Heavenly’s Biggest Little Summer Project
Hey, gang. I know some of you in the South Lake area heard and felt the blasting we did the other day. Sorry for any disruption to your day, but you’ll be happy to know it was for a good cause.
We were re-grading the upper portion of Skyline Trail, on the California side. Blaise Carrig, Heavenly’s COO, calls this our “biggest little project” of the summer. As you all probably know, Skyline is the traverse that connects California to Nevada, and it has long been a challenge for beginning skiers and snowboarders to get across it without walking – and that’s not what we come to a ski resort to do, right?!
So this coming season, Skyline will be wider and will go downhill the entire way, providing a nice, easy cruise into Nevada, with the most awesome views of Lake Tahoe on your way over (I’ve actually had two journalists cry upon seeing the view at the “Welcome to Nevada” sign on Skyline).
This video gives you the nitty gritty, and also shows us blowing up the portion of Skyline over by Dipper Knob. It might just be me, but the dust plume from the blast almost looks like it takes the form of Jake Burton with a big smile on his face.
P.S. The video co-stars Todd Rudis. Most of you are familiar with Todd’s world-class work as Heavenly’s Grooming Manager. Now you’ve got another reason to love Todd!
September 20th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I have been a Heavenly snowboarder since 1989 and this is the best thing to happen since Nevada opened to snowboarders! I can’t wait to try the new Skyline trail. One more Heavenly unbuckle spot bites the dust!
September 21st, 2008 at 8:23 am
Nice!
I can’t wait to try out the new trail. It was pretty difficult to snowboard from Cali to Nevada.
September 21st, 2008 at 5:34 pm
This is the best news I’ve heard all summer! I can’t wait to hit the trails when I visit in January!
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I have been skiing this mountain for 28 years and it just keeps getting better.
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I am so stoked about the up coming season and Im chompin at the bit to see the snow fly.Think snow and prey for a epic winter.Cant wait to get my fix!!!!!!!
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I just watched a pretty cool video entitled Heavenly Mt Resort under the Heavenly Today category in the Video Viewing Room. The only part that sucked was that there is not a single shot of a snowboarder in the entire movie – almost 4 mins. The ironic thing is the subtitle is: When You’re Up for Everything…did you mean up for everything but snowboarding? What’s up with that? Lame. I am a big fan of the re-graded Skyline Trail, though.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
The regrade is awesome and is probably one of the best improvements the mountain could make. Not that I am trying to be greedy, but what happened to the new lift to replace Galaxy? Was there a specific reason that got put on hold and will that mean North Bowl gets pushed back as well? Thanks!
September 25th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
As an exclusively Heavenly skier for 11 of my 12 years living in the Bay Area, this is totally awesome news for me and my snowboarding cousin, who once made me run up along side him & try to pull him to Nevada along the trail…now he can pull himself!
September 25th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Just got a new board and I can’t wait to ride it opening day at Heavenly…
Pray4Pow
September 27th, 2008 at 6:23 am
This will be a cool addition to the Skyline trail, as a novice i sometimes found this section hard but i will be looking forward to the changes. I love coming to heavenly and hope to be there in February, its well worth the 11 hour flight from the UK. Can Heavenly get any better ! ! ! ! ! ! !
September 29th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Bravo to Heavenly! This has always been such a pain, but as I see from the video, it was not as easy as I had thought to regrade this area. This will improve things a lot for sure. Especially for me in the early season when I am too out of shape to walk this part of the mountain. I also read their is a new Stage coach lodge in the works that will save us from a long walk their as well. Keep up the great work Heavenly!!
October 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Lol, You guys are hilarious. If you dont like traversing, then dont goto Crested Butte. Oh and dont goto Alta either. Snowbird backcountry? Gotta traverse or hike to it. The thing that is great about all these places? It stops the lazy, fat people that want everything delivered to them from even attempting to ski those lines. With “ease” comes a cost. And with the price of seasons passes and lift tickets nowadays, I’ll hike that extra 2 mins for the pow, thank you very much.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Waaaaaah! I can’t make it to the Nevada side. JK. This is a great idea, althouh I prefer a new lift for galaxy, and maybe a HUGE POWDER WINTER! I’m starting the rain/pow dance now. Holler.
October 7th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
That was the only thing that made my kid cry, trying to ride that trail. She’s only nine and it was our first time to Heavenly. I just showed her the video and asked if she remembered. She said, “I hated that trail, told you they needed to fix it.” We came back for a second trip in the spring and wouldn’t go near it. Good job fixing a mountain. We rode squaw also, but we love Heavenly.