Heavenly opens Cal to Nevada crossover trail

For those of us who have been waiting to transit from California to Nevada at Heavenly Mountain Resort, the wait is over. The crossover trial is now open. That in conjunction with the predicted natural sow heading our way is indeed good news. Like many I've been waiting to ski Heavenly until the crossover trial opened. Now I'm off to the slopes.

Ad oh, yes, in case you missed it if you haven't had your skis or board tuned do it now. You can do it yourself and save $50 or take the gear to your local ski shop. You can also get your bindings checked for correct release tension at a shop. Remember, you don't wax just to make the skis and boards go faster, you do so to make turning easier and smoother.

Here's Heavenly's latest snow report:

Thanks to the West Coast’s largest snowmaking system and the ingenuity of the mountain operations, snowmaking and grooming crews, Heavenly Mountain Resort opened Skyline Trail on Monday, January 16, allowing skiers and snowboarders to ski and ride from California to Nevada.

Heavenly snowmakers and groomers combined to cover more than 4,830 linear feet of trail with high-quality, machine-made snow using Sky Express chair lift to help transport snow up to the top of Skyline Trail and push it down the run. Snowmakers also made snow at the top Dipper Express in Nevada and groomers pushed it up Skyline Trail to meet the team pushing across from California.

“This project has been an amazing combination of creativity and hard work, driven by our boundless desire to make things the best they can be for our loyal guests,” said Pete Sonntag, Heavenly’s general manager. “We hope this is a project we never have to do again, but with natural snow being tough to come by this season, we felt that opening Skyline was a critical component to the overall experience for our guests. Now that the two separate mountains are connected, we are functioning as one large resort.”

Overall, Heavenly is operating 23 lifts with 28 open trails and more than 15 miles of the finest snow surface conditions Lake Tahoe has to offer. Snow depths on the open trails range from 18-24 inches and snow coverage is wall-to-wall.

With snow in the forecast for this weekend, Heavenly is hoping to open additional terrain soon and, with the snow pack that has already been created across all 28 open trails, conditions will only continue to improve.

For a behind-the-scenes look at how the expert staff at Heavenly completed the covering of Skyline Trail, check out http://youtu.be/dF29I3tSLSs.

50 Percent off Lodging in January
With snow in the forecast and 50 percent off hotels in January, there is no better time to book a last minute trip to Heavenly. Visit Heavenly between Jan. 16-26, 2012 to save 50 percent off a two- or four-night stay at Tahoe Seasons Resort and Horizon Casino Resort. Two-night stays, including one day of skiing or riding, starts at just $165 per person. http://www.skiheavenly.com/Plan-Your-Trip/Vacation-Deals-and-Packages/Offer-Details.aspx?ProductID=H...