The Great Ski Race

The Great Ski Race is Sunday, March 6. There’s a cap on skiers and a new loop course. Sign up now! 

(Tahoe City, Calif.) Jan. 19, 2022, The Up-Up-Up for this year’s Great Ski Race at Lake Tahoe is the same; The DOWN is a whole new world of wow!

After more than four decades of using the same route, the biggest cross-country ski race west of the Mississippi is changing course. It’s an idea we’ve been mulling for some time: Send The Great Ski Race course through a loop — that ends where it begins. We’ll still feature the epic Starratt Pass climb from our usual start zone at Tahoe XC, but after Soup Station One, we’ll keep going on the Fiberboard Freeway around Mt. Watson almost all the way to Northstar California, then swing back through whoop-dee-doos in the forest above Carnelian Bay onto Tahoe XC’s beautiful Blue Trail, crossing Dollar Creek to finish on a spectacular downhill back to where we started from at the Tahoe XC lodge in Tahoe City. Along its 26-km (16.2-mile) length, the race will show you some gorgeous areas you may not yet have seen on skis. Of course, as always there’ll be a finish-line party including lunch, awards, and a live band on the Tahoe XC patio. We can’t wait!

Proceeds from The Great Ski Race benefit the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue Team, a group of more than 100 volunteers who search for lost skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, and others lost in the backcountry around North Lake Tahoe and Truckee.

Register online for $80 ($30 if under 18) before March 3 at www.TheGreatSkiRace.com. There’s a cap of 700 skiers. On race day, the entry fee for any spots left will jump to $120 ($60 if under 18). 

Check them out on Facebook and Instagram, and get more details at www.thegreatskirace.com.