Sugar Bowl Resort Guide: Stats, Passes and History

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Sugar Bowl is on Donner Summit off Interstate 80. The resort’s statistics page lists 1,650 acres across four peaks, 12 lifts, a 1,500-foot vertical rise and 500 inches of average snowfall, and it calls itself independent since 1939.

Checked November 2, 2026. Dates, prices and hours change; the official page wins.

1,650acres, four peaks (official)
1,500 ftvertical rise (official)
12lifts (official)
500 inaverage snowfall (resort’s figure)

Snowy chairlift and ridge at Sugar Bowl Resort — Photo: http://tahoesignatureproperties.com/, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Quick Facts

OperatorThe page says independent since 1939 and does not name an owner company.
ElevationsBase 6,883 ft, summit 8,383 ft (official).
Trails105 runs: 14.7% beginner, 41.2% intermediate, 44.1% advanced or expert; 4 terrain parks (official).
Nordic140 km of Nordic trails, via sister operation Royal Gorge (official). See our Royal Gorge page.
Prices read 2026-11-02Season passes: Unrestricted from $969, Slightly Restricted from $769, Midweek from $579, Royal Gorge pass from $159. Adult midweek ticket $89, child tickets from $49, multi-day packs from $99 per day, kids 5 and under free. The page says season pass prices increase November 5.
SeasonThe page targets opening day November 27 (year not printed). Closing: Not confirmed.
Drive from RenoAbout 1 hr 15 min to 1 hr 30 min (our estimate, no live traffic), over Donner Summit on I-80.

Founded 1939

The resort’s page says it has been independent since 1939. Wikipedia adds that it opened on December 15, 1939, founded by Austrian ski champion Hannes Schroll, that Walt Disney was an early shareholder and that Hemlock Peak became Mt. Disney. Those details come from Wikipedia, a secondary source, and are not confirmed on the resort page we read.

A Claim to Check

The resort calls itself “Tahoe’s Deepest” and says the most snow in Tahoe, based on its 500-inch average. We repeat that as the resort’s own claim; snowfall figures are measured differently at every mountain.

Official site: Sugar Bowl: Facts and Figures.

What We Could Not Confirm

These items were not read on an official page when we checked, so we do not state them as fact. Who can confirm each one is named.

Owner company name (sugarbowl.com does not name one).
Exact 2026-27 opening date and year; closing date.
Pass affiliations beyond Sugar Bowl’s own passes (Mountain Collective or others); none appears on the pages we read.
The founding story details (Wikipedia only).

More to Explore

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sugar Bowl independent?

Its page says it has been independent since 1939.

Which is closer to Reno, Sugar Bowl or Palisades Tahoe?

Palisades Tahoe says it is 42 miles from Reno. We have not measured Sugar Bowl with a mapping tool; both are roughly an hour and a quarter by our estimate.

Sources

Cite this page: It’s Reno editorial team, “Sugar Bowl,” itsreno.com, checked November 2, 2026.

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