Heavenly hopes to have gondola back on track this week

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Heavenly Ski Resort gondola could be in operation by the weekend if repairs go as planned. Once it was announced on January 4 that the gondola would be down "indefinitely," due to mechanical issues, parts were ordered and sent from Europe overnight.

To make up for the loss of a major access point to the mountain, Heavenly operations teams worked to double the skiable acreage and added shuttles. Mother Nature helped with almost a foot of fresh snow.

The Gondola repairs have been underway since the parts arrived. The bearings are being replaced and, once completed, the gondola will have to go through tests before it can reopen.

Heavenly's VP and COO Tom Fortune has been updating the public on the resort's social media since the gondola went down.

"We’ve got our expert lift maintenance team members ready, along with team members from our manufacturing partner, to begin work the moment these critical parts arrive," said Fortune just a day after the gondola went down. "We’ll share a more definitive timeline for reopening as soon as we’re able."

On Tuesday, January 9, Fortune said the parts were at the top of the gondola and the crews would be working into the night to get everything put back together. He said they hope to have it all put back together by Wednesday.

Fortune thanked the ski patrol and mountain operations teams for safely getting more terrain open, and having the Stagecoach lift on the Nevada side open up.

"We couldn’t have predicted this issue, and we’re doing the very best we can – as quickly and safely as possible," said Fortune. "Thank you again for your understanding and patience as we work through this."

To follow the resort lift status, followhttps://www.skiheavenly.com/.