Heavenly at Lake Tahoe celebrates snow arrival with early opening
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Wed, 11/14/2012 - 4:43pm
Lifts began turning at Heavenly Mountain Resort at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, signaling winter's return to Lake Tahoe. Early-season storms combined with the West Coast’s largest snowmaking system have given Heavenly the ability to stage its earliest opening since 2004-05. All access to the mountain at this time is through the Heavenly Gondola and Tamarack Express.
“Opening a couple days earlier than planned may not seem like a big difference to the casual observer,” said Pete Sonntag, vice president and general manager of Heavenly. “But the effort and commitment to the guest experience that this early opening demonstrates is what Heavenly is all about. We’ll do whatever it takes to deliver the highest level experience for our guests.”
Heavenly is now open with a full resort experience, including terrain park features, on-mountain dining and entertainment, ski and ride school, rentals, transportation and shopping in the Heavenly Village.
As always, guests should observe all posted warnings and closures, staying on the trails where the resort has made snow.
“There isn’t a lot of terrain open right now, but what we have is really good,” said Sonntag. “We’ve got the deepest snowpack at Lake Tahoe. Quality is the name of our game and providing the most consistent, reliable snow surfaces to ski and ride on plays a large part in that.”
Heavenly’s snowmaking and grooming teams have made significant progress on some of the resort’s signature, mile-long Nevada trails, and hopes to open them soon. In the meantime, guests can rack up the vertical feet on California Trail, or sample the terrain park features, including an early-season jump that’s the perfect size for getting one’s legs back.
The Heavenly Angels definitely have their legs back, and they’ll be kicking the activities into high gear at Unbuckle, the industry’s top après-ski party at Heavenly’s Tamarack Lodge. Unbuckle food and drink specials and pricing are currently in effect, and the Angels will make their season debut on Friday, November 16 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tamarack Lodge is open daily with a wide variety of delicious lunch options. Heavenly Doughnuts and Seattle’s Best Coffee in the Village are also open on a daily basis.
The Heavenly Ski & Ride School will offer half-day Level 1 beginner lesson packages beginning at 10:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Rentals are available with the lessons, or as stand-alone packages at Heavenly Sports, The Boardinghouse, The North Face and Patagonia locations in the Heavenly Village.
Heavenly will offer free parking at its California Lodge parking lot, with complimentary shuttle service to the Heavenly Village.
Tickets and Info
Lift tickets will be available at early-season pricing and can be applied the same day toward the purchase of a season pass. The Tahoe Local Pass remains unmatched in value, price and experience with access to more than 263 trails, 14 terrain parks and 10,270 acres of some of the best terrain in the world at Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in California and Nevada. For just $459, the Tahoe Local Pass pays for itself after just four days and then passholders are skiing or riding for free the rest of the season.
— Writer Sally Gunter is the public relations coordinator for Heavenly Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe
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