an up there skiing experience at Heavenly

I feared the name would be over-rated, but with great weather and powder snow it really wasn't! I wanted to ski at Lake Tahoe and I chose Heavenly for its name and the southerly location - only 8.5 hours drive from Los Angeles. Facetiously I did not believe in such a great experience. I booked everything on line - I got a super deal to stay at the spacious wooden Lakeside Inn and Casino, just over the border in Nevada. But the ski shuttle came to the front door and made the morning commute hassle free.

It was also super easy to book lift tickets and ski rentals online - all the resort staff were consistently helpful and enthusiastic, whether helping me take my ski boots off, taking my skis and placing them in the gondola for me or giving helpful advice on lifts and ski trails when I looked and felt a bit lost! I was even able to leave my skis and boots overnight in the shop by the gondola so I did not have to haul then back to the hotel room!

But the most impressive were the skiing and the views. It is a massive resort spanning the state border - apparently in California, you can always see the amazingly blue Lake Tahoe, while in Nevada, you are looking out to a massive u shaped glacial valley. It would be difficult to ski the whole resort in one day, but very possible in two days - I also had time to repeat some of my favourite runs. I particularly loved the Big Dipper, starting at the top of the Dipper Express.

The Little Dipper was a slight pun as it was a black mogul field directly under the Comet Express. It was also great to get up to 10,040 feet at the top of the Sky Express and choose a combination of black and blue runs on pistes and in between the trees! I even felt the effects of altitude and hope that I have been able to grow more red blood cells to feel fitter for the next 10 days! I so loved the powder snow underfoot and it felt soft and gentle on my knee - proving that I can ski without my anterior cruciate ligament. And the trees were so white and fat with snow everywhere...