Since I purchased the Epic Local Pass from Vail Ski Resorts for Alex and me, I was eager to snowboard at one of the accessible ski resorts (Heavenly, Kirkwood, or Northstar). Although the snow conditions were not very favorable, I decided to try snowboarding at Heavenly anyway.
I booked a room for one night on Saturday, January 13, at the conveniently located Blue Lake Inn in South Lake Tahoe - a short walk from Heavenly Gondola.
Expecting a 4-hour drive, we departed early on Saturday, January 13, at 4:15 a.m., arriving at South Lake Tahoe at about 8:06 a.m. The drive was not very difficult (due to the lack of traffic and snow), but there was a bit of fog early in the morning. We parked at the Blue Lake Inn and ate a quick breakfast of coffee and bagels (a compliment of the Inn). We changed into our snowboarding clothes and walked to the gondola.
Since my Epic Local Pass was blacked out on January 13, we had to buy a supplemental pass for Alex and me. The line to purchase the pass was extremely long, and we waited for one hour (from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.) I was frustrated with the long wait and impatient to get on the slopes.
Once we arrived at Tamarack Lodge (Gondola drop off), we strapped on our boards and took the Tamarack Express up the hill. We snowboarded down Sam's Dream ( an easy Blue run) and then got on the Big Easy chairlift (not realizing that this lift was for beginners). We returned to the Tamarack Express (which seats 6 skiers) and snowboarded down to the Dipper Express chairlift. The snow was surprisingly good (not icy at all), and we enjoyed the easy slopes of the "Big Dipper" and "Orion."
We decided to eat lunch at the East Peak Lodge, where Alex selected a hamburger while ordering a tri-tip sandwich. The food was delicious but extremely expensive. Can you say $20 for a burger?
Eventually, we decided to try other lifts and took the California Trail to the Sky Express chairlift. Arriving there, we did many turns on the "Ridge Run" trail.
On this gorgeous, sunny day, the views of Lake Tahoe from the Ridge Run trail were spectacular.
We had a fantastic first day at Heavenly - much better than I expected with the low snow cover.
We returned to our room around 4:00 p.m. and rested.
Here is a GoPro 4 Silver video I recorded of my ride down "Ridge Run":
Eventually, I walked around the village, looking at all the fun activities. There was a lot of live music at Heavenly Village. We headed to the nearby Applebee's for dinner when Alex got hungry. Alex had his 8 oz steak while I selected the "Bourbon Chicken and Shrimp."
I also tried the Pomegranate Margarita, which was really delicious, and finished the meal with the "Butter Pecan Blondie."
We had a fantastic day, and the Slopes app on my phone recorded most of my runs (because of GPS issues at Heavenly, many runs were missed). However, the Apple Watch Series 3 version of the app did not work at all.
The longest run - "Ridge Run" - was 2 miles long. I was able to hit 30.9 mph!
The next day - Sunday, January 14 - was similar to Saturday's snow conditions but a bit more crowded at the chair lifts.
We had an early lunch at the Sky Deck Lodge, where I had the barbecue chicken sandwich, and Alex ate another burger.
We had another fantastic day of snowboarding, finishing a bit earlier - around 2:30 p.m. (due to large crowds).
Overall, we liked snowboarding at Heavenly, though most Blue-rated runs were too easy; they were more similar to Green-rated runs at Whistler. We hope to be back when there is better snow!
I booked a room for one night on Saturday, January 13, at the conveniently located Blue Lake Inn in South Lake Tahoe - a short walk from Heavenly Gondola.
Expecting a 4-hour drive, we departed early on Saturday, January 13, at 4:15 a.m., arriving at South Lake Tahoe at about 8:06 a.m. The drive was not very difficult (due to the lack of traffic and snow), but there was a bit of fog early in the morning. We parked at the Blue Lake Inn and ate a quick breakfast of coffee and bagels (a compliment of the Inn). We changed into our snowboarding clothes and walked to the gondola.
Since my Epic Local Pass was blacked out on January 13, we had to buy a supplemental pass for Alex and me. The line to purchase the pass was extremely long, and we waited for one hour (from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.) I was frustrated with the long wait and impatient to get on the slopes.
Once we arrived at Tamarack Lodge (Gondola drop off), we strapped on our boards and took the Tamarack Express up the hill. We snowboarded down Sam's Dream ( an easy Blue run) and then got on the Big Easy chairlift (not realizing that this lift was for beginners). We returned to the Tamarack Express (which seats 6 skiers) and snowboarded down to the Dipper Express chairlift. The snow was surprisingly good (not icy at all), and we enjoyed the easy slopes of the "Big Dipper" and "Orion."
We decided to eat lunch at the East Peak Lodge, where Alex selected a hamburger while ordering a tri-tip sandwich. The food was delicious but extremely expensive. Can you say $20 for a burger?
Eventually, we decided to try other lifts and took the California Trail to the Sky Express chairlift. Arriving there, we did many turns on the "Ridge Run" trail.
On this gorgeous, sunny day, the views of Lake Tahoe from the Ridge Run trail were spectacular.
We had a fantastic first day at Heavenly - much better than I expected with the low snow cover.
We returned to our room around 4:00 p.m. and rested.
Here is a GoPro 4 Silver video I recorded of my ride down "Ridge Run":
Eventually, I walked around the village, looking at all the fun activities. There was a lot of live music at Heavenly Village. We headed to the nearby Applebee's for dinner when Alex got hungry. Alex had his 8 oz steak while I selected the "Bourbon Chicken and Shrimp."
I also tried the Pomegranate Margarita, which was really delicious, and finished the meal with the "Butter Pecan Blondie."
We had a fantastic day, and the Slopes app on my phone recorded most of my runs (because of GPS issues at Heavenly, many runs were missed). However, the Apple Watch Series 3 version of the app did not work at all.
The longest run - "Ridge Run" - was 2 miles long. I was able to hit 30.9 mph!
The next day - Sunday, January 14 - was similar to Saturday's snow conditions but a bit more crowded at the chair lifts.
We had an early lunch at the Sky Deck Lodge, where I had the barbecue chicken sandwich, and Alex ate another burger.
We had another fantastic day of snowboarding, finishing a bit earlier - around 2:30 p.m. (due to large crowds).
Overall, we liked snowboarding at Heavenly, though most Blue-rated runs were too easy; they were more similar to Green-rated runs at Whistler. We hope to be back when there is better snow!
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