Heavenly, South Lake Tahoe

With the lack of Snow this year, be assured The Mountain Crew at Heavenley has done a fantastic Job of Making Snow and keeping all those Groomers free from Rocks showing through. Great Job Guys! Now that we have had a foot of fresh before Valentines Day, you can be assured Great Conditions. Live Here Ski Here!

Great mountain. Cheap season pass if you buy early. Plan ahead and enjoy one of the most beautiful places in the world. Bring your own food.

I prefer Heavenly simply because: 1) Almost all chair lifts are fast quad/six pack. So the waiting is almost minimal. One hour of skiing at Heavenly is equivalent to 3 to 4 times of other resort. 2) Mountain is big and diverse. Never feel bored. 3) Season pass cost is reasonable. This year, I heard I can also use it at Northstar and Sierra@Tahoe. 4) Superior facilities, food, less crowded lodges (many of them) 5) Most beautiful views of all the resorts around Tahoe area Downsides: 1) Expansive food. But, I bring my own food and drinks. Besides all drinks are free refilled. So, just buy one and refill. 2) Less snow (made up with better snow making facilities)

We stayed at the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort mid-week and got a great deal of only $55 per night from AZ Timeshare Rentals. Google them for their website. It is best to call them and they can do rentals of 2 nights or more. When you rent from them you don't have to pay the nightly parking fee either. I think you have to rent 2 nights or more.

As the 2010 season kicks off, I'm glad these people below are complaining about Heavenly- all that means is less people standing in lift lines- Heavenly rocks!!! See you on the mountain-

I have been skiing Heavenly for years, not so much by choice, but for convenience. But that convenience comes at great price: Overpriced: Heavenly is among the most expensive places to ski - period! From the overpriced lift tickets, to the outrageous cost of food and drink. All Heavenly ever claims they are improving, is the food on the mountain. But the only thing that seems to increase is the price, not the quality or the service.What Heavenly REALLY needs to improve, is the mountain itself... For years I have been writing, calling and talking with management in person - both at Heavenly, and at Vail (which owns Heavenly), about updating the ski trails and the lift access to the mountain. Heavenly was designed for skiing, not snowboarding. There are endless areas where you need to walk long distances to get anywhere. They need to redesign the mountain runs and lifts, so that is no longer the case. Every time I make such a suggestion, I get a lot of, "Sure, we will take that into consideration," but they never do it. They installed a Gondolla that runs from the Stateline strip, up to the ski area. This is a real convenience if you are staying in the Casinos at the Stateline. But very few lifts come near the gondola where the Gondola lets off on the mountain. And getting back to the Gondola - to take it down at the end of the day - is EXTREMELY difficult! You have to plan your return trip an hour in advance, because you have to take several lifts in succession to get to the Gondola (even if you are skiing right next to it). And you had better pay very close attention as you are skiing down the mountain, because if you make one wrong turn, you will miss getting to the Gondola, and have to take several lifts back up. Better signage would help, but that is no excuse for poor access and extremely poor mountain trails. Even skiiers have to spend 1/5 of their day pushing themselves along, from one place to another. This is tiring for downhill sking, and hardly what one expects for the extremely high price of the lift ticket, food and drink. And if you are snowboarding...Yeah, you better learnt the mountain REAL fast, or you will be spending a GREAT deal of time walking. Heavenly boasts some of the best tree skiing anywhere. But just because you have a lot of trees on the mountain, does not mean they are skiiable. Between the CA and NV sides, a lot of people go to get fresh powder in the trees (because the powder everywhere else is gone by 10:30 am - Heavenly is VERY crowded). But if you are not really careful, you will hit a wall of trees, 1/2 mile long, and so close together, you cannot crawl between them. Not only is this VERY UNFUN, a waste of time and energy to try and get out of, but it is downright dangerous. There is little if any warning before you come upon this wall of trees, and Heavenly refuses to thin any trees whatsoever, so that people can get through. The one thing Heavenly does have is spectacular views. But that is not why I go skiing/boarding. The only reason I ski/board there at all, is because the closest good mountains are 45 minutes away on a GOOD day. That gives Heavenly a bit of a monopoly - hence the high prices, poor service and poor lift access and terrain. Moreover, the nightlife and Casinos are WAY overblown. In recent years, Indian gaming in California has all but devastated the Casinos in Lake Tahoe. No one goes there to gamble anymore, and as a result, the nightlife is not that great. The only good reason to be at Heavenly, is if you want to drink and party at night, out on the town, and do not want to drive. All of Lake Tahoe is a DUI trap!!! They make a TON of money off busting tourists! My suggestion would be to avoid heavenly altogether, and go to Squaw Valley, Kirkwood, Apine Meadows, Northstar, Homewood, or any number of other, less expensive, higher quality ski resorts. If you want to party, rent a cabin, bring your friends, buy your own booze and stay in.

All that said.... It is expensive and the food at the lodges is very expensive. Rentals on site? Forget about it!

Lift tix are about the highest around, but the season pass is a good deal, especially if you get one in Spring and use it for that trip and again next winter. At Spring and Summer earlybird rates, about 4 1/2 days is the break-even point. The mountain is huge, views phenomenal, and runs are wide and usually well groomed. Most blue runs could be green but for the one steeper pitch near the end. A little bit of a bottleneck near lift bottoms also works against lower level skiers, but a strong beginner could navigate most blue runs on the Nevada side and some on the CA side. Very few single diamonds, but they're sweet when groomed. The double-blacks are hard to get to and you can't check them out before you commit (except for the main CA front face, which is just one giant egg carton) so I don't do much of that. Powder gets skied out almost immediately, as with any popular resort, but there are several good tree-skiing areas. Newbies always want to ski from CA to Nevada and back, but that eats up a lot of your day. Once you learn the traverses and where to keep your speed up, it's not bad, but still best in faster conditions. They still don't have a good alternative for getting back to NV when Sky Chair is closed, which happens a lot because it goes so high and often gets put on wind-hold. I've gotten passes the last few years because my brother has a condo right there, and it's a long drive to any of the other good resorts. I used to be more aggressive, but as I get old, my favorite style is just screamin' fast down perfectly groomed blue runs, with plenty of room to pass, and Heavenly is perfect for that. As big as it is, though, with the high-speed lifts everywhere, you can probably ski every groomed run in a day, and sample everything easily in 2 or 3 days.

Big mountain but terrain is pretty much the same - lot's of flat spots and trails that require pushing/walking too. Food and drink are high price and poor quality at the lodge on the Nevada side (their signiture chilli is poured out of a big plastic bag). I recommend Kirkwood, Mount Rose, Alpine, or for a more local experience - Homewood. Cheaper, less crowded, and better service

Great snow (in early Feb) and really good variety of runs. My first day was really good despite poor visibility. The prices in the mid-mountain lodge were pretty atrocious, $9 beers on tap and not great service. The mountain is great, though, can't wait to get out again today!