After a early winter with very little snow, the Tahoe ski season is now in an ideal state. The resort area has been busy improving this summer and is now ready for a banner year.

Only Boreal managed an official opening over the Thanksgiving holiday, but all the major resorts were set to have at least a few lifts humming by this weekend. It may take a few weeks before top-to-bottom coverage is achieved, but it’s high time to wax your boards, adjust your bindings and get the roof rack installed.

This year’s Tahoe season brings another round of capital improvements that for the past decade have been lifting the region from its longtime status as a winter playground for Northern Californians to a destination with national and international appeal.

“The capital improvements the resorts have made - the new villages and the amount of visibility they’re receiving - are starting to pay off in that respect,” says John Wagnon, vice president of marketing for Heavenly Mountain Resort and president of Ski Lake Tahoe, a multiresort marketing association.

The Sacremento Bee has a great round up on all the improvements at these resorts: Heavenly Mountain Resort, Alpine Meadows, Boreal Mountain Resort, Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Sugar, Squaw Valley USA, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Soda Springs, Homewood Mountain Resort ,Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe, Granlibakken, Diamond Peak, Tahoe Donner, and the Donner Ski Ranch.