Heavenly
4,800 acres across CA-NV border, 1,066m vertical, 97 runs. Epic Pass access at Lake Tahoe's highest resort.
Season 2026 - 2027
Opens
24 Nov 2026
Closes
4 Apr 2027
Days open
131
Annual snow
30ft
The Overview
Michael Fulton
Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
Heavenly spans 4,800 acres across the California-Nevada border at Lake Tahoe, with a summit elevation of 3,068 metres making it the highest resort in the basin. The 1,066-metre vertical drop feeds 97 runs spread between four base areas, whilst the ski area receives an average of 9.1 metres of snowfall annually and maintains extensive snowmaking across more than 60 per cent of terrain. The resort opened in 1955 and has been owned by Vail Resorts since 2002.
Terrain breaks down to 8 per cent beginner, 62 per cent intermediate, 25 per cent advanced and 5 per cent expert. Ridge Run and California Trail deliver panoramic Lake Tahoe views across long intermediate cruisers on the California side, whilst Mott Canyon on the Nevada side offers steep chutes and glades with over 490 metres of sustained vertical. The ski area's unique straddling of two states creates distinct characters - California slopes face the lake with wider groomers, Nevada terrain delivers steeper pitches and Carson Valley vistas.
The base village sits in South Lake Tahoe at Heavenly Village, where the 8-person gondola rises 900 metres from the casino corridor. On-mountain lodges include Tamarack at the gondola's upper terminal, California Lodge with the aerial tram, and East Peak Lodge on the Nevada side. Crowds concentrate at weekends and holidays, particularly on connector runs between states, though the sprawling footprint disperses traffic across multiple pods.
Epic Pass provides unlimited access, with the resort also honouring Epic Local Pass with holiday restrictions. The 2025-2026 season runs from 22 November through 5 April. Heavenly suits strong intermediates and groups mixing abilities, though beginners face isolated learning zones with limited progression routes between sectors and experts may find the double-black percentage modest for a resort of this scale.
3,497ft
Vertical
97
Runs
4,800 acres
Skiable
30ft
Annual snow
Epic
Pass
The Terrain
97 runs across 4,800 acres skiable
Heavenly spreads 97 runs across 4,800 acres skiable of terrain. It leans intermediate at 62%, with 8 beginner runs to find your feet and 29 advanced or expert runs when you want to push.
Terrain split
97
runs
97 runs across 4 grades
Beginner8 runs · 8%
Intermediate60 runs · 62%
Advanced24 runs · 25%
Expert5 runs · 5%
Time it right
When to visit Heavenly
The 2025-2026 season opens 22 November 2025 and closes 5 April 2026, delivering a 135-day operating window. Heavenly typically opens in the third or fourth week of November depending on snowmaking windows, with Thanksgiving weekend reliably seeing gondola and multiple base areas operational. The resort celebrated its 70th anniversary in the 2025-2026 season, having first opened as Heavenly Valley on 15 December 1955.
Annual snowfall averages 9.1 metres at upper elevations, with the 3,068-metre summit and extensive grooming fleet maintaining cover throughout winter. Snowmaking blankets approximately 60 per cent of terrain via over 200 snow guns, concentrated on lower and mid-mountain zones. The Tahoe basin's relatively moderate elevation for a major resort means rain can affect base areas during warm cycles, though upper mountain snow quality benefits from cold storms tracking across the Sierra crest.
January through March deliver peak powder reliability, with the first week of March historically the snowiest period averaging 43 centimetres across 3.3 snowy days. December and April offer thinner but often uncrowded conditions. Spring corn develops by late March on sun-exposed California faces. Base depths held at 104 centimetres mid-season 2025-2026, with 477 centimetres of cumulative snowfall recorded.
The resort hosts the Toyota Air and Après event in late February featuring professional athletes on a 14-metre jump constructed on World Cup terrain. A weekend DJ Cat programme runs December through March with guest DJs performing from a snowcat on weekends. Night operations are not offered, though the gondola operates for summer sightseeing from May, and tubing at Adventure Peak typically opens mid-December.
Season 2026 - 2027
24 Nov 2026
Opens
4 Apr 2027
Closes
131
Days open
30 ft
Annual snow
Getting there
Getting to Heavenly, and where to stay
Heavenly occupies the southeastern corner of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada, with the ridgeline summit forming the California-Nevada state border at 3,068 metres elevation. The resort sits directly above the town of South Lake Tahoe on the California side and Stateline, Nevada, where casino hotels cluster along the boundary. The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit oversees the permit area through the USDA Forest Service, with approximately one-third of the 4,800-acre permit currently developed for skiing.
South Lake Tahoe, population 21,330, provides the primary base with lodging concentrated along Highway 50 and around Heavenly Village at the gondola plaza. Stateline casinos including Harrah's and Harveys sit 500 metres from the gondola base. The California Lodge base lies 3.4 kilometres south along Ski Run Boulevard, whilst Nevada's Stagecoach Lodge sits 9 kilometres northeast via the winding Kingsbury Grade Road climbing 450 vertical metres from the lakeshore.
Highway 50 delivers all-weather access from Sacramento, 177 kilometres west via Echo Summit, a drive of two hours. From the San Francisco Bay Area, the journey covers 320 kilometres and takes approximately 3.5 hours via Interstate 80 to Truckee then Highway 89 south, or via Highway 50 through Placerville. Winter chain controls apply regularly on both routes during active storms.
Reno-Tahoe International Airport lies 88 kilometres northeast, a 75-minute drive via Highway 395 and Highway 50 through Carson City. Multiple shuttle operators including South Tahoe Airporter run hourly services taking 75 minutes. Sacramento International Airport sits 177 kilometres west with a two-hour transfer. Amtrak serves Reno with connecting shuttles to South Lake Tahoe. No passenger rail serves the immediate area, though the BlueGo bus system operates free routes between Heavenly Village, California Lodge, and both Nevada bases with service every 30 minutes during ski season.
Where to stay
Search all stays →Hotels and lodges near Heavenly, powered by Stay22.
Latest News
From the SnowStash desk
Colorado Ski Resort Opening Dates 2026-27: A-Basin and Keystone Race to Be First
Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Winter Park are all chasing an October start, though none has a firm date yet. The first dated openers are Breckenridge and Copper on Friday 6 November, then Vail on 13 November, with most of the rest bunched around US Thanksgiving. Hesperus did not open at all last season. A super El Niño offers hope but no guarantee, and forecasters say the southern mountains have the better odds.
5 Oct 2026
Dolomiti Superski 2026-27: Four New Gondolas, New Reservoirs and an €89 Peak Day Pass
Dolomiti Superski is spending around €100 million across its 12 areas before winter. Kronplatz gets a new 10-passenger gondola with a middle station, 3 Zinnen gets Helmissimo, and Val di Fassa swaps a chairlift for a gondola above Col Valvacin. New water-storage basins and upgraded snowmaking follow, and construction has started on the San Martino to Passo Rolle link. A peak adult day pass is €89.
4 Oct 2026
Utah Ski Resort Opening Dates 2026-27: Brian Head First, Eagle Point Out
Brian Head is targeting 6 November, though last year it aimed for 7 November and did not open until the 25th. Park City, Alta and Solitude are pencilled in for 20 November, Snowbird and Snowbasin for 27 November, and Deer Valley for 5 December. Eagle Point will stay closed after the Cottonwood Fire. A super El Niño is forecast, but the big snow is not expected until January.
4 Oct 2026
Hintertux Glacier Opens for 2026-27 With 12 Kilometres of Piste
Hintertux became Austria's second glacier to open for 2026-27 on Friday 2 October, after the Pitztal Glacier. Twelve kilometres of piste are running around the Olperer and Gefrorene Wand, served by one gondola and two drag lifts, with the Betterpark also open. Lifts officially run 8:15 am to 4:30 pm, but skiing stops at 2 pm for now.
4 Oct 2026
Vail Resorts Counts the Cost of a Thin Winter as Pass Sales Slide Further
A historically poor western winter cut Vail Resorts' annual net income from $280 million to $147.5 million and skier visits by 13.4 per cent. Now 2026-27 pass units are down 12 per cent as of 18 September, worse than the 10 per cent flagged in spring. Vail blames the weather and thinks some buyers are simply waiting, and it forecasts a rebound if the snow behaves.
3 Oct 2026
Arizona Snowbowl's $1 Lift Tickets Are Hard to Find, but $9 Days Are Not
Arizona Snowbowl advertised eight $1 lift ticket days this winter. Go looking and only three are showing - 10 March, 1 April and 10 April - so the rest may already have gone. The consolation is a calendar full of $9 days, including all but one day in April. Opening day is 20 November, weather permitting, and opening weekend is $19.
2 Oct 2026
Whitewater Brings Its Short Side Inbounds, With Six New Runs for 2026-27
For years, Whitewater's Short Side was where you ducked a rope and hoped for the best: unmapped, ungroomed and unpatrolled. This winter it's inbounds. Six new runs of glades and fall-line skiing add 190 acres (about 77 hectares), taking the resort past 1,400 acres in total. F2 Logging spent a month in the trees to make it happen, and opening day is pencilled in for 4 December. Bonanza now needs less snow to groom, too.
1 Oct 2026
September Dusting Hits Mammoth Mountain Six Weeks Before Opening Day
Mammoth got its first snow of 2026-27 on Monday 28 September - and promptly lost it by Tuesday morning. Barely an inch fell at McCoy Station, but with opening day pencilled in for Friday 13 November, it's the first sign the Sierra is waking up. Last year's date slipped from 14 November to 20 November, so nobody's booking flights on a dusting just yet. Here's where California's early openers stand.
1 Oct 2026
Heavenly Snow Report
Snow Report
Updated 6 Oct 2026
10,066ft
summit
+0in
new snow · last 24 hours
Clear42°F / 60°F · E 11mph
Snowfall
24 hours
0in
48 hours
0in
7 days
0in
Base depth
0in
Season total
0in
Total lifts26
Live open status isn’t available right now.
24 Nov 2026 - 4 Apr 2027
Hour by Hour
Next 40 hours· Updated Oct 6, 2026 at 6:02 AM
Scroll for the full outlook · Open-Meteo
7-Day Outlook
10,066 ftUpdated Oct 6, 2026 at 6:02 AMOpen-Meteo
Days 1–7
0.5"
Days 8–14
0.0"
Tue, Oct 6
Clear
Temp60° / 42°°F
Snow0.0"(1%)
Wind11 mph E
Live snow from the resort feed; forecast from Open-Meteo, via Supabase.
Understanding the Heavenly snow report
Get the latest Heavenly snow report — real-time snowfall, snow depth, and mountain weather for this California resort, spanning 2002m to 3068m in elevation.
Snow measurements
Base depth, summit depth, and recent snowfall are the core numbers to watch. At Heavenly, summit conditions (3068m) can differ noticeably from the base, so we break both out separately rather than showing a single average.
Weather conditions
Current weather conditions affect snow quality. Cold temperatures with low wind typically preserve snow quality, while warm temperatures or rain can impact conditions negatively — something worth watching closely at Heavenly's 2002m base elevation, where temperatures run milder than the summit.
Data sources
Heavenly snow data is collected through a combination of on-mountain reports and weather forecasting services, giving you both official resort updates and independent forecast data in one place. The mountain is served by 26 lifts, including an aerial tram and 8 quad chairlifts.
When to check
The biggest swings usually happen right after a storm. Check Heavenly's report in the morning for the freshest numbers, and again in the afternoon as conditions evolve.