Just beyond Homewood Mountain Resort sits snowcat-accessed terrain overlooking Lake Tahoe. This zone can be yours with a select group of friends, so choose wisely before you step through the gates. The cat, the guide, and the powder are all waiting.

After a delicious breakfast of coffee and baked goods from the West Shore Cafe, we make our way to the big red cat, which sits just beyond the rope line. The box on the back feels like a school bus and everyone piles onto the bench seats facing each other. Four full size adults fit on each side and the excitement levels couldn’t be higher.

The cat purrs to life and ambles into the forest above the resort. It moves at a relaxed pace, but there’s no rush because there’s endless powder. As the cat rolls up over the crest to the top of the peak and glorious lake views greet us below.

Prior to dropping in, the guides run through snow safety procedures and come up with a game plan based on the ability of our group and the snow conditions. With some of the best tree skiing around, the crew is treated to glades that are open enough to snake through, but tight enough to keep the snow good. Most of the runs funnel back to the base of the charlifts, which adds additional vertical and allows for more runs in a day. We’re racking up laps, which quickly fade into one another as the sun moves across the sky.

Our legs are burning from lap after lap of pow turns, and our arms are growing weary from repeated high fives. The day finishes at the West Shore Cafe and we relax with frosty beers and glasses of wine, watching the sun slip behind the mountains to the west. Experiences like these are few and far between and the kind you dream about for the rest of your life.

Download the Snowledge App to track all of your resort and cat skiing days at Homewood!