tseeb
Well-known member
How many ways did today suck at Heavenly? I could go on and add pictures, but this is what I quickly came up with:
1. Parked behind Harrah's and went up gondola about 9:30 to avoid drive to Stagecoach base, but after riding up Tamarack and skiing Orion was told Dipper had closed and Comet was closing so we either had to return to gondola and ski Big Easy or ski to Stagecoach and Olympic which did run all day. At least I did not walk from Harrah's to gondola in street shoes, change to ski boots in gondola and leave bag with shoes and a beer for ride down behind rock at top as I often do,
2. Nearly all the people at Heavenly were skiing Olympic which was scraped off and got crowded at times. Even when it started snowing the accumulation did not keep up with the scraping off.
3. The only alternate to Olympic, Comstock, skiers right from top of Stagecoach, was worse with a mixture of frozen bumps with a inch of two new in the often rocky troughs, many obstacles and coral reef on the edges. The sign saying it was un-groomed and for advanced only kept blowing over causing a lot of intermediates to go that way and hike back to top of lift, some even before they made a turn.
4. Even Upper North Bowl, the connection between top of Stagecoach and base of Olympic which usually has good snow was scraped off down to hard layer underneath.
5. It was cold and windy and my extra clothes were at unreachable gondola base plus the runs open did not make me work hard enough to warm up.
6. It started snowing moderately at noon and I hoped by going into the small (and only reachable) lodge at Stagecoach base for a lunch break there would be some accumulation, but it slowed down and did not improve before I quit.
7. I followed Heavenly's employee's instruction to catch shuttle at 30 min after every hour, but waited more than 15 minutes for 2:30 bus. Then when it arrived, driver had to put on chains so it was after 3 pm before bus left. Then it dropped everyone on Highway 50 by gondola and if I wanted to go to transit center (closer to my car and that we passed earlier on bus ride), I had to wait for driver to remove chains.
8. I moved my pass from lanyard inside my coat to window pocket on coat sleeve and it was no longer readable. It seemed like they were trying to scan it while Kirkwood must have been using RFID the previous day.
The good:
1. Rode gondola with traveling nurse from Texas who is working in Bay Area and had never skied CA and last skied at Breckenridge two year ago. Since there was not much to ski, I gave her a tour of what was open.
2. There was some powder on maybe not open runs and trees skier's right of Olympic that I took a couple of times. If you really did not care about your skis your could have also found some new snow skiers left where some of the edge was OK.
3. The lower third of Comstock was decent.
4. I did not hit too many rocks
5. Before skiing I won a $25 gift certificate from Lake Tahoe TV to Sushi Pier that I used for excellent all-you-can-eat sushi dinner with soup, salad and an appetizer since I was not sure if I will be back in 60 days when it expires. This is very good sushi, not mall or buffet sushi.
6. Quit early enough to fill my growler with Deschutes Pine Drops IPA and gamble enough while 8X points were on to get a dining credit good for free breakfast tomorrow.
My watch said I skied19.5K vertical, but most of it was not very good. There was about 2" on my car when I got back to it at 3:45 PM and almost an inch of big flakes fell on my jacket during the 20-30 minutes I poached lakefront hot tub just before 6 PM. I could have driven 35 miles each way to Kirkwood where they reported 4" new this morning, but The Wall was on wind hold all day. I also have to wonder if it was the same 4" they reported on previous day as their 7-day total was also 4". Kirkwood, where I plan to be at opening tomorrow, reported about 7 PM on Facebook they received 15.5" new at their base and 18+" at summit and it's
1. Parked behind Harrah's and went up gondola about 9:30 to avoid drive to Stagecoach base, but after riding up Tamarack and skiing Orion was told Dipper had closed and Comet was closing so we either had to return to gondola and ski Big Easy or ski to Stagecoach and Olympic which did run all day. At least I did not walk from Harrah's to gondola in street shoes, change to ski boots in gondola and leave bag with shoes and a beer for ride down behind rock at top as I often do,
2. Nearly all the people at Heavenly were skiing Olympic which was scraped off and got crowded at times. Even when it started snowing the accumulation did not keep up with the scraping off.
3. The only alternate to Olympic, Comstock, skiers right from top of Stagecoach, was worse with a mixture of frozen bumps with a inch of two new in the often rocky troughs, many obstacles and coral reef on the edges. The sign saying it was un-groomed and for advanced only kept blowing over causing a lot of intermediates to go that way and hike back to top of lift, some even before they made a turn.
4. Even Upper North Bowl, the connection between top of Stagecoach and base of Olympic which usually has good snow was scraped off down to hard layer underneath.
5. It was cold and windy and my extra clothes were at unreachable gondola base plus the runs open did not make me work hard enough to warm up.
6. It started snowing moderately at noon and I hoped by going into the small (and only reachable) lodge at Stagecoach base for a lunch break there would be some accumulation, but it slowed down and did not improve before I quit.
7. I followed Heavenly's employee's instruction to catch shuttle at 30 min after every hour, but waited more than 15 minutes for 2:30 bus. Then when it arrived, driver had to put on chains so it was after 3 pm before bus left. Then it dropped everyone on Highway 50 by gondola and if I wanted to go to transit center (closer to my car and that we passed earlier on bus ride), I had to wait for driver to remove chains.
8. I moved my pass from lanyard inside my coat to window pocket on coat sleeve and it was no longer readable. It seemed like they were trying to scan it while Kirkwood must have been using RFID the previous day.
The good:
1. Rode gondola with traveling nurse from Texas who is working in Bay Area and had never skied CA and last skied at Breckenridge two year ago. Since there was not much to ski, I gave her a tour of what was open.
2. There was some powder on maybe not open runs and trees skier's right of Olympic that I took a couple of times. If you really did not care about your skis your could have also found some new snow skiers left where some of the edge was OK.
3. The lower third of Comstock was decent.
4. I did not hit too many rocks
5. Before skiing I won a $25 gift certificate from Lake Tahoe TV to Sushi Pier that I used for excellent all-you-can-eat sushi dinner with soup, salad and an appetizer since I was not sure if I will be back in 60 days when it expires. This is very good sushi, not mall or buffet sushi.
6. Quit early enough to fill my growler with Deschutes Pine Drops IPA and gamble enough while 8X points were on to get a dining credit good for free breakfast tomorrow.
My watch said I skied19.5K vertical, but most of it was not very good. There was about 2" on my car when I got back to it at 3:45 PM and almost an inch of big flakes fell on my jacket during the 20-30 minutes I poached lakefront hot tub just before 6 PM. I could have driven 35 miles each way to Kirkwood where they reported 4" new this morning, but The Wall was on wind hold all day. I also have to wonder if it was the same 4" they reported on previous day as their 7-day total was also 4". Kirkwood, where I plan to be at opening tomorrow, reported about 7 PM on Facebook they received 15.5" new at their base and 18+" at summit and it's
