Heavenly in early April?

P

Petester

New member
Hey all,
I am trying to plan a ski vacation with my kids, unfortunately their break is not until the first week of April. To complicate things even more, the only timeshares out west are near Heavenly. Soooo... with that said, how "safe" do you think it would be to book a week at Heavenly the first full week of April (4/55 - 4/12)?

Thoughts, advice?
 
It's not unreasonable snow-wise. Heavenly goes up to 10,000 and the intermediate stuff is mostly at the upper third of elevation. Heavenly is not a good place for beginners (don't know about your kids). Kirkwood is the best at Tahoe for late season and worth a day or two of your time, about 45 minutes away. Mt. Rose is also high altitude and a similar drive in the opposite direction. Mammoth would be best, but it sounds like you're only willing to go where you can exchange your timeshare. I don't suppose Snowbird's Iron Blosam (where I'm with a big group in March) is in your timeshare exchange?

At least half of California's K-12 has that Easter week as spring break. The quality of the Heavenly experience is somewhat sensitive to crowds. But I think the timeshares are around the Stagecoach base in Nevada, which is the best base to avoid crowds getting on or off the hill.
 
Hey Tony,
Thanks for the feedback! Iron Blosam looks awesome (I'm jealous), unfortunately there is no availability that week. Also, trying to avoid paying airfare (times are tough). I would love to go to Mammoth but there are no timeshares even remotely near there. I will keep my eyes open for things near Mt. Rose and Kirkwood.

Thanks again!
 
For a full week driving to Utah from SoCal is not unreasonable; I've done it several times. 11 hours vs. 8 to Tahoe. But don't do it in your April timeframe if you have to stay at Park City. Heavenly/Kirkwood are a better bet for less sloppy snow. The Cottonwood areas are better than Heavenly but still not as consistent as Mammoth. As discussed previously, the still frequent April snow in LCC/BCC tends to produce a combination of powder days and difficult skiing in transitional snow that has not had time to consolidate.
 
I've skied Heavenly in late April two of the last three winters. Last winter, the last snowfall at Heavenly was March 15-16. I skied April 20 and while coverage was good, it was cold and windy and stayed firm. I've seen that before there in the spring where the sun was not warm enough and the runs were not east facing enough to soften very early. Warm spring days usually give better conditions than cold wind and clouds. If it gets too soft, you can head to the Face which faces West and needs sun to soften the big bumps.

Two years earlier we skiied the last four days Heavenly was open. The first day got almost too soft, then we had a firmer day with storm coming in, followed by two days with an inch or two of new snow including one where they closed early due to threat of lightning.

Other Tahoes areas with good spring skiing and a variety of exposures are Alpine and Squaw.
 
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