Heavenly Mountain Resort is a ski resort located on the California–Nevada border in southeastern Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. It opened for business on December 15, 1955 and has 97 runs and 30 lifts that are spread between California and Nevada and four base facilities. The resort has 4800 acre within its permit area, with approximately 33% currently developed for skiing, boasting the highest elevation of the Lake Tahoe area resorts with a peak elevation of 10067 ft, and a peak lift-service elevation of 10040 ft. Since 2002, Heavenly has been owned by Vail Resorts, which also operates Northstar California and Kirkwood Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe and multiple other ski resorts in Colorado, British Columbia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Washington, Utah, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin (Vail, Breckenridge, Okemo, Mount Sunapee, Crested Butte, Stevens Pass, Keystone, Beaver Creek, Park City Resort (Canyons), Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton, and Wilmot Mountain, Whistler Blackcomb). With an average of 360 in of snow annually, and one of America's largest snowmaking systems, their ski season usually runs from mid November to mid April. Heavenly is notable as the resort where Congressman and singer Sonny Bono died after hitting a tree on January 5, 1998.

Ski Lifts

The lifts built by Doppelmayr are the Big Easy, Canyon Express, Comet Express, Dipper Express, Galaxy, Gondola, Gunbarrel Express, Mott Canyon, NorthBowl Express, Olympic Express, Powderbowl Express, Sky Express, Stagecoach Express, and Tamarack Express. The lifts built by Yan are Boulder, First Ride, Groove, and Patsy's. SLI built World Cup. The oldest lift is World Cup, having been built in 1969. Heavenly also has seven surface lifts. Mott Canyon also closes at 3:00 during the day thus its trails are closed too. Mostly high-speed detachable quads serve the resort. The longest lift is the Gondola by a significant amount. Two six-packs serve skiers; the Tamarack and Powderbowl Express chairs. Most of the lifts close at 4:00 PM with the exception of the Mott Canyon lift, which closes at 3:00, the Yan and SLI double lifts have a very similar appearance in chairs to lines, to terminals, only the bull wheels are different.

Climate