Kirkwood is great. I always have fun there and it gets a lot of snow.
It's about a 40 min drive from South Lake Tahoe but worth it.

Yeah, I used to ride at Tahoe and I think Kirkwood was overall my
favorite, taking into account terrain, snow quality and quantity, and
chance of lift closures! That was before I did a lot of alpine, I bet
it would rock to do plates in the morning, and hit the cornices in the
afternoon!

Personnally I wouldn't go to Heavenly on a bet. The mountain is
made for skiers. Lots of long flats. Lot's of crowds. Lot's of hype.
Very convienent to South Lake Tahoe though.

I had some really good days there once I got over the price of a ticket.
Big open wide groomers... which is why I'd love to try it on an alpine
deck.

Squaw is pricey and will be kind of a hual from where you're
staying but is a really nice mountain. They also have very good
lessons for all experience ranges if you want to improve your skills
with a pro.

I found their instructors very hit-or-miss. Some really good ones but
some really bad ones. The terrain is incredible though and if you hit
it on a day when everything's open I can't imagine a better place to be
terrain wise. They do have a lot of lisft closures and in low-snow
years it can be slim pickin's though.