layers. If the weather is good, you may only need 3 layers. Here is the 2:57 minutes video for 1st time Ski preparation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnTbFxuMZNQ

General opinion: It's great to learn how to ski; Take group lessons if you have never learned before. For beginners: learn how to control your speed, how to turn and how to stop until you are comfortable to control, then you can go to the ski trails. Mount Rose group lessons time is actually quite flexible. If you are late for the lesson, it is OK. For our beginner lesson, there were 4 stations. we started at 1. We had learned how to control speed, turn at station 4 for multiple times during those two days. Some of the coaches were really great, very patient. Suggestions from the Mt. Rose post: 1. Stay in control 2. People ahead of you have the right of way 3. Stop in a safe place for you and others 4. When starting downhill or merging look up and yield 5. Use devices to help prevent runaway equipment 6. Observe signs and warnings 7. Keep off of closed trails 8. Know how to use the lifts safely

Attractions and activities: Prepare at least 1 hour or 1.5 hour for registration, rental equipment. I. Steps for registration, rental: 1. Bring your hard copy tickets to register; then get the lift tickets for your family members. every adult member needs to sign forms where you need to write down your weight, height, age. You also need to put your kids' weight, height, and age. 2. Rent boots, which is quite heavy; Helmet ( if you rent here, extra $10/day), ski, poles. Note ski helmet is different from your biking helmet, it is more heavy-duty or provides more protection 3. Need to have those paper slips for group lessons, ski check ( for storage), also the equipment receipt and you will need it for your return of the equipment; The registration staff will give them to you when you register. It takes quite an amount of time setting up for our 1st day. II. take group lessons, after the station 4 classes, if you are confident, you can go to the wizard trail by taking the lift by yourself or you pay extra $10 to have a coach be with you along the wizard trail. Remember you need to put your lift ticket in your pocket (separate from your cell phone) that will be automatically read by the machine. There are also young age kids' classes. In station 4, there is a magic lift that runs constantly where you need to stand straight and keep the balance; otherwise you may fall easily. III. Mt. Rose has many different ski trails that you can try if it's appropriate for your ski level. See details in the pictures. The view on the top of the mountain is very beautiful when you take lift there. In my husband's word, it looks like the scene in Frozen movie.

Dining: There are 2 restaurants in Mt. Rose Ski resort. The food is pricey; A 4 member family, typically will spend more than $80 for lunch; we had spent $84 for our lunch for the 1st day; French Fries($6) + 3 chicken strips ($9), a bottle of Juice $5 A Mt. Rose burger ($12) No other outside food is allowed in the seating area of the restaurant; I do see some people eat their own food in the hallway area.

Commute: Commute is a big concern when you are planning to ski. It's better to have a 4 wheel drive or AWD(All Wheel Drive) SUV or van. But if you do not, it's a must-have to bring snow chain with you. if it's snowing or icy condition, it's a must to have a snow-chain on for 2 wheel drive sedan. For the 1st day when we drove back from Mt. Rose to Reno, it's snowing heavily and we had to put chain on. The speed needs to be under 15 mph. It might damage your car wheel and cause a very big noise. The 2nd day, we rented a 4 wheel drive SUV and drove it from Reno to Mt. Rose, it was OK. Because the day and night before, it had a lot of snow, people drove very slow and we felt OK. There were cars or vans drift off the road and could not get back to the road. We did see signs "with Chain, or 4 wheel drive with snow tires required" when we drove to Mt. Rose for the 2nd day but we did not see any check point station when we drove from Reno to Mt. Rose.

Shopping: There is a shop there.

Things I wish I had known before: You do not have to wear too much if the weather is not too windy or too cold. You know ski is a physical intensive activity and you will sweat a lot. Mt. Rose altitude 8260 ft. The oxygen is less than Reno, 25% less. So drink enough and stay hydrated. eat nutritious food. If you have 4 wheel drive or AWD (all wheel drive) SUV which is great for the snowy road. Otherwise, it would be hard to drive a 2 wheel drive sedan on those road conditions. We drove our sedan one day which is hard with snow chains. After we came back, we had our car fixed for a few problems which cost us more than $2000. p.s. A question from a reader: Why did you have to fix your car after driving with chains? What problem does it lead to? Rent 4wd for driving to Reno why does it necessary? ans: during the days we visited there, it was snowing heavily. The road has icy conditions. Our car had the rear wheel barrier noise and we had to fix it after this trip. Most probably it related with the snow chain. It really depends on the weather you need 4 wheel drive or not. Most probably if in the winter snow season, you have to prepare for that.