sweet secrets

PERFECT PLACES
SWEET
SECRETS
DIPPING INTO CALIFORNIA’S SECRET SUGAR BOWL
BY JULES OLDER
My days at Sugar Bowl begin as its village residents
and overnight visitors do—leaving the car and
being escorted to the gondola. My skis and luggage
are loaded into one cabin; I’m directed to another.
The gondola crosses the headwaters of the South Yuba
River, the pristine trails of Royal Gorge cross-country
ski resort, and the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad.
Ten minutes later, I stroll into the rustic lobby
of the Sugar Bowl Lodge, the resort’s honored
(and only) hotel.
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Why the unusual transport? Because, apart
from day trippers, who can drive to the base of
Mount Judah, home owners and Lodge guests are
staying in that snowbound village. The only ways
in are on the gondola or on skis.
I love this. Like genuflecting in church or taking
a cleansing breath before yoga, leaving the car behind
helps leave the world behind. Arriving at a car-free,
snow-covered village is like gliding through the
looking glass into a quiet, peaceful, enchanted world.
I arrive too late to ski, but not to eat. For dinner at
the Dining Room, the Lodge’s contemporary-cuisine
restaurant, I enjoy pan-seared New Zealand venison
deglazed with brandy and garnished with
huckleberries. My vegetarian dining companion
chooses Swiss chard stuffed with Asiago cheese,
squash, Cipollini onions and tomatoes. We share
a delicious bottle of 2014 Napa Valley Peju Sauvignon
Blanc. We also share dessert: Meyer lemon tart
garnished with mandarin, fresh mint, and
crème anglaise.
After this most satisfying dinner, I chat with
longtime residents, ski racers, and guests in
the Lodge’s Belt Room Bar. Its name comes from
the infamous ski races that took place at Sugar Bowl
yearly from 1940 to 1975—a shiny silver buckle as
the winner’s prize. On the way to my room, the bar’s
famous Bloody Mary in hand, I study the
black‑and‑whites of competitors past that line
the pine-plank walls.
The Lodge is strictly old school, which means
its 27 rooms tend toward small, tidy, and un-lavish.
The old-timers figured you’re spending most of your
off-slope time in the public spaces, enjoying the
company of other guests. Although contemporary
American hotel designers go in for ever-larger rooms
and suites, the traditional view is the view I share.
TOP TO BOTTOM
1. Olympian
Daron Rahlves
skis Sugar
Bowl’s steeps.
2. Walt Disney
and family.
P H OTO : G R A N T B A R TA (AC T I O N S H OT ) ,
SUGAR BOWL RESORT (DISNE Y )
T
here’s money, and there’s old money.
Sun Valley is old money. So are Vermont’s
Mad River Glen, Utah’s Deer Valley,
and Switzerland’s Gstaad and St. Moritz.
You’ve heard of them all, but perhaps not of the
slopes where California’s old money skis. Though it’s
San Franciscans’ favorite mountain and contains
a wealth of skiable terrain, deep snow, rich history,
and the only snowbound village in America, I’d never
heard anyone speak its name until I moved west.
Welcome to Sugar Bowl, more than 75 years old and founded by Austrian ski visionary Hannes Schroll,
Walt Disney (who has a peak named after him),
and many of the notable families of San Francisco.
Like Sun Valley, it was frequented by Hollywood’s
leading lights including Robert Stack, Jean Arthur,
Claudette Colbert, Errol Flynn, and Marilyn Monroe.
This venerable and venerated ski area is a mix of
private village and public baselodge, haute-Tyrolean
and haute-Californian architecture, a historic lodge,
and state-of-the-art sports center. Sugar Bowl also
mixes ages and lifestyles; at the Village’s Belt Room
Bar, the same San Francisco families who keep our
museums open and our symphony thriving share
stories with Sugar Bowl Ambassador and Olympian
Daron Rahlves and his adrenalized cohorts.
IT WAS FREQUENTED BY
HOLLYWOOD’S LEADING LIGHTS
INCLUDING ROBERT STACK,
JEAN ARTHUR, CLAUDETTE COLBERT, ERROL FLYNN,
AND MARILYN MONROE.
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PERFECT PLACES
I OPT FOR THE DISNEY EXPRESS
TO THE TOP OF MT. DISNEY;
THEN, TO KEEP THE THEME
GOING, SKI ONTO DONALD DUCK.
Early next morn, after a quick breakfast at Village Espresso, I’m upward bound...
all I have to do is decide where. Sugar Bowl, the ski area nobody outside California
has heard of, has four peaks, 103 trails spread over 1,650 acres, and 13 lifts. As a firm
believer in the efficacy of the warm-up run, I opt for the Disney Express to the top of
Mt. Disney; then, to keep the theme going, ski onto Donald Duck. It’s beautifully
groomed, and after a few turns, I find my rhythm. My ski song finds me. This time
it’s MIC-KEY MO-US-E.
Next, I drop into the sustained steep of East Face. It’s freshly groomed and
sparkles in the early morning light. Making short turns at first, toward the bottom,
I open it up and head for Mt. Lincoln Express, leading to Sugar Bowl’s highest point,
Mt. Lincoln’s 8,383-foot summit. As so often happens when skiing Tahoe, the view
takes my breath away. It’s 360 degrees and includes beautiful Donner Lake. In its
honor, I consider skiing Lakeview Run, an intermediate groomer. But since there are
10 inches of fresh powder, I go for Silver Belt—ungroomed, still largely
untrammeled, choose-your-own-adventure terrain. Somebody’s whooping...
oh, that’s moi.
By now, hunger for sustenance is trumping hunger for turns, and I cruise back
down to the Village Lodge. A light lunch at the hotel’s Belt Room Bar turns out to
be not as light as I’d intended. I can’t resist their signature French onion soup,
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don’t resist the jalapeno fries, and by the time
I get to the Angus beef cheeseburger, resistance
has disappeared like the last snow of spring.
And so has my plan to ski Crow’s Nest Peak,
the area’s newest lift-accessed mountain. Instead,
I stroll through America’s only snowbound village.
It’s made up of 130 single-family homes, most
of them architecturally rooted in Bavarian and
Tyrolean style, sprinkled with just enough
California Contemporary to remind you you’re
in the Sierra, not the Alps.
After my post-prandial stroll, I head for
Sporthaus, an exemplar of what can be
accomplished with careful planning, deep-seated
commitment, and 20 million American dollars. It’s
a year-round athletic fitness-and-training facility
that includes two spas, a yoga studio, cardio and
weight-training resources, and a pool with
dedicated lap lanes.
I could practice yoga, lift weights, and swim
enough laps to delete all this food and wine from
my body... or get a relaxing massage.
Think I’ll go for the massage. I’ll ski Crow’s
Nest tomorrow.
P H OTO S : VA N C E F OX
SNOWBOUND
As America’s
only snowbound
village,
Sugar Bowl’s
architecture
is rooted in
Bavarian and
Tyrolean style,
sprinkled with just
enough California
Contemporary to
remind you you’re
in the Sierra.