California, Usa · Epic
Heavenly
4,800 acres across CA-NV border, 1,066m vertical, 97 runs. Epic Pass access at Lake Tahoe's highest resort.
Season 2025 - 2026
Opens
22 Nov 2025
Closes
5 Apr 2026
Days open
134
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 2025 - 2026
22 Nov 2025
Opens
5 Apr 2026
Closes
134
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
Thredbo Is 'On the Table' as EVT Reviews Its Whole Business
Thredbo is officially 'on the table.' EVT Limited, owner of Australia's most decorated ski resort, has hired Rothschild & Co to review its entire corporate structure - and confirmed Thredbo isn't off limits, even as it books a stronger year of earnings. The resort's own valuation has nearly halved after a brutal 2026 season, and speculation is already running toward Vail Resorts, Alterra, or a New Zealand operator picking it up. Here's what EVT actually said, and who could buy it.
25 Aug 2026
Ski-E-O! Is the Ski Resort Tycoon Game We Didn't Know We Needed
I'm not a gamer. I'm a skier and snowboarder who happens to have a laptop. So when a ski resort management game called Ski-E-O! landed on Steam, I wasn't expecting to lose an afternoon to it - but here we are. Real mountain terrain, a full weather system, storms that roll in and wreck your snow base, avalanche danger, and enough depth to make RollerCoaster Tycoon feel simple by comparison. Early access lands in November. Here's what a few hours in the free demo actually looks like.
23 Aug 2026
Sugar Bowl, California, Rebuilds Its Historic Village Gondola
The rumours are true: Sugar Bowl is tearing out its Emerald gondola, in place since 1983, and replacing it with a new 8-person Doppelmayr system - nearly doubling uphill capacity to 1,800 people an hour. It's the fourth generation of a gondola line that dates back to 1953, when Sugar Bowl became the first resort on the West Coast to run one at all, and it's just one piece of a $100 million overhaul touching lodges, parking and snowmaking. Here's what's changing, and what's staying the same.
23 Aug 2026
Two Confirmed Dead as Search Continues After Swiss Alps Fire
The death toll from Thursday night's fire at Restaurant Beverin in Thusis, Switzerland, has begun to firm up. One Swiss outlet, citing Graubünden Cantonal Police, reports that two of the five people initially reported missing have now been confirmed dead, leaving three unaccounted for. The building's collapsed stairwell and structural instability have slowed recovery efforts throughout. Here's what's changed since the fire broke out, and what's still unconfirmed.
22 Aug 2026
Selwyn Snow Resort Closes Early as Rain Ends Its 2026 Season
Selwyn Snow Resort has called an early end to its 2026 season, a day after Victoria's Mount Baw Baw did the same. Rain on Thursday stripped what was left of the snowpack, and the cold nights needed to rebuild it through snowmaking never arrived. It's a rough result for a resort that only just found its footing again after being burned to the ground in the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and a multi-year rebuild. Here's how the season fell apart, and where Selwyn's been since the fire.
22 Aug 2026
Mt Baw Baw Becomes First Australian Resort to Close for 2026
Mt Baw Baw is calling time on its 2026 season this Sunday at 5pm, becoming the first Australian resort to close for the year after warm spells and rain wore through its snowpack. Lifts stop, but the resort stays open, entry fees get waived, and there's one last Bollywood Weekend before the lights go out. Fifty-seven days after opening, here's how the season ended and what it means for the rest of Australia's struggling snowpack.
21 Aug 2026
Arosa to Replace 40-Year-Old Hörnli Lifts With New Gondola and Chair
Arosa's Hörnli sector is getting its biggest overhaul in decades. The 1986 gondola and 1994 chairlift linking toward Lenzerheide are both being replaced, with capacity up, tower count down and a new base station lower on the hill. At roughly CHF 67 million, it is the largest single investment Arosa Bergbahnen has ever made - and the target opening has already slipped a year, to December 2028. Here is what is changing, and why the timeline moved.
20 Aug 2026
Sundance Mountain Resort Is Getting a New High-Speed Quad and More Back Mountain Terrain This Winter
Sundance Mountain Resort's back mountain is finally getting a proper lift. The Electric Horseman Express opens for 2026-27, unlocking a new bowl next to Bishop's Bowl and three expert gladed chutes across roughly 105 fresh acres - on top of the Storyteller ridge run that debuted in preview form last season. It's Sundance's biggest expansion since 1985, and it turns a three-lift slog into a single six-minute ride to Bearclaw Summit.
19 Aug 2026
Trail map & terrain
Terrain split
97
runs
Beginner8%
Intermediate62%
Advanced25%
Expert5%
4,800 acres skiable1,942 hectares
Resort Stats
Elevation
Base6,568ft
Summit10,066ft
Annual snowfall
30ft
Season
2025 - 2026
22 Nov 2025 - 5 Apr 2026
Trail coverage
97 runs
4,800 acres (1,942 ha)
Heavenly ski trails
Heavenly offers 97 runs across a mix of difficulties. The terrain split and trail map here show how the mountain breaks down so you can plan a day that suits your group.
- • Match runs to your ability - the terrain split shows how much of Heavenly is beginner, intermediate and advanced.
- • Check grooming and open-run status against the live conditions before committing to the upper mountain.
- • Early season and after fresh snow, favour the lifts serving your preferred grade to make the most of the day.
More Heavenly intelligence: trail map, lift system, resort overview.