SnowPals.org is the largest snow sports community on the West Coast, now celebrating our 13th year of service to SF Bay Area’s community of snow sports enthusiasts of all skill levels. On the one side, we are a social platform for local professionals to expand their circle of friends. On the other, we are the Tahoe-Deals-Central, a gathering place for all resort sales, hotel promotions, lift-ticket specials, rental and ski lease listings. We also facilitate ride shares to Tahoe and host parties and mixers to help our members connect to share common interests. SnowPals is a grassroots community, we grow with the support and participation of our members.

Since 1999, we have blossomed from a group of 7 hardcore skiers and snowboarders to a vibrant community of over 5,700+ members.

Want to help out? Here are three things you can do:

  1. Sponsor

    Please email contactus@snowpals.org to inquire about sponsorship. We”ll work with you to make your business visible to our members and the public. For topics covering Lake Tahoe, ski resorts, Bay Area Ski Bus, snow sports community, lift ticket and travel package deals, promotions and lodging, our page ranking is on the first page on Google search engine. Plus, we’ll  send you our detailed Google Analytics site statistics report(minimum of 13,000 visitors per month).

  2. Become A VIP Member by Ordering Our VIP T-Shirts

    Order our VIP T-shirt($15) to support what we do so that we can keep bringing you ever more deals and fun social events. Hanes white T-shirts available in S, M, L, XL. Free pick up at events or priority mailed for $5. Email tim [at] snowpals.org to order.

    This T-shirt is your VIP membership to all this season’s VIP social events and activities, mixers(informal pizza & beer meetup, wine bars meetup), Tahoe resorts’ apres ski & ride meetup, Bay Area biking and hiking outing. You’ll get 50% off on event entry fees of all events. There will be other perks as well, such as lift ticket raffles and special promotional discounts at local businesses exclusive to VIP members. Funds raised from T-shirts will go towards web hosting, management, and securing more deals for members.

  3. Volunteer

    We always appreciate the assistance of volunteers in all capacity from helping at events, to marketing our organization, to doing community outreach. Tell us about your area of expertise and what you’d like to do to contribute to make Snowpals even better. If you have ideas to help us improve what we do, please let us know. We will be delighted to hear from you, and we appreciate all offers.

    Most of all, please help us by spreading the word about Snowpals to family, friends and people you meet on the ski lifts who can benefit from joining us!

Become a SnowPals member. Unlike other clubs, our membership is free – we’re grassroots. Join us to connect for Tahoe rideshare, snow trips and expand your circle of snow friends.

Want to get in touch with the Snowpals team? Contact us

Presenting the Snowpals Team: 

randy snowpals chief community moderator
Tahoe Snow Sports Expert & Chief Community Moderator. Randy Salzman is a lifelong skier, a Certified Professional Ski and Snowboard Instructor at Alpine Meadows, a Snowpals enthusiast since its inception in 1999, and a prodigious waster of time on the internet reading all things ski-related. Randy grew up skiing and racing on the Ice Coast (CT, and then NH), but really earned his ski-addiction credentials in a 12-step process known as ski-bumming/guiding in the French Alps. Randy moved to California in 1999 and quickly fell in love with Tahoe. While raising two ripping snow-shredders (one ski, one snowboard), Randy also qualified for the National Ski Patrol and Professional Ski Instructors of America, and volunteered as a patroller at Alpine before switching to part-time instruction a few years ago while also working in Silicon Valley in technology sales. He is Snowpals’ North Lake Tahoe expert. Contact randy [at] snowpals.org
Tim Pham is Snowpals Founder and Creator. He is the primary engine of Snowpals and a dedicated community organizer. He has a background in environmental chemistry and exercise physiology with side study in search engine optimization(SEO). When Tim isn’t managing the inner workings of Snowpals he works as an accredited fitness professional and an outdoors adventure guide. Tim is best known for his Mad-Summer-of-Trails where he led twelve consecutive Yomesite Half-Dome summit hikes, half of them in the moonlight. He has been a ski bum since high school and you’d likely meet him skiing & riding at Squaw, Alpine Meadows, Heavenly and Kirkwood. Contact tim [at] snowpals.org
Evan, web developer guru snowpals
Website Developer & Tech Guru. Evan Goldin is a Bay Area native and avid snowboarder. A big fan of ski leases, he shares a lease for four years and runs another for three years. He has been designing websites and web apps for more than a decade. Evan is the talented webmaster and designer for SnowPals’ gorgeous new site. His favorite resort is Kirkwood, unless  Hwy 88 is closed, then Heavenly moves up the ranks. Find him on Twitter at @evangoldin. He works at Zimride, a marketplace for private ridesharing. Contact evan [at] snowpals.org.
photo of andrew x pham author
Contributor-at-Large. Andrew Pham is a professional writer and tropical tumbleweed who returns to Tahoe every winter to get his snow fixes. He enjoys alpine and cross-country skiing. In the other seasons, he writes books, travels, and leads bicycle tours in Southeast Asia. He has been a regular contributor and volunteer for Snowpals since its inception. You’ll likely to find him skiing wherever there is a good lift deal. Read more about Andrew at www.andrewxpham.com. Contact andrew [at] snowpals.org
  Event Coordinator. MaryEllen Rhyins, (a.k.a. Melle), is an alpine skier who, just to shake things up, occasionally attempts to telemark and nordic ski, and enjoys snowshoeing too. Although she enjoys skiing just about anywhere as long as she’s with pals, her favorite resorts are Alpine, Squaw, Kirkwood and Sugar Bowl. Melle is a freelance marketing professional, has a passion for getting folks connected and has enjoyed hosting many events for snowpals over the years. Contact melle [at] snowpals.org
  Event Coordinator. Trish Douglass has been a SnowPals member since 2002. She is an experienced snowboarder who enjoys all Tahoe mountains. She is our fun-chief and social network person. She is a down-to-earth team player with with a spontaneous personality, always ready for new adventures. She has natural knack for persuading others to join in the fun. As she believes, the more the merrier. Contact trish [at] snowpals.org 
Kurt, partnership advisor for snowpals
Partnership Relations Advisor. Kurt Huy enjoys skiing, hiking, and international travel. Kurt’s favorite Tahoe resorts are Heavenly, Sugar Bowl and Mt Rose. He went to U.C. Berkeley for undergraduate and grad school.  In his spare time, he games on the Xbox 360. Contact kurt [at] snowpals.org
Business Manager snowpals
Community Relations. Fa Wansawat is Snowpals’ friendly community and functions organizer. She is a skier and an expert cook in freezing conditions. She combs the web for Lake Tahoe deals and promotions for our members. She also manages Snowpals’ brand new Coupons Page. She likes to snowboard Diamond Peak(North Lake Tahoe family oriented resort). Contact office[at] snowpals.org
photo of May, snowpals PR intern
Outreach Intern. May Wansawat is Snowpals’ Community Outreach Intern. She’s a university senior majoring in business marketing. She’s a fan of winter fashion and a novice snowboarder, looking foward to shredding the diamond slopes. Contact office[at] snowpals.org

Would you like to intern with Snowpals?

Snowpals is looking for dependable interns; please contact office[at] snowpals.org  to share your skills and work experiences. Let us know how you can contribute. Give us an idea of what type of projects you’d like to engage in and how we can help you build your work experience. Our part-time(10-12 hours) intern positions are unpaid; however, we’ll make up for that by giving you some cool perks such as free lift tickets. Also, we are raising funds to hire one full-time intern position.