Avalanche Shave Ice

My wife and I are Californians who visited Avalanche Shave Ice for the first time on June 30, 2013. So what you may be thinking? Well, it was a sizzling 117 degrees outside on that date, and shave ice was the exact answer to cooling off. We found Avalanche to be clean, well supplied with plenty of delicious flavors to choose from, and a comfortable place «to hang out» and get a delicious treat. But, on top of all of that, we even had an opportunity to meet and chat with the young co-​owners of Avalanche Shave Ice and were really impressed with their commitment to quality, customer satisfaction, and desire to succeed as new small business people in a very tough economy. Avalanche is a terrific place to enjoy a shave ice at any time and we’ll of course return the next time we’re in Las Vegas

Small size is big. A lot of flavor choices and the prices are reasonable.

The first thing that stands out are all the flavors that are available. They now all also have toppings like various kinds of candy as well as the standard condensed milk. The small is plenty big and only $ 2.50. Endless flavor combinations and they are all good.

great place! great SERVICE and AMAZING do yourself shave ice cream. Rootbeer & Coconut.

Cool little place right next to UNLV. Pretty cheap as far as shaved ice goes and the employees are very nice and attentive. Lots of flavors to choose from, and some different toppings too. We paid six bucks for two people. Very clean and everything is stocked constantly.

Doesn’t compare to Hawaii’s famous shaved ice, but its pretty close to it. Very friendly and attentive. The guy working there guided me through the flavors and toppings and gave my daughter a free sample. Will definitely go back! Great place. Very clean and modern.

Avalanche was my first foray into the shaved ice phenomenon sweeping Vegas. Let me tell you what, I totally get it. Ice shaved to the point of being fluffy covered with your choice of flavored syrups, hell yeah talk about light and refreshing. I went as far as adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream (they serve Thrifty) to my ice, what a great addition. I then added orange and vanilla syrup for what tasted just like a orange creamsicle, seriously it was a fuck yeah moment.
Next time Im totally going for the sweetened condensed milk topping cause creaminess rocks!

What’s the deal with the «avalanche» of Snow-​cone/​Shaved ice places in the Valley? Holy cow — is this due to the popularity of my still fav Snow Ono ?
i was in the area of UNLV so i wanted to come by and try. Greeted by two bums looking for beer $$ prior to entering — nice start. I always thought the Golden Rule of pan handling was hit the customer on the way out, not on the way in !
Go in and more employees than customers– is it due to time? place? outside temp under 100 degrees? who knows. I opt for a medium ($ 3.50) and start to peruse the flavors — i figure why not go with the standard — cherry/​pineapple but i usually get that spray stuff that makes it tart — didn’t see this option (maybe it’s available at the front counter)
So i figured out why this place is called avalanche — that’s what happened to the ice when i started putting the syrup on — the ice basically collapsed ! Is this due to improper packing? wet ice? too fine of ice? dang if i know, but it wasn’t a pretty sight !
As to flavors — a little too sugary for me.
I like the concept of this place but not sure i’ll return.

Such a treat! Tons of flavors to chose from and it’s pretty inexpensive. Definitely worth stopping in.

Once you’ve had snow/​shaved ice in Cali, you just can’t really go back. Vegas hasn’t perfected shaved ice yet. Everything is just chunks of ice to me – compared to the amazing soft shaved ice in Cali places.
But this place is unique enough. You have a few steps to go through. First, you pick your size (small-​8oz $ 2.50; medium $ 3; large $ 3.50). You can add ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, & strawberry) for $ 0.50 more. Finally, you can add toppings for $ 0.50 each. There’s sweetened condensed milk and mochi among other stuff. So he gets all of this ready for you and the only self-​serve you do is pick from their huge collection of syrups. There’s bubblegum to coconut to piña colada. All up to you. Munch away.
I’m still patiently waiting for us to have amazing orgasmic shaved ice.

revisited this place for a third time (first two times they were closed in the middle of the day and i can say i’m glad that i came back! they have the good fluffy ice comparable to sno shack hawaiian shaved ice at the fantastic indoor swap meet. the tables are clean, the place is spacious, and the service was excellent. i got a small size with a topping of condensed milk for $ 3, so the price is quite cheap. you know the portions are huge too when a big eater like me can’t finish all of it!
theres a LARGE variety of flavors but i think my favorites are root beer, cream, and french vanilla, which all taste great with condensed milk. also another thing that i like about this place is that they give you the condensed milk in a tiny cup rather than pouring it on for you. this way, you can ration out your condensed milk and pour it on in layers after you eat the first layer of snow and you’ll have condensed milk throughout your «meal». toppings are 50 cents here and include li hing mui powder, caramel, mochi, and more. they have ice cream here too that you can get at the bottom of your cup but i’ve never really had an interest for those.
overall, this is a real nice and clean place that is perfect for those people who like to experiment with different flavors of shaved ice. i.e. me. this doesn’t seem like a place i would visit at night, however, because the neighborhood is straight up ghetto. it’s real conveniently placed across of unlv so its quite close to everything. i’ll visit this place again whenever i feel another craving for a shaved ice and condensed milk combo.

I love shaved ice! This little place is right across from UNLV and is one of my new favorite places for refreshing treat. I went in for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I fell in love. I got a small shaved ice with a side of condensed milk. You have so many flavors to choose from and you just add your own syrup. The area is kind of sketchy, but don’t let that discourage you. It’s worth it!

Great store! The kids had a blast pouring their own flavors. When in Las Vegas, be sure to get your shaved ice here.

Shave ice is definitely one of the best ways to beat the Vegas heat. The main thing that initially drew me to this particular shave ice place is the location. Avalanche Shave ice is located across the street from UNLV just behind the 7-​Eleven on Maryland Pkwy.
They offer 3 different sizes and various options on toppings and ice cream flavors. I opted to get a medium sized shave ice with condensed milk. The way this particular place works is you order the size and toppings you want on your shave ice, but add the flavors yourself. The flavors are located on a long table in various containers. They have 36 flavors which includes everything from Tiger’s Blood to Chocolate! On top of all that, you can put as much or as little as you want on the ice! The extra toppings, such as condensed milk and pixy sticks, are given to you separately as well, so you get to put it all together to your liking!
If you’re ever in the UNLV area and looking for a way to cool down, give this place a try!

Just stopped by this Hawaiian-​style shaved ice place while on a trip to Las Vegas. For those who aren’t familiar with shaved ice, it is very different from a snow cone. The shaving of the ice makes the ice very fine, much like freshly fallen snow. A number of shaved ice places have opened up recently in the Los Angeles area, and it looks like Avalanche uses the Swan-​style shaved ice machine that is popular with most of them.
Avalanche is unique in that it has a self-​serve syrup station with 36 syrups to choose from. When you place your order, you first pick your size (small, medium, or large), whether you want ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry, 50 cents per scoop), and whether you want an additional topping (condensed milk for 50 cents or pixy stix, 3 for 25 cents). Once you get your shaved ice, you take it over to the syrup station and put whatever combination of flavors you’d like. If you order condensed milk, it comes in a separate plastic sauce cup that you can pour on after you’ve added your syrup.
It is apparent that Avalanche has recently opened. There are still a few hand-​written signs, and the overflow plastic chairs were stacked in a couple of areas of the dining section. Some of the toppings that other Hawaiian shaved ice places offer, like azuki beans, mochi, li hing mui powder, aren’t available; maybe they will be in the future. The consistency in the amount of ice can also vary by quite a bit: both my wife & oldest daughter ordered a small, but there was a pretty significant difference between the two (one was about 50% larger than the other). But the dining area is clean and comfortable, and Avalanche offers a refreshing way to cool off from the desert heat.
Avalanche is located in a strip mall just east of the UNLV campus, on Harmon Ave., one driveway east of Maryland Parkway on the north side of the street. We had lunch at a near-​by In-​N-​Out before coming over here for dessert. I could see this turning into a favorite hang-​out for Runnin’ Rebels when school is in session.