Heavenly, CA and NV 1/6/23

tseeb

tseeb

Well-known member
I was at Heavenly early enough to get first tram and 3 laps on Canyon before line drove me down to Hogsback where snow was better.
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All these pictures taken about 945. I got first tracks into place in next photo two days in a row
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I took a Kirkwood refugee (his shortest route was closed) who works in Sierra Nevada foothills wine industry on my third run into Hogsback. We shared steep exit into Gunbarrel chair I had found that avoided the crowded area at base of West Bowl chair. Sky finally opened and we loaded it a little after 11:30 after 10+ minute singles line. Going towards NV was roped off past Pinnacles and sign said gondola closed which I knew was not true. Guy I was skiing with said he was already on probation and would lose pass for 6 months if caught so not sure where he went. I heard group of people saying Ryan said it was OK to continue so I went around rope and got third tracks into Milky Way Bowl. It turned out people who said it was OK were snow shovelers going to dig something out. I knew I could ski to Stagecoach base and if they pulled my Vail pass I have an unused Ikon. Dipper chair, which I heard had 40 minute line later was very late opening and Comet, Motts and Galaxy never opened.
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My tracks are at right. I skied upgraded North Bowl chair a few times as there was no line there and got one legal lap into Milky Way Bowl after Dipper opened, but snow further skiers right was wind-affected even in trees. I met up with my nephew after 1 and skied with him the rest of the day. The best snow we found was Maggie's Canyon. Snow in lower NV did not ski as well as lower CA. I'm not sure if that was because it was skied out yesterday and froze hard overnight, but it was not very good besides a few short stretches and E-facing trees above East Peak Lodge. We skied back to CA using Olympic and Tamarack and after Maggie's Canyon had time for Powder Bowl and Sky where line had almost gone away. Freel Peak is above my nephew. He hiked it last Summer and I did once.
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I lost my nephew getting to Mombo where I found good lightly tracked snow in Powder Bowl and got to base after 4:20 with 27K after skiing another Hogsback. I thought about trying to get home tonight or skiing a little tomorrow, but don't think I'll do either.
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jamesdeluxe said:
This one looks similar to the FTO banner at the top of the page:
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I'm putting my Season Progress Reports on the FTO home page this season, so they need a picture above the heading. So far I've been mostly using pics from OpenSnow or Mammoth Snowman. On Dec. 16 I used my own pic similar to the one above of the opening of Mammoth Chair 3 on Dec. 12. I think I'll use this one tomorrow.

So far:
Nov. 25: Greeley Hill, Alta
Dec. 1: Dave's Run, chair 9, Mammoth
Dec. 9: Cody Bowl, Jackson
Dec. 16: First tracks, chair 3, Mammoth
Dec. 24: Powderchaser Steve riding first chair, KT22, Palisades
Jan. 1: Mineral Basin slide, Snowbird
 
Heavenly looks great! Nice to see everything filled in - including the high peaks not being wind-scoured.

I have never really been in the woods off the Gunbarrel/Tram since I never have had a full-on powder day at Heavenly. More like catching lifts opening after a storm - like Mott/Killibrew Canyons and other high-elevation glades.

How often do conditions allow you to ski Hogsback and/or East Glade?
 
Hard to say how often Hogbacks and East Glade (I duplicated this post with an edit so mostly deleting this one)
 
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tseeb said:
While OpenSnow says Heavenly is over 200" for the season
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Heavenly and Northstar both measure from the very top of their ski areas. Heavenly has a lot of data from 8,400 feet near top of Gunbarrel, but has not reported from there since 2017. That more representative location averages 67% of the upper plot, but that ratio can vary a lot during storms with a fluctuating rain/snow line.

At the moment season to data snowfall at Palisades' base is 52% of its upper plot. But keep in mind that Heavenly's discontinued mid-mountain plot is similar to the elevation of Palisades' upper plot. Palisades' precipitation is much higher than Heavenly's because it's on the Sierra Crest while Heavenly is well leeward of it.

So you sort of have to be a local like tseeb to get powder in areas like Hogbacks and Firebreak since you have have both the low elevation and the lesser precipitation working against you. But it's still the Sierra with high volatility which means you'll get your opportunities with extreme storm cycles like we're seeing now.
 
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Hard to say how often Hogbacks and East Glade (I assume you mean Avalanche Bowl which is skier's right of tram). Since Hogsback faces W and some wraps to SW, you have to be very careful crossing rocky ridges unless there was a couple of feet of recent snow. And the exposure with 8200' elevation at top means it's best for storm skiing or maybe corn. Avy Bowl is often skiable in Spring as big trees shade a
lot of it. While OpenSnow says Heavenly is over 200" for the season, some of it was washed away in rain. You need a solid 3-4' base, and probably better to follow @Tony Crocker's 5' rule for steep places like Palisades, Snowbird and Taos. You still have to watch for rocks as most places that look like a rock will be one. I've skied Firebreak when there was only a couple of inches between my skis and paved part of exit.

I don't think I missed much Saturday as I would have parked by Tram at CA base and Sky and Gondola never opened due to wind so Firebreak would have required shuttle which my nephew said had huge lines. I doubt Motts re-opened and Twitter feed says Comet went on windhold at 1:15. I was trying to get to granddaughter's basketball game at 2 pm in Mountain View, but after dropping nephew at his Mom's in El Dorado Hills and filling up, I would have missed most of it. Instead, I went to SFO as my son had moved up the last leg of his Hanoi-Narita-LAX-SFO from 5:30 to 3 PM arrival. I had time to buy two live Dungeness crabs in San Bruno for $8.99/lb that were about to go into the pot when I wrote this last night, but don't think I posted it. Our son fell asleep before dinner. My wife and I ate more than one of the crabs and picked the meat out of the rest. That's Trader Joe's sourdough in the foil and those are nearly all limes from our tree that look like small lemons.
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tseeb said:
Hard to say how often Hogbacks and East Glade (I assume you mean Avalanche Bowl which is skier's right of tram). Since Hogsback faces W and some wraps to SW, you have to be very careful crossing rocky ridges unless there was a couple of feet of recent snow. And the exposure with 8200' elevation at top means it's best for storm skiing or maybe corn. Avy Bowl is often skiable in Spring as big trees shade a
lot of it.
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Food looks good!

It seems like Heavenly is doing a much better job labeling its massive gladed terrain. (Northstar is similar, but does not seem to advertise almost all of their woods are skiable.) Does Avalanche Bowl = East Bowl Woods?

I was more based in North Tahoe over the years, so there was never the desire to drive from North to South Tahoe on a powder day. (if you even could).

However, I did go to Heavenly quite a bit for some weekends in the 2000s - especially with just average skiing friends. Views of the Lake/desset, beautiful cruisers, super cheap hotels in Stateline (did my share of sub $100 Stateline motel rooms) and some gambling

Old map 2000s hiding glades:

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Newer Map the late 2000s onwards labeling glades

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Heavenly's tree spacing is outstanding. It is oddly vulnerable to wind even though it is forested to the top. But my first ever successful powder day in January 1980 was due to skiing the Nevada side on a day when there was no lift connection to California.
 
ChrisC said:
Food looks good!
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Crab was great. We just had sandwiches made with some of what we didn't eat. Lady ahead of me at fish market said crab was $15.99/lb off the boats in Half Moon Bay on New Years Day. This season did not open until 12/31 this year due to danger of migrating whales getting caught in crab pots. It used to open in November.
ChrisC said:
Does Avalanche Bowl=East Bowl Woods?
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Yes. I was at Heavenly not too many years ago (probably posted about it here) when Powder Bowl chair line got too long so I followed group hiking past not running Pioneer beginner surface lift (it was running Friday) then up line where T-bar used to be above it to the right, then towards where it says Stein's on the map for a much higher entry to Avy Bowl/East Bowl Woods area.

I learned to ski almost 60 years ago in area between top of Tram and Pioneer lift. I don't remember using lift until moving to Patsy's, then Maggie's which had an alternate ending called Sam's that crossed creek on narrow wooden bridge and was below where Stein's (which is Cat Track in older map you posted) is now.

One Heavenly place that is even more obscure is the Beach Gate. It's located above Skyline Trail, the only run from CA to NV, about where it says "Cross" in your 2nd map. I can't tell if skiing goes N or S from there or if it's possible (although probably not what you are supposed to do) return to CA or NV. I'll have to ask a patroller sometime. One I talked to on lift a couple of years ago said if you go out gate and ski Fulstone Canyon (skiers right of Killibrew's Outer Limits) you are not supposed to return.

The problem with Heavenly's upper CA lifts is they it run to SE while storm winds are generally SW or perpendicular to lift, a crosswind which are bad for running lift. Canyon is a little more protected by terrain and trees (and obviously not as high). Also trees near top of Sky are stunted and lift runs up ridgeline with very little terrain blocking wind until very top.
 
Interesting. Heavenly definitely has a layout that favors local knowledge.

I skied Tahoe once back in the late 1980s and learned quickly that maps do not match up to the mountains. Squaw had NO trails just chairlift ratings, and the Heavenly map certainly concealed a lot.

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tseeb said:
One Heavenly place that is even more obscure is the Beach Gate. It's located above Skyline Trail, the only run from CA to NV, about where it says "Cross" in your 2nd map. I can't tell if skiing goes N or S from there or if it's possible (although probably not what you are supposed to do) return to CA or NV. I'll have to ask a patroller sometime. One I talked to on lift a couple of years ago said if you go out gate and ski Fulstone Canyon (skiers right of Killibrew's Outer Limits) you are not supposed to return.
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This looks like one line I will not be trying. Would not know how to coordinate, navigate or when the snow might end. Not too many freeride runs (blue) on FatMaps outside of the Firebreak trail.

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ChrisC said:
Would not know how to coordinate, navigate or when the snow might end.
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Tseeb is a highly qualified local guide. Liz has skied just two days at Heavenly, curated by me for snow conditions and guided by tseeb. So she has an extremely favorable impression.
 
I have more time this morning and found my 2017 posts with Fulstone.
https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/heavenly-ca-and-nv-4-5-2017.12386/ when I skied corn in it and returned on the Rim trail
and 12 days later after driving to UT and back and staying at Goldminer's with my wife who flew to/from SLC. My only skiing in CA that day was gondola run/Firebreak. The gondola parallels the stateline in CA although one day last week Heavenly's condition report said all NV lifts including gondola were still closed power problems.

Heavenly has gone downhill since 2017 as they've eliminated buses between gondola base and NV bases which means if gondola closes and you can't get to CA base where they do run shuttles to gondola base, everyone who came up gondola would need to find their own way back to Stateline unless Heavenly re-routes smaller shuttles that run between Boulder and Stagecoach bases. Or if you take a late gondola run (as I did in post #2 of thread below) and it closes and your vehicle is at one of the NV bases 5 miles by road away, you are on your own.

Also found post from day I hiked old T-bar line to get higher entry into Avy Bowl. See https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/lake-tahoe-ca-1-12-25-2017.12277/ and search for T-bar.
 
tseeb said:
I have more time this morning and found my 2017 posts with Fulstone.
https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/heavenly-ca-and-nv-4-5-2017.12386/ when I skied corn in it and returned on the Rim trail
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Interesting. You can cut back into Heavenly resort proper with the Killibrew Canyon ski-out. Looks like a nice open bowl with great corn snow.
I have done the walk when its snow erodes.

Tony Crocker said:
Tseeb is a highly qualified local guide. Liz has skied just two days at Heavenly, curated by me for snow conditions and guided by tseeb. So she has an extremely favorable impression.
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I will have to invite myself for a Heavenly tour someday. That's great Liz has a positive review of Heavenly - sometimes it can be a little tough to navigate for newbies and they get stuck in one sector/state.

Kirkwood is a little more straightforward since it's mostly a long ridge with various exposures.

I try not to admit I have a deep knowledge of Northstar (lose all my ski cred), but you can ski quite well there on storm deep days on Martis and Backside.
 
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