Palisades Tahoe Red Dog Six-Pack: A Much-Needed Upgrade, Finally Unleashed

Palisades Tahoe’s new Red Dog Express is more than twice as fast as the old lift.

Background

This past season, Palisades Tahoe installed its Base-to-Base Gondola, connecting the Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows sides for the first time. But perhaps just as importantly, although somewhat overshadowed by the gondola, Palisades also upgraded its nearly three-decade-old Red Dog lift, replacing the old triple chair with a state-of-the-art six-pack. The Red Dog chair holds down service in one of the resort’s only below-treeline terrain areas, and this upgrade has had a significant impact on Palisades Tahoe’s overall experience.

A depiction of the Red Dog upgrade on the Palisades Tahoe trail map. The new Red Dog lift is highlighted in red, while the path of the old Red Dog chair is shown via the dotted red line.

The Experience

Upgrading Red Dog from a slow, fixed-grip triple to a high-speed six-pack really improves the uphill journey. The old Red Dog lift took over 8 minutes to ride, making it one of the longest rides at the resort at the time—but the new chairlift takes only three-and-a-half, cutting the ride time down by over 60%. This change in ride time turns Red Dog from an oft-avoided trail pod into a largely desirable one. It’s also worth noting that the scarily high span near the top of the old lift is now gone, with the six-pack taking a lower, gentler route—which will certainly be a relief for those afraid of heights.

The re-aligned Red Dog chair spans a much mellower lift line than its predecessor.

The new Red Dog setup really comes in handy on windy days. Much of Palisades’ footprint is susceptible to wind holds due to significantly exposed terrain, but with its sheltered, below-treeline layout, the Red Dog area is one of the only parts of Palisades that’s reasonably protected from the wind. And now that it’s a high-speed lift with a brisk ride time, it makes spending time at Palisades during these storm cycles all the more enjoyable. The Red Dog chair isn’t typically the most crowded chair at Palisades, but the 66% capacity increase really helps when everything else is closed.

The Red Dog six-pack sits in a different alignment further away from the base than the old chair, and that comes with some pros and cons. On the plus side, it’s now much easier to get to the Red Dog lift line from the Far East parking lot, and the new route is much more direct for lapping the pod. On the other hand, the lift is now a little bit of a trek to reach from the main base village, with some catwalking now required to traverse there from other lifts and trail pods.

The Red Dog lift now starts much closer to the Far East parking lot, but it’s a bit of a trek to reach from the base village.

So the new Red Dog Express does have a few quirks, but it’s been a broadly successful replacement in our book. The new lift improves Palisades’ resiliency on stormy days, finally gives the resort some desirable below-treeline terrain, and makes it easier to access high-quality runs directly from the parking lot. All guests of intermediate and better proficiency, especially those who visit earlier in the season, should appreciate the new setup.

Considering a ski trip to Palisades Tahoe this year? Check out our full Lake Tahoe ski resort rankings, as well as our comprehensive Palisades Tahoe and Alpine Meadows reviews from the 2021-22 season (a refreshed 2022-23 review will be out shortly). You can also check out our thoughts on North America’s major 2021-22 ski resort lift and terrain upgrades in video form below.