The new 2008-2009 Heavenly season passes and Peaks Rewards cards have a chip that can be read through clothing by special scanners. No longer will we need to pull out our passes each time we go through the lift line. The Heavenly Employee points the scanners at your body until it finds the Radio Frequency chip on your pass. This is a very easy process and should speed up the flow of the lift lines.

The 9 restricted / blackout days for the Heavenly Adult Season Pass are: November 28-29 2008, December 27-31 2008 and February 14-15 2009.

Boulder Lodge and Boulder Lift will open this morning. In addition to the storms and new snow over the last few days Heavenly has been making snow to catch the Boulder area up to the rest of the mountain. I went by the Boulder area parking lot last night and everything looks ready to roll. For more information on Nevada side parking information for Heavenly Mountain Resort please link to Heavenly Parking Information.

Started out on the Nevada Side of Heavenly on the Stagecoach Lift, but quickly jumped to the Comet Lift when the Ski Patrol pulled the rope. The Dipper Lift was closed today so we went to Comet. The Comet Lift had plenty of new snow and if you were daring you could find 3 feet of fresh stuff on the Little Dipper Run or in the trees off of the run. The weather was miserable, but perfect for the 20 or so people skiing and riding Comet all day. Enough snow was falling to fill tracks so fresh turns were available until closing.

Right now you can pick up your ski pass at the California Base Lodge, Gondola and Stagecoach Lodge. Early morning is not a great time because of the lines of people wishing to grab their passes and get on the hill. Best option is to pick up your pass in the afternoon or after the rush in the morning. Heavenly's Guest Services will have you sign the waiver paperwork and take your picture (if your picture is not already on file from a previous pass) and then they will issue you your new pass.

I am hearing there are plenty of last minute housing and lift ticket deals available right now. Usually, the entire South Lake Tahoe area is sold out weeks or months in advance for Christmas and New Years. I believe the current state of the economy and lack of early snow have lowered the usual bookings. Should be a great opportunity to get a last minute deal for your housing rentals and tickets if you can get up here in the next day or so.

Heavenly is reporting 12-18 inches of new snow, but I see 6-12 inches out my window at the Stagecoach Lift. It was snowing all day yesterday and continued after ski hours last night in the Heavenly North area of Heavenly Mountain Resort. Today should be a great day on the hill. Winds are not bad at this point and it looks like the sun is trying to come out.

A Winter Storm Watch is in effect from Wednesday through Thursday of this week. Could bring 2 feet to the higher elevations.

I spent a few hours on the Nevada side of Heavenly today. I skied Little Dipper, Comet and Stagecoach. Overall the runs had plenty of coverage, but things were very icy because of the recent storms. Still no chance of going off trail into the trees because many rocks are still showing. Looks like we will continue to get new snow all week and the snow making machines were blowing under the Olympic Chair today so maybe Heavenly will be opening that area up this coming weekend.

Heavenly reports they are opening the Stagecoach Lift today. If you are looking for housing (ski lease or long term rental)next to the Stagecoach Lift (now that it is open) we have 2 larger units coming available 1.1.09. For more information please visit Launch Lake Tahoe Long Term Rentals

Tough to tell how much snow has fallen from the recent storm that arrived last night... because the winds have been raging in the 50-100 MPH range all night. It is going to be very difficult for Heavenly Mountain Resort to open the Stagecoach Lift or Gondola unless the winds die down.