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Perfectly poised in South Lake Tahoe, Heavenly Ski Resort deserves the title it boasts. I know it is cliché, but this place is truly heavenly. Sprawled across the California/Nevada border this resort has epic shredding and almost even more epic night life (casinos included) and the view from the top says it all. Overlooking the 22 mile lake and the Casinos of South Lake Tahoe, this place is where the shred scene meets the night life.

With over a foot of fresh and mostly clear skies, our Weekend shred sesh in Tahoe was absolutely perfect. Up early on Saturday to ensure fresh tracks, we met up at the bottom of the Gondola and were on our way. We were lucky enough to have a couple of tour guides to show us the best spots on the hill to ride, which means we have some sweet tracks to tell you about. As Heavenly has over 4,800 acres, sprawled over 3,500 vertical feet, this place is massive and the tour guides were a treat and not to bad to look at, either (just sayin).

We were at the top of the Gondola ready to begin our day at about 9am and the first thing we noticed was how empty the place seemed, there was no one on the lifts or the runs. Apparently with the casino night life and the fact that the bars that don’t close, people generally get a later start at Heavenly, which is fine by me.

You know you are shreddin a rad hill when the theme of the day is, “that was the best run of the day!!!” No joke, after every run we took, we had a new fav and could not imagine it getting any better. But it always did. We spent the first part of our day charging any and every tree run we could find around the Olympic Chair lift, which was a perfect way to warm up. From Olympic we headed over and Conquered Mott and Killebrew Canyon’s, which boast amazing views of the rain shadowed Nevada side at the boundary of the resort. We worked our way over to Sky Express and hiked around to find an unscathed canyon and then moved on to the hands down, best run of the day….

The abundance of sick tree riding covered in cornices didn’t hurt the Heavenly vibe. There were drops around every corner and the trees were perfectly spaced, enabling you to charge through them full force. With that, it is all about the North Bowl at Heavenly. With two old school, slow, triple chair lifts, you won’t find too many people in these parts as they don’t want to put up with the lift; but it is more than worth it. Make your way over to north bowl and find The Burn and Nevada Woods. Talk about unscathed, fresh pow, tree runs, with perfect drops and pitch. These are the runs you dream about and were without a doubt the best run of the day…until we made our way over to Maggie’s Canyon on our way to lunch.

We ate lunch at the only full-service dining experience on the Heavenly Mountain, The Gunbarrel Grill at the Lakeview Lodge. This place features Napa Valley-influenced California cuisine and an array of select meats, cheeses, grilled vegetables and a gourmet salad bar. The Gunbarrel Grill offers wonderful entrée selections at great prices, (for the mountain anyways) as each entrée at about $20.

We wrapped up day one on the hill with a park session at the small park underneath the Groove Chairlift (which is just up the hill from the Gunbarrel Grill).

To my surprise, the more I bragged about Heavenly, the more I heard people talking smack. The complaints were predictable, that this place is so big and I found myself traversing all day. Guess that is what happens when you stick to the groomers all ? I guess with any mountain you don’t know, this can be your first visit experience. However if you make a plan (or stick to our tips from above)…I am sure you won’t be on this bandwagon. This weekend to Heavenly was one of my top five ride sessions for sure. So don’t overlook it if you are planning a trip to Tahoe. Also, the night life is legit, so there is totally something for everyone!

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