Heavenly, CA 1/3/2008

[tseeb]

Storm held off today, but Heavenly was pretty limited. We started at Stagecoach and skied down to Olympic where it was rocky getting to the lift. The Olympic run was crowded so next time up we went left at the top of the chair which eventually dumped onto Crossover where we could hit Lower Cloud 9 which had good snow and no traffic. We skiied to the bottom of Olympic and came back up Stagecoach which was starting to get crowded. My 16 year-old snowboarders struggled to get through the flats and crowds to upper North Bowl (top of North Bowl chair). We were going to go up Olympic, but it was closed, possibly due to failure as winds were not that strong. So we went down Nevada trail which has light traffic and good snow and came up slow North Bowl chair. We did same run and I came up North Bowl again while my son and his friend went looking for chili at Boulder base. I'd heard Comet was also closing so after skiing down Olympic to Stagecoach, I got car and drove to Boulder as Nevada seemed to be shutting down.

We drove to CA base with a stop at McDonald's for them as they didn't have enough money for chili and only had bought $4 Gatorades. We parked next to tram and went up. I did Waterfall twice, but the lifts were too crowded so I pushed my way into the wind to Roundabout which was as bad as I ever have seen it and I've skied Heavenly for 45 years. I came back up Gunbarrel chair and saw my son and friend in the big, firm bumps. I was going to warn them to stay away from Roundabout and The Face, but I was too late. I thought I could catch them, but they were at the car by the time I got down. I went up one more time and found some good snow by hugging the rope that blocked off Gunbarrel and in the tree to skier's left of The Face.

I quit a little after 3 pm and the teenagers are showered and ready to go downtown so pictures will have to wait until later. 10 runs/14K vertical

 

[tseeb]

The snow started at the top of the tram a little before 3 pm, but as of 10 pm there is not much.

 

[Sharon]

Looks like eastern skiing.

I hope you get some of that big dump forecasted. Looks pretty grim.

 

[Patrick]

Looks like eastern skiing.

Don't insult Eastern skiing... :wink:

 

[jasoncapecod]

Looks like eastern skiing.

in November

 

[Sharon]

Looks like eastern skiing.

I meant in the Far East ;-)

last time I was at Heavenly the traffic on the main green trail was quite heavy with Asians I wasn't sure that I was still in the US. While the nationality of the people in you photos is unknown, it looks as busy as any city street in just about any Asian city.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I was thinking about commenting when I first saw this report, but now that the easterners have done it already, some context is in order.

Heavenly gets about 2/3 as much natural snow as at comparable elevation on the Sierra Crest (Squaw, Alpine, Kirkwood, Sugar Bowl, maybe Sierra-at-Tahoe too). That's why it has a big time snowmaking system.

Nonetheless I think Heavenly is a very poor choice for skiing when the natural snowpack is low. And during or right after the holiday crowds? Especially dumb IMHO. Heavenly's claim to fame (other than the lake views) is its outstanding tree skiing. So when cover is questionable I would stay away. Particularly when Sierra and Kirkwood are available as alternatives.

Even though we know Kirkwood was exaggerating in claiming to be 100% open, Heavenly's stated "43 out of 91 runs open" on snocountry.com would be a red flag to me.

 

[tseeb]

Paying $81 for skiing 1/3 at Heavenly would be dumb. We paid $40 for me and two sixteen year-olds as I was on pass that will give me three days at Vail resorts in CO. My son skied on ticket I received for attending Warren Miller movie and his friend paid $40 for one of the four buddy tickets I get with my pass.

Heavenly does attract skiers from all over the US, Mexico, South America and many other countries. Yes, there are many Asians in CA.

Heavenly was thinking about opening Gunbarrel chair and Boulder, but that was not enough to get me out there and they ended up not opening. We packed up and shut down cabin (located between gondola and tram) and left before 10. It was raining at Stateline and turned to snow as we got close to Meyers. Echo Summit was not bad and we were out of the snow within an hour. The rest of the drive home was uneventful, except for one small branch blocking Highway 50 and a semi with toppled trailer on shoulder of I-80 after Sacramento, until we got close to Bay Area. In the last 30 miles between Dublin and San Jose we saw five wrecks on I-680. People don't know enough to slow down to 55-60 when there are high winds and big puddles on the freeway.