The Vail Resorts in the Lake Tahoe area have a lot to smile about this week, considering the snow totals right now.
The latest series of winter storms delivered 3 feet of snow to Kirkwood, 16 inches to Northstar and five inches of accumulation to Heavenly. Both weather systems carried very cold temperatures which created optimal snowmaking conditions for all three ski resorts.
“Temperatures have remained extremely cold, which have allowed for Heavenly and Northstar’s snowmaking systems to perform around the clock for the past several days, and Kirkwood’s natural snow accumulation has allowed the mountain to offer access to incredible upper-mountain terrain as well as additional beginner areas,” said Pete Sonntag, vice president and chief operating officer for Heavenly. “We are thrilled to offer the variety of three unique resorts – each of which offers incredible snow conditions for every ability level. It’s a tremendous benefit to our guests.”
On Thursday, Heavenly opened Comet Express, accessing Comet trail and boosting the open terrain to 3.6 skiable miles. Earlier in the week, Heavenly opened Big Easy lift for additional beginner terrain access to Big Easy run.
Northstar opened The Backside Express Quad on Thursday, offering top-to-bottom skiing on The Backside via Burnout advanced trail; Upper Rapids and Upper Polaris slopes will offer additional advanced terrain on The Backside. Summit-to-village skiing and riding will begin Saturday, Dec. 20 with the opening of Village Run.
With three feet of new snow throughout the past week, Kirkwood’s most famed runs and lifts are now open. The Wall, which opened Monday, offers access to advanced terrain such as The Wall, Wagon Wheel Bowl, Headwaters and Eagle Bowl, Cornice Express accessing terrain such as Chamonix, Monte Wolfe, Sentinel Bowl now offers access to recently-opened Palisades Bowl – totaling over 1300 acres of skiing and riding.
Additionally, the Timber Creek Base Area will open today, which offers beginner skier and riders access to Lake Tahoe’s best learning terrain with two beginner magic carpets and Timber Creek Express and Bunny triple beginner chairs.
Bypass the Ticket Lines
Heavenly, Kirkwood and Northstar are offering up to 25 percent savings on advanced purchase lift tickets this season via the new EpicDay Lift Tickets platform, now available across all Vail Resorts. Tickets can be purchased through an easy-to-use online and mobile site, www.snow.com/epicday, and picked up at a designated EpicDay Express Ticket Pick-Up lane at each resort.
Once the ticket is picked up, guests can keep their ticket and load it with more days online, avoiding a return trip to the ticket window. EpicDay Lift Tickets rewards advanced planning, even if the purchase is made while walking up to the resort, with more savings and less time spent in the ticket line.
