South Lake Tahoe, CA – Officials at Heavenly Mountain Resort, straddling the California/Nevada state line at the south end of Lake Tahoe, have announced resort improvements for the 2011-12 ski and snowboard season.

“A few Lake Tahoe resorts are starting to make significant improvements, but Heavenly has been in this game a long time, continually investing in the mountain experience, solidifying our position as Lake Tahoe’s premier ski and snowboard destination,” said Pete Sonntag, vice-president and general manager of Heavenly. “We’ve made some fantastic changes to the way the mountain will ski this winter, and we’ve lifted our ski and ride school facilities to the level of our world-class instruction.”

Going all the way back to its first ski school director, famed Norwegian skier Stein Eriksen, Heavenly has long operated one of the country’s top ski and ride schools. This year’s installment boasts three members of the Professional Ski Instructors of America’s National Demonstration Team and six members of the Western Demonstration Team. This year, Heavenly will add a new, 2,022-square-foot kids’ ski and ride school facility at the top of the Heavenly Gondola. Styled after the new mid-mountain Tamarack Lodge, this new structure will hold about 100 students per sitting and will serve fresh, wholesome food on site.

Also new this year, Heavenly will open a kid’s adventure zone called Black Bear Hollow at the top of the Gondola.  Black Bear Hollow is a meandering, low-angle skiing and riding trail with groomed whoop-de-dos, wood carvings of local animals and wildlife fact signage. The adjacent entry-level progression park features small rails, gentle jumps and boxes designed to help youngsters explore.

For the larger kids, Heavenly has added three new trails in the Galaxy trail pod on the Nevada side of the mountain, bringing the resort’s total run count to 97. These solid intermediate trails provide 20 more groomable acres for skiers and snowboarders to enjoy on one of the less-traveled portions of the mountain. Two of the new trails will connect the top of Stagecoach Express Chairlift with the bottom of Galaxy Chairlift, allowing the resort to open more terrain on the lower portion of the mountain on days where wind may impact the upper mountain.

In addition, some of the trails on Heavenly’s California side will get an upgrade this winter. Heavenly is widening five of its core California trails to reduce slope density and allow the resort to manicure more terrain because the runs will be wider, straighter and thus, easier to groom.

To support that increased grooming Heavenly has purchased two more Prinoth Beast grooming machines, bringing the world’s largest fleet of these snow cats to four. The Beast is equipped to groom 30 percent more acreage per hour than traditional grooming machines.

Heavenly is already in the midst of a capital program to improve overall snowmaking efficiency, this year adding more snowmaking resources in the form of energy-efficient stick guns to lower Olympic Downhill, and to the High Roller Terrain Park. High Roller has doubled in size, giving Heavenly’s Terrain Park Crew, partnering with Snow Park Technologies, even more room to arrange  jibs, jumps and terrain features.

When it comes time to relax, Heavenly’s skiers and snowboarders will have a redesigned Snow Beach upon which to unwind and soak up the California sunshine. For 2011-12 Snow Beach will have the feel of a European beer garden, highlighted by an outdoor barbecue, a sea of Adirondack chairs and the relocated Umbrella Bar.

Another new item at Heavenly this winter is the next generation of Vail Resorts’ ski and snowboard smart phone application, EpicMix. Upon request, the company’s professional photographers will take portrait and action photos and automatically deliver the images to the guest’s EpicMix account by quickly scanning a guest’s RF-enabled lift ticket or season pass. Vail Resorts will provide these professional photos free to guests in a “low-res” format for sharing on Facebook and Twitter, while high-resolution images can be purchased for $19.99, allowing guests to print unlimited copies at the vendor of their choice or on their own.

Heavenly’s 2011-12 winter season is scheduled to run from November 18, 2011 to April 15, 2012.