Northstar California has the most amazing facilities and services for those on a ski vacation. Pretty much everything you could want is situated in the Village at Northstar, at the mid-mountain lodges, or at the very ritzy Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe Hotel.

Northstar Ski Rentals and Snowboard Rental

At the Northstar Ski Resort, there are plenty of options for resort operated equipment rentals. There are various locations across Northstar including a few ski rental shops and snowboard demo outlets in the village, one at the Ritz-Carlton, and they also have a mid-mountain ski demo outlet and cross country ski and snowshoe hire outlet. A Northstar ski rental delivery service is also offered. Northstar Resort offer premium ski and snowboard rentals and they come at premium prices, in part because they have a bit of a monopoly on equipment rentals.

There are also independently owned ski rental delivery services, as well as other ski and snowboard rental shops in Incline Village, King’s Beach and Truckee.

Facilities for Children

Minor’s Camp offers child care for non-skiing kids aged 2-6, with morning or full day programs. Prices are pretty exy. Reservations are required and it’s not open on Wednesdays. Minors' Camp is located at the Northstar Golf Course clubhouse, which is not within walking distance of the Village at Northstar.

Another option is the Ritz Kids program at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for children aged 5 to 12. They offer full, half day or 2 hour options for child minding from 9am to 4pm.

In-lodging babysitting services are also available in the Northstar area.

The Village at Northstar has an ice-skating rink and a bungy trampoline, and Northstar has various other activities for the kids such as tubing.

Northstar Ski School

The Northstar ski school is huge – they must employ hundreds of staff – and they need to, because most of the clientele that visit Northstar partake in ski or snowboard lessons. The Northstar Ski School is highly regarded and offers a variety of programs.

Standard kids group lessons are for kids ages 3 and up for skiing and ages 4 and up for snowboarding, and they only offer full day programs. If that’s not expensive enough, you can also pay more for special small group sized classes.

There are also a range of group and private lessons for teens and adults including full day ladies programs. You’ll want to open your wallet wide to participate.

The ski school has various meeting points including the Lodge at Big Springs and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Northstar Resort also offers Nordic skiing and snowshoeing lessons (no idea why you’d need expensive tuition to use snowshoes!!).

Eating On Mountain

If you don’t want to ski down to the Village at Northstar for fuel, there are a few eateries on-mountain. The Lodge at Big Springs is the main day lodge which has a cafeteria as well as outdoor eateries. The Summit Deck and Grille is often bursting at the seams, whilst the lovely Zephyr Lodge has a very upscale ambience. Some of the food is great, but the main theme of the resort on-mountain restaurants is that the food is very very expensive.

Another option is to ski-in to the Ritz-Carlton for lunch. This will also cost a fair bit, but the experience is likely to be gorgeous. The ski valet will take your equipment for you, you can choose from a few different eateries, and you can perch on one of the lounges on a sunny day (which is common).