Reno area outdoor sports

For those of you living in the Reno area:

1. Are the climbing areas within day trip distance from Reno all crowded on weekends?  E.g. Hard to find parking, most moderate routes occupied most of the day etc.  How long is the typical climbing season?

2. Is it common for the skiing locals to ski/snowboard at Tahoe resorts beyond Mt Rose as a day trip in winter, road condition permitting?  In theory Northstar, Palisades, and Heavenly are all about an hour drive one way so it looks very feasible.

3. As someone who enjoys outdoor sports, what are your likes and dislikes having Reno as you home base?

Thanks in advance for your local knowledge and input!

1. Not all of them, no. There are plenty of famous crags that are usually crowded (Donner/Lovers Leap, etc), but plenty of more obscure crags that rarely have anybody there. There's a lot of places to choose from within day trip distance. The climbing season for anything higher elevation in the Sierras (6000 feet and up) is about May-November (depending on the year), but anything lower elevation is climbable year round.

2. Yes, very common. Some people even day trip Mammoth from Reno. 

3. Dislike: smokey skies in the summer sometimes. Likes: pretty much everything. Lack of traffic, low(ish) cost of living compared to many other places in the West, great mild climate with 4 distinct seasons with some random erratic/sever weather to keep things interesting, small/easy to use airport, open-minded laws, live-let-live culture, cool history, epic landscape and terrain. 

David A wrote:

1. Not all of them, no. There are plenty of famous crags that are usually crowded (Donner/Lovers Leap, etc), but plenty of more obscure crags that rarely have anybody there. There's a lot of places to choose from within day trip distance. The climbing season for anything higher elevation in the Sierras (6000 feet and up) is about May-November (depending on the year), but anything lower elevation is climbable year round.

2. Yes, very common. Some people even day trip Mammoth from Reno. 

3. Dislike: smokey skies in the summer sometimes. Likes: pretty much everything. Lack of traffic, low(ish) cost of living compared to many other places in the West, great mild climate with 4 distinct seasons with some random erratic/sever weather to keep things interesting, small/easy to use airport, open-minded laws, live-let-live culture, cool history, epic landscape and terrain. 

You live in the Carson Valley it’s a whole different world down here. Tahoe is crowded year around. It’s also easy to find solitude if you know where to go.

1-  There are plenty of options for day trip climbing out of Reno and you should be able to find plenty to do if you don’t mind driving a bit.  Though honestly where Reno really shines is the 3 to 4 hour radius.  The hour radius is a bit limited.

2- Yep, pretty common for folks to ski resorts besides Mt. Rose.  And if you backcountry ski the access around Rose is pretty amazing.  Fairly easy to dawn patrol and be back to town by 9 or 10.  The local skiing access is better than the local climbing (when we actually have a winter…)

3- as David said, smoke.  It sucks pretty bad during fire season.  But what west coast city in close proximity to forests doesn’t have that problem these days?  Other than that my partner and I love it here.  It checks all of our requirements.