tseeb
Well-known member
We left San Jose at 5:30 AM and arrived So. Tahoe at 9:15, opened up cabin and got ready for skiing. Winds were strong and gondola and top of Heavenly was closed on both CA and NV side. We decided to go to NV. After a quick stop at gondola for my wife to get her pass picture, we went up Kingsbuy grade and ended up at Boulder base as sign said parking was already full at Stagecoach. We had a crowded shuttle to Stagecoach which was mobbed with skiers coming down the run and coming from shuttles and parking. Wait for chair was under 10 minutes, but looked much longer if you came from the run so we skied Upper North Bowl to Olympic which was less crowded and had good snow on the run and in the glades on skier's left. The line was getting worse so we took singles line. Then I heard from the lift operator that Comet was open which made our day.
This mave have been a first for Heavenly (Thank You), opening more chairs on a very windy day. Usually it is the other way around as they close chairs until only Boulder, a slow, hard beginner's chair is running in NV. We skied Bonanza, which had very good coverage and snow to get to empty Comet chair. Comet run was corduroy and I found excellent packed powder in the gully on the right about halfway down. Little Dipper run had big bumps and very good coverage, especially compared to pictures I posted last month. The edges and trees on both sides of Little Dipper were in good shape as they face north.
After a quick stop at always crowded East Peak Lodge, we came out to light snow with a little less wind. We skied Comet a few more times then Ied my wife, who was getting cold, down Crossover, $100 Saddle, Olympic and lower Nevada trail to Boulder base. I shuttled back to Stagecoach, came down trees to left of chair and found about a new inch of snow had already fallen. I went up again and over to Olympic for one more run. The winds were again howling and I was one of the only riders left on the chair. I came down the new Nevada Pines run and then skied the gully to skiers left of North Bowl. I ended up on North Bowl which was smooth, hard and fast. My total 14 runs/15.9K vertical, but it could have been much less if they did not open Comet.
P.S. We heard later that CA was very crowded with lines up to 20 mins. on Canyon and Powderbowl so NV was a good call. You could ski from NV to CA on either Olympic or Comet, but the only ways back were long shuttle or very long hike which I heard the people did to escape the CA crowds.
This mave have been a first for Heavenly (Thank You), opening more chairs on a very windy day. Usually it is the other way around as they close chairs until only Boulder, a slow, hard beginner's chair is running in NV. We skied Bonanza, which had very good coverage and snow to get to empty Comet chair. Comet run was corduroy and I found excellent packed powder in the gully on the right about halfway down. Little Dipper run had big bumps and very good coverage, especially compared to pictures I posted last month. The edges and trees on both sides of Little Dipper were in good shape as they face north.
After a quick stop at always crowded East Peak Lodge, we came out to light snow with a little less wind. We skied Comet a few more times then Ied my wife, who was getting cold, down Crossover, $100 Saddle, Olympic and lower Nevada trail to Boulder base. I shuttled back to Stagecoach, came down trees to left of chair and found about a new inch of snow had already fallen. I went up again and over to Olympic for one more run. The winds were again howling and I was one of the only riders left on the chair. I came down the new Nevada Pines run and then skied the gully to skiers left of North Bowl. I ended up on North Bowl which was smooth, hard and fast. My total 14 runs/15.9K vertical, but it could have been much less if they did not open Comet.
P.S. We heard later that CA was very crowded with lines up to 20 mins. on Canyon and Powderbowl so NV was a good call. You could ski from NV to CA on either Olympic or Comet, but the only ways back were long shuttle or very long hike which I heard the people did to escape the CA crowds.
