Industry News
Palisades Tahoe, California, asked its top athletes to rank their three favorite chairlifts, and for all the Tahoe locals who call Palisades Tahoe their home, their answers won’t surprise you.
All of their answers had one thing in common: KT-22 was always part of their response. Notably, for pro-skier Cody Townsend, pro-skier Amie Engerbertson, and pro-snowboarder Jeremy Jones, KT-22 was their sole answer. You can’t blame them. KT-22 is a staple of Palisades Tahoe and is the place to be on any given powder day. The four-person lift has been named the #1 Chairlift in North America by numerous publications, and for good reason. In the video below, Amie Engerbertson mentioned that she has “skied so many places” and has “ridden so many chairs, and nothing holds a candle to KT-22.” KT-22 transports skiers from Palisades Tahoe’s base at 6200ft to 8000ft in under six minutes, covering 1800ft of vertical. At the top, skiers and snowboarders have endless options and terrain types. From open bowls such as GS bowl, which runs down the center section of KT, to Chute 75, which is one of the steepest and longest bump runs in the US.
In 1946, Sandy Poulsen, the spouse of Wayne Poulsen, who founded Palisades Tahoe (then known as “Squaw Valley”), made the hike to the top of what is now called KT-22. She made 22 kickturns (KTs) while descending the steep mountainside, and from that, the name KT-22 was born.
The lift line for KT-22 starts hours before opening on a powder day. For years, locals have been arriving hours in advance on powder days, eager to get freshies on their favorite lines. The show at “the fingers” starts as soon as the chairlift pops. The base of KT-22 sits right below an iconic cliff face called “the fingers,” and the lift goes directly over it, making for an epic show.
Everyone loves KT-22, but there is a lot more to Palisades Tahoe than just this iconic lift. As some of the other athletes mentioned, lifts such as Red Dog and Headwall are also on their list of favorite lifts. Many comments pointed to the fact that both Granite Chief and Silverado were left out. Granite Chief is one of my favorite parts of the mountain and tends to be my second stop just after hitting KT-22 on a powder day. Silverado doesn’t always open as the conditions need to be perfect, but when it does, it provides some of the most challenging in-bounds terrain in North America.
