Catamount Terrace - Northstar-at-Tahoe

We really enjoyed our stay. The staff were great and the condominium was large, beautifully furnished and the kitchen was well-equipped. There was free wi-fi and an Apple computer and HP printer in the condo. The village had a fantastic health club just a five minute walk from the condo, with lap pool, work out room, sauna and so forth, and there was a smaller weight room inside the condo building itself. There was convenient parking underneath the building. The village also had activities for the kids like roller skating, two ice cream shops, Starbucks, deli, and several restaurants but a better selection on the weekend, as some were closed monday-friday. On the negative side, the meals were quite expensive ($125 for five at the pizza restaurant, without drinks!) so we were glad we brought our own wine and beer, and shopped at the Safeway in Truckee (just 15 minutes away). We went back again twice to reload the fridge. The condo faces into the village rather than the mountain, with just a small slice of hillside view from the master bedroom, but we kept the shades closed as the units across the way faced straight into our bedroom. We enjoyed sitting outside on the deck for breakfast, and for just enjoying the sun with a good book, but the incessant rock music - from 9 AM to 9 PM - broadcast over the village speakers often drove us inside. We have no idea why they do that - sort of a winter ski thing to create ambiance, but way off character for what could be a tranquil summer setting. We had just returned rom the Arlberg area of Austria (St. Anton, Zurs and Lech) and felt this compared favorably except for that issue. The mountain has a super macho mountain biking culture and it is quite expensive to rent bikes, $140 per day plus a mandatory $49 lift ticket, so we went to Truckee to rent at $39 for a half day and no ticket, just biked up a mountain from there, the Sawtooth Trail, a great ride for intermediate and experts, Our beginners struggled and walked some sections but had a great time. We hiked at Northstar twice - once from the base, but enveloped with clouds of dust from bikers racing downhill, then another time we bought lift tickets at $10 each and went to the top, then found a hikers trail, but still breathed a lot of dust as biking trails passed close by. It is not really a hikers mountain. The lift ticket office people and the concierges are not too knowledgeable about hiking/biking alternatives, though they tried to help, so we did our own research and drove out of the village to a trail head of the Tahoe Rim Trail and found that to be a great experience, even saw a wolf (or super big coyote) but our biologist companion felt it was a wolf. Though our group were not golfers, we went to one of the two courses and drove balls, plus had a putting competition, and that was a lot of fun, the kind of extra unexpected activity that make vacations memorable. Our impression of Northstar was that we'd like to bring the kids back for a winter vacation as it appears to be a family-friendly ski area and they have never done it before, and the condo was well-positioned close to the lifts and ticket office. It is also a great base for a summer vacation offering a wide variety of sports, and we'd certainly rent again, though I'd submit a request to the village management to cut out the music!”