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This is why you need a ski butler for your next ski vacation

Dealing with gear can be a drag—but it doesn't have to be.

Erika Mailman
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Erika Mailman
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If you want an upscaled ski experience while visiting Lake Tahoe, you’ll need to call upon the services of a ski butler. This person is a bit of a “concierge of the slopes” and whisks away all the unpleasant aspects of the sport, leaving you free to carve your way down the mountain. At the Edgewood Tahoe resort on the south shore edge of this beautiful alpine lake, you can take advantage of the ski butler service to get you outfitted—and to immediately transition from ruddy cheeks from your skiing and riding experience to the ruddy cheeks of sitting by the fireplace with a cocktail.

Ski butler Lake Tahoe
Photograph: Erika Mailman

One of the hardest things about skiing and snowboarding is the amount of heavy gear you have to lug around with you, and at the end of the day, you’d love the chance to hand it all over to someone else to clean and dry it for the next day, while you head into the showers. Edgewood takes your gear overnight for you and guards it in a secure area, so your hotel room isn't cluttered with all your gear (Plus, no wrestling it into the elevator and no snowmelt on your guest room floor). They rest your boots on a dryer so they are dry for you the next day; the area circulates cool air, not warm, so there’s no chance of humidity causing moldy smells.

If you show up here as a complete novice, no worries. They'll arrange gear for you if you don't have it, with excellent expertise to fit everything to your body and experience level. They’ll arrange a shuttle to the ski resort for you, saving you the agony of parking and driving on potentially icy roads if you’re not used to it. They'll even pack you a little backpack lunch so you don't have to deal with long lines at the slopes to get that overpriced bowl of chili. Bonus: there's private beach access to Lake Tahoe and an outdoor pop-up skating rink during winter months. If you want a safe place to do your own ad-hoc polar bear plunge (not recommended by management), you can walk into the lake and then quickly hustle to the year-round outdoor heated pool to save your body from consuming itself with icy teeth.

Ski Butler Lake Tahoe
Photograph: Erika Mailman

If you’re not staying at the Edgewood, you can avail yourself of the worldwide Ski Butlers service that serves the Tahoe ski resorts of Heavenly, Mammoth, Northstar/Truckee, and Palisades Tahoe. This company delivers gear and supports you throughout the rental by promising a one-hour arrival with differently-sized gear or whatever you need.

RECOMMENDED: This app lets you track weather for every ski resort in the U.S.

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