April 22-23, 2010 Heavenly

This trip started last week, but after our powder day at Bachelor I finally acknowledged that my spinal pain was not subsiding. We made an appointment with my spine doctor, and I had an epidural injection (cortisone & Novocain) in L4-L5. We heard about a storm event heading for Tahoe and left Wednesday morning and arrived Thursday morning just after “chain control” was removed from the Tahoe passes. South Lake Tahoe was coated with a foot of new snow overnight, and the snowplows were clearing the main arterials. The resort was reporting 12” overnight and 15” in the last 24 hours. We picked up our season’s passes and rode the gondola to the upper mountain. This is now the only access during the final week of operations. About half way up the gondola, we entered the “white room” of heavy fog, snow flurries and wind. Three high speed quads were operating on the upper mountain, but there were few folks venturing forth (not surprising given that you couldn’t see a thing). From lake level at 6240’ to the top of the Sky Express at 10,000’ it was a rather quick ascent. Any of the groomed or open runs were in a total whiteout. With 12” plus our expectations were high, but the limited visibility and dense powder didn’t meet our expectations. The treed terrain was enjoyable and the powder was boot deep. After a few hours, the exhaustion of driving 870 miles in a day and a half, having achy joints and back, and skiing in a whiteout finally caught up with us. Everyone had to download via the gondola, although we did see a few hardy souls descending the gondola line which was deep powder for the top half and stumps, rocks and debris for the lower half. We arrived in the Village to drizzle. Yuck, we have never had rain in the Village before, but the upcoming forecast for 4 days of sunshine and warm temperatures made it tolerable.

Hillary and Dale arrived in the afternoon and gave us the look of “you told us it would be sunny”. It was cold, drizzling and rather dreary -- like Seattle. But, the morning of the 23rd was sunny, no wind, clear skies and brisk when we arrived at the upper gondola station. We were in the first wave and enjoyed packed powder on piste and dense wind affected powder off piste. It didn’t take long for the packed powder to warm and soften. It was a classic day of high speed cruising with views to the northwest of deep blue Lake Tahoe ringed by mountain peaks, and views to the east of the Carson Valley in Nevada with a patchwork of green and brown with snow in the far eastern mountains of Nevada. It has been 2 years since our last visit to Heavenly, and the views never get “old”. We finished a perfect day by having a dinner of roasted chicken and Asian salad at Cave Rock Park on the shore of Lake Tahoe and watched the sun set over The Sierra Crest and Mt. Tallac. The cortisone shot hasn’t “kicked in” yet, but I’m optimistic (and hopeful).


Photo 1: April 22-Jill in whiteout at Heavenly

Photo 2: April 23-Jill and Hillary at Heavenly

Awesome, Zap. Hope the drugs kick in and that you both have another fine year of making us jealous. .

At approximately what elevation does skiable snow start, just west of the crest?

At approximately what elevation does skiable snow start, just west of the crest?

In Lake Tahoe area, you can ski down to lake level which is approximately 6200'.

We are currently down south along highway 395 in the Eastern Sierra.  The snowpack is "fat' at least in the Virginia Lakes area which is just south of Bridgeport.  This is the best snowpack we have seen in quite a few years. You can ski on the east side of the Sierra Crest down to 7500-8000'. We had a great tour today which I'll post later.  There is another big storm arriving on Monday night /Tuesday with big winds and more snow.  There will be touring late this season. 

Awesome. Thanks! .