Heavenly is Boarder Hell
I had to walk Miles to get from Nevada to California.
Too Many Catwalks and up hill traverse.
I hate walking and want to ride right up to a lift - Heavenly is not the place for me.

Let me start by saying I'm a snowboarder from the east coast AKA ICE COAST. I'm ride at an intermediate level and came to Tahoe for the week in the begining of March. I went to Mt. Rose, Heavenly, and then North Star. All of which I went Mid week, Mt. Rose was pretty brutal the weather was the coldest and pretty windy. They only had 1 run that I felt was at the level I wanted to be. The greens were too easy and most of the blues were more advanced then what I'm used to. Heavenly was pure Heaven the begining of the day. I started out on the CA side on the top. Then ventured all the way to the bottom of the CA side. Bad idea.... one of the green trails was completely covered in dirt. When it was about time to go home getting back to the gondola was HELL!!! Since I started out on the CA side the gondola is in the middle of the CA and NV side so it makes it very difficult to get to. They did not make this easy, and should really have had a better system of doing this. When going to the NV side there are many flat up hill connecting trails that made it difficult to snowboard. If you ski, then it's probably much easier. There were barely any signs and you had to ride halfway down the NV side then go up another lift and make your way through many more trails that were not very clearly marked to get to where the gondola was. I ran into several other people having the same trouble I was. This place was HUGE. I'm sure if you go here often and no your way around the trails this place is awesome. But if you snowboard and are going here for 1 day I recomend going some place else. THERE'S TOO MANY FLAT PARTS, AND THE TIX ARE THE MOST EXPENSIVE OUT OF ALL THE TAHOE MTNS!!! NORTH STAR was the SHI*!!!

A REAL review from a realistic skier:
I'm submitting this review in disgust after reading a 'glowing' review from some East coast ding-dong who doesn't ski much. He loved Heavenly, but only because he admittedly hasn't skied the West and is obviously the type who would marry the first girl he met.

So here's the real deal...Heavenly is horrible and it BLOWS!!! Both literally and figuratively. If Heavenly were a house, it would be the Winchester Mystery mansion of ski resorts. A monstrous property on a great lot that has been remodeled many times without any sort of master plan. I am an old school two-planker and I normally don't have much sympathy for boarders, but I do at Heavenly and I wouldn't go if my clients didn't always offer me free lift tickets. There is more uphill traversing and cat tracking than skiable runs, and whom ever designs the run and lift placements needs a lobotomy. A real shame as to be fair, Heavenly has great terrain potential and the views are nothing short of spectacular. Unfortunately, potential is not a run and views don't make good skiing. Going back to the real estate analogy, keep the property but Heavenly is in need of a complete tear down and remodel with coordinated lift and trail systems.

I don't have experience with kids or terrain parks so I didn't rate them, but I do with nightlife and alpine terrain. As poor as the terrain is, the apres' ski scene is large and such is the only reason to frequent Heavenly. Assuming you want to weight them equally, averaging a 1 for terrain and a 5 for nightlife therefore earns Heavenly a 3. For those who like lists and to play fair:

Heavenly Pros:
Very good snow making and grooming capacity
Nightlife
Mountain views and vistas
The new Gondola and Gondola village
They are good at marketing themselves and making a turd shine

Heavenly Cons:
The terrain
Veeeeeeery expensive (Lifts $81.00, bag lockers $6.00, etc.)
The terrain
Dangerously crowded with lots of no skillz guests
The terrain
Exposure to storms and wind closures

If you have access to a lot of dynamite and money, please buy Heavenly Valley and go to town. Otherwise, stay clear and go to Kirkwood or any of the North Lake resorts:)

I must admit that I don't have much experience when it comes to snowboarding in the western half of the United States. I come from the midwest and if there's a hill with 700 feet of vertical and 400 acres of terrain than that's pretty good for the area. So my first time riding on a real mountain was at Heavenly, and if that is what it's all about, I'm ready to relocate west baby.

The views from this place are incredible. The sights overlooking Lake Tahoe surrounded by the Sierra mountains is breathtaking. Seeing snow capped mountains with desert type climate in the background is amazing.

The best thing about Heavenly for me though, was the riding. I was fortunate to show up on a Sunday after getting 6-8 inches and when I went out Monday there was powder aplenty. It's fanatastic how during many of the runs you can veer off into the woods and carve you're own way through the trees.

The weather is another bonus to riding in the west. Of all the years I have been riding I have gone out when it was above forty maybe three times. I had four staight days of fifty degree and sunny weather and it was incredible.

I went midweek so I can't say if it's bad when it gets real busy. All the lift lines were open and went pretty quickly. Didn't have problems with lifts being closed all week. All mountain areas were accessible. There are some issues with getting from the CA side to the NV side. The Skyline trail is tough on us boarders, but manageable, nothing to get upset about. Getting to CA side from NV is easy and quite adventurous.

I learned a little from some locals while I was riding. For the best snow quality start from the Nevada base in the morning and enjoy some stellar tree runs. Aroun noon,one o'clock head over to the Cali side and hit up groove or powderbowl park than finish the day with a couple runs down Round-about. That run is long, fast, and technically challenging and with the sun setting in the west it will soften the groomed paths some.

I hope to have a lot more big mountain riding experience than I do now. Heavenly is now my base line for comparison.

Heavenly is a Money Resort. Everything is overpriced because they are trying to compete with other large resorts. The Prices go up as they expand. But the terrain does not get any better.
I was given a pass last year as a gift, which I respectfully thanked the person for and said "Please, PLEASE!!! Remember KIRKWOOD...."
Yes it is a large mountain but not entirely skiiable. Its actually small at the top of the mountain with little air and too many YUPPY Idiots which I wish would just go get lost in the back country off of
I-80. i.e. Hell Hole (: ....
Well Ive ranbled on enouph. DONT GO HERE.
Save your money and go Kirkwood, West Shore, or I-80 resorts.
Save the Head Ache you get at the end of the day with a shorter drive home and a better ski resort...
Oh and stop driving like idiots.. It takes a lot longer to get home when one of you tie up the interstate when you flip going too fast.live longer