Heavenly
Tuesday 27 March 2007

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

This was a very strange day. We were promised 2-4" of snow overnight. When we looked at our car, there was much more than that down at Lake Level. Looking at the snow reports, Heavenly was claiming between 12 and 24" of fresh "powder". While we were eating breakfast it started to snow again. Clearing the car was a non-trivial task .. we did not have a scraper. However, Chris improvised with the tray from the room used for the ice bucket and we got enough visibility to see.

The roads were snow covered. The snow-plows (sic.) has left a barrier in the middle of the road which meant that we could not turn left from the hotel. On arrival at Heavenly, we could see sunshine on the mountains on the other side of the lake. By the time we got to the top of Gunbarrel, we were skiing in bright sunlight with hardly a cloud in the sky.

07:50 Heavy overnight snow on our car	07:50 The tree outside our room is heavy with fresh snow
07:50 The heap of old snow is well covered	07:50 The hotel in the snow
07:50 Surprise for a British tour group	07:50 At least 6" of snow to be removed from the car
07:51 Chris found a suitable snow scraper in our room	08:24 Arrival at Heavenly .. Sun on the mountains across the lake
08:24 Sun on the mountains across the lake	08:50 The line beginning to form
08:50 Fresh snow on the moguls of Gunbarrel	08:51 Chris getting ready to start

Our first task was to get up the mountain. We took Gunbarrel chair which climbs above a long double-black mogul run, and the the Powder Bowl 6-pack to get sufficient height to cross across to interesting skiing.

09:06 Gunbarrel	09:14 Under Powder Bowl
09:14 Snow covered trees	09:15 Powder Bowl lift through the trees
09:17 Bright sunlight at the top of Powder Bowl	09:17 Chris tightening his boots

After a short run, we took Sky Express to the highest point of Heavenly and the spectacular Ridge Run with its views of Lake Tahoe. Although the sun was shining, it was bitterly cold, with strong winds on the exposed ridge. The run down was excellent, recent snow nicely groomed. There was clearly a lot of fresh snow and the grooming was not going to last long.

09:25 Wind blowing the loose snow near the top of Sky Express	09:26 The top of Ridge Run
09:26 Sun on the snow covered trees	09:27 Chris setting off down Ridge Run
09:27 Ridge Run	09:28 The view of Lake Tahoe from the Ridge Run
09:28 Lake Tahoe

We decided to switch to Canyon lift for a couple of runs to keep below the highest point of the ridge and clear of the strongest winds.

09:38 The top of Sky Express	09:37 Nearing the top of Canyon Express
09:39 Chris on Ridge Run with the Lake in the background	09:39 Chris on Ridge Run
09:39 Ridge Run and Lake Tahoe	09:49 The top of Canyon Express

After a loo break, we realised that getting back to the bottom of Canyon Express was going to be hard work. In fact even getting to the bottom of Sky was not easy. (Heavenly seems to specialise in uphill approached to lift loading stations). At the top of Sky, we decided to cross over to the Nevada side. This was not a good decision. A combination of the wind and the snow conditions meant that we soon stalled on Skyline Trail and a great deal of poling and/or skating was required. Chris discovered that his bruised ribs made poling painful.

10:11 The start of Skyline Trail	10:15 Skyline Trail
10:15 Skyline Trail near the Nevada border	10:16 Rocks above Skyline Trail
10:16 The Nevada State Line	10:19 Big Dipper run
10:19 Chris entering Big Dipper

On the Nevada side we did 2 runs off Dipper lift before stopping for coffee and to get warm at East Peak Lodge.

10:30 The top of Dipper Express	10:30 Looking down Orion run towards Nevada
10:42 Entering Big Dipper run	10:44 Looking down Big Dipper
10:44 Looking down Big Dipper	11:20 East Peak Lodge

After our break, we took Comet lift and skied down to Stagecoach Base on the Nevada side.

11:23 The bottom of Dipper Express

11:28 Chris at the top of Comet

Getting back up the mountain from Stagecoach Base proved to be another challenge. The trail "down" to the bottom of Comet lift proved to be another flat run requiring a lot of poling. We followed up with three runs from Dipper lift which at least were all downhill. By this time, the weather was beginning to deteriorate again, with a build-up of cloud and the occasional snow flurry. After our third run off Dipper, we stopped for lunch, a very passable slice of pizza.

11:49 Trying to get down to East Peak Lodge area	12:01 At the top of Dipper
12:27 Chris at the top of Comet as heavy clouds build up

After lunch, we more or less decided to cross back to the California side and stop for the day. Comet gained us sufficient height to take Dipper to the trail back to California. By the time we got to the top of Dipper conditions had taken a turn for the worse, with almost blizzard conditions. The trail back into California was not a pleasant experience. This time, there were no places where we had to pole, but blowing ice particles were cold and painful.

13:01 Looking up the mountain from East Peak Lodge	13:10 Chris heading down Comet
13:19 On Dipper and the snow is starting

To get back to Gunbarrel and the lift down to the California Base we had to take Comet again to the Ridge Run. This time, there was no view of the Lake, simply a run to be survived. The short Patsy's lift back to the top of Gunbarrel was particularly unpleasant in the driving ice. Finally we got to the top of Gunbarrel and the download to the base area. The anticipated views of the lake never materialised.

13:34 On Ridge Run and no view of the Lake any more
13:50 Descending Gunbarrel	13:50 Descending Gunbarrel

This represented a good time to stop for the day. We returned to our hotel for a long afternoon of Star Trek and ventured out for dinner later when the snow had stopped.

Runs

Last updated: 1st April 2007