Donner Ski Ranch

On the back hill of DSR, there is a little lodge called Lytton Lake Lodge (LLL). In the past when skiing the trails out of Clair Tappaan Lodge (CTL), I could stop at LLL and get a sandwich and drink. The trail map at CTL indicates that you can get food and drinks at LLL, so anyone that sees the map can infer that they can Nordic ski into LLL.
Last weekend I went up with my wife and some friends to ski out of CTL and was planning on eating lunch at LLL. When we skied up to LLL I was waiting for a few people that were lagging behind and then someone on a snowmobile roared up to us and starts yelling at us, «you’re not supposed to be here, downhill pass holders only, no dogs» and et cetera. There was no signage forbidding Nordic skiers from skiing into LLL. Then he roars off and lectures one of the ski patrollers right in front of us and his customers. The ski patroller skis over to us and explains that we needed to leave (we were already in the process of doing that). We explained that we had used LLL before and were about to drop $ 75 there for food and drinks — then she said that maybe it would be okay if we tied up the dog. We explained to her that snowmobile man didn’t give us that option and she shrugged and said he was the owner and his word was final.
Not to worry, we just skied back down to CTL where we had food waiting for us. Thanks to my personal introduction to the management, I know that DSR is not for me. I’ve actually skied at all of the downhill resorts in the Tahoe region (except for Tahoe Donner in Truckee and DSR) and haven’t run into any management /​employee behavior close to what I experienced last weekend at DSR.
Note, if you want a great ski experience, just go to Sugar Bowl across the street.

To be honest it’s more of a 3 star for me as an advanced intermediate skier, but the extra star is for the fact that it’s definitely the best value for complete beginners.
Pros:
— Cheapest lift tickets closest to SF Bay Area. Great if you just want to give skiing /​snowboarding a try, because if you’re just starting out, then you can’t really make use of most of the slopes at the bigger resorts anyway. Diamond Peak is a nicer resort that is actually cheaper if you buy the tix from Sports Basement, but it’s an hour out of the way.
— A ton of beginner runs. The blues are actually like other places’ greens. And the trails tend toward wide, rolling hills, which are easy to tackle even compared with other bunny hills.
— Didn’t take any classes, but from what it looked like the class packages are comparatively cheap too.
— It actually is bigger than it looks! The back of the mountain has gorgeous views and is completely empty, with more challenging trails. The scenery, with the… vintage… lifts make it look like something out of James Bond.
Cons:
— We came on a busy, holiday weekend, yet all the back lifts closed hella early at 3. That effectively locked out over half the park, the prettiest areas, and nearly all the more advanced runs.
— Slow lifts for short trails. I felt this acutely during the last hour, when the only non-​bunny lift running was #1. It was super slow because there was a weird secondary stop halfway to the top. It took twice as long to ride up as to get down.
— The front lodge is kinda janky. There’s a really cute one in the back though.

Disclaime