Is Heavenly a bad choice for the first week of April especially in terms of weather and snow conditions ?

Thanks!

well it'd be a bit of guess but you could look at past years and see what the snow pack is like there in that time frame.

Kelly -- did a google search for you on "heavenly snow conditions april" -- looks like Heavenly often has TONS of snow that month. If the past is any guide, you are likely to have a lot of snow to ski on, although conditions may be quite variable. Likewise, you might find other resorts around the lake have better or worse conditions relative to each other. I would NOT take what I say with any real authority or anything and you can search the web for info as easily as I can ... But here is one to get you going:

http://members.aol.com/crockeraf/seas03.htm

Their projected closing date is late april, so you might find yourself knee deep in powder (concrete-like some say), or scraping rocks...

have fun!

Heavenly's not a bad choice for April, usually. It has one of the highest summits (10k feet) in the Tahoe area. Kirkwood, the place known for best late snow at Lake Tahoe is, I believe, less than an hour's drive from Heavenly, so you'd have that as a nearby option too. If snow were my only motivation, however, for an April ski trip I'd head to Banff, Canada or one of the higher resorts in the northern US rockies like Big Sky MT, Grand Targhee/Jackson Hole WY, or maybe Mt. Bachelor OR.

Thanks!

Yeah, Banf / Lake Louise was my first choice but the airplane tickets were way too high. Tahoe or SLC were the only two affordable options... Looks like Tahoe got blasted yesterday. Heavenly is reporting 48" in the past two days.

I think the sierra nevadas get some of the deepest snow falls in the US... isn't that the range of mountains around tahoe? maybe I have the name wrong. only little problem is the water content is typically higher in the snow, so the snow is heavier... i think 10ft deep snowfalls are not unheard of for example... at the higher elevations.

maybe i have my geography all mixed up?

I know it's a long way off, but I just got an e-mail that Heavenly just got 48" of fresh snow. WOO WOO

I've skied there in April a couple times. Last time was as late as April 20th. They didn't have both sides open (NV side was closed). Also only about half CA side was open -- but plenty of terrain to keep a grin on the face.

I seem to recall cheaper prices for EVERYTHING - lodging, lift tix, etc.

Heavenly is my favorite place to ski ever. I lived out in CA 6 years and did most of Tahoe's resorts and Mammoth as well.
IMHO Heavenly also is as good or better than the places I've been in Colorado (Breck, Keystone, Vail) Italy (Dolomites), Andorra and Mid-Atlantic. (Admittedly, I'm partial to Heavenly because it's where I had my breakthrough on skis and finally conquered intermediate fear)

Hope you enjoy the trip!!!

mm

http://squaw.com/

Everyone go look @ the shot on their main page... 3+ feet in 1.5 days... amazing.

Squaw has on their site right now "can you see the lift" -- its dumping as usual @ tahoe .

If this holds out Tahoe in April should be just fine. Just called Kirkwoods snow report...storm totals at the base 73 inches at the summit 90+ inches thats about 8 feet. Didnt know you could get that much snow out of one storm..its almost too much.

http://www.squaw.com/gallery/Squaw --

April will be fine... many Tahoe resorts (Squaw) are open until late May.

BTW -- it is not uncommon for it to snow 3+ ft in WV... think snow!

Even if Heavenly is slowing down by April, Kirkwood and Squaw (and probably Alpine) will still be going strong.

wp man,
youve been out to tahoe right. you know when it snows there its usually (USUALLY) super wet snow. its packs so fast and its not even close to the snow that falls in utah. thaoe is famous for the sierra cement. man does that snow just clump up and make it hard to ride sometimes.

Yeah -- I've been out to Tahoe a lot... it is true that the snow is very different but I have never had any *huge* problems with it (and it is becoming less of a problem as better fat skis are developed, on heavy snow days I usually ride on pocket rockets).

In any case -- it can get pretty solid... but a lifetime of skiing @ Winterplace has all but left me nearly immune to poor snow conditions. But you are correct in your assertion that the snow that falls @ the Utah resorts is very different from that in Tahoe.

you gotta love your winterplace though. you all are home to group ski trips. i dont think i would ever go there unless it was with a group and it was super cheap. ive only been twice and both times it was with a friend and we got a 25 dollar lift ticket. I dont even go to snowshoe anymore. its way to over rated and they are just trying to be a western resort on the east coast and its just not going to work. they claim to have the best conditions in the country but i would laugh in the dudes face if he said that to me in person. i dont know what he was thinking when they said that, but its far from the truth. I hope the jet stream stays active over utah for the next 2 weeks. or at least next week as i will be arriving on sat. i dont know if you have even been down to app ski mtn in nc but the snow there is just awesome compared to anything else in the southest. however when its super warm like this past weekend you cant expect too much from the snow, but you can be sure that you wont be riding a solid sheet of ice like most other resorts around here. you should check out some of the pics i took at app on fri and sunday from this weekend and some of the shots ive posted from utah tahoe and other palces as well.
herez an address just check out the folders and look at some of the pics
www.biglines.com/?staller58
let me know what you think of our awesome snow in nc.