Journeys›Photograph

A Clear Cold Day Skiing Above Lake Tahoe

·Truckee, California·#winter#california#skiing#lake tahoe#heavenly-mountain-resort
Gondolas ascend through a snowy pine forest with a large blue lake and snow-capped mountains in the background.

Around the lake to Heavenly for a day on the snow, riding the gondola up from Saddle Road in South Lake Tahoe — a long climb through the pines with the whole lake spreading out behind, the casinos shrinking to a cluster of towers at the base. Clear and cold the whole way, hardly a cloud until afternoon.

The mountain straddles the state line, and up on the ridge there's a sign laid out in two columns, California on the left, Nevada on the right, lifts sorted under each. Ski one direction and it's Carson Valley below you, brown and snowless all the way out; turn around and it's nothing but lake. The summit runs to 10,067 feet, the highest in the Tahoe area, and with 4,800 acres and 97 trails we didn't come close to covering it — mostly worked the Nevada side and the runs back toward the lake.

Everyone bunches up where the water first comes into view, skiers just standing there mid-run. Hard to blame them. Last lap down past the little sign pointing to Big Dipper and Orion's, edges still holding.

Snow-covered ski slopes with a chairlift and people, overlooking a large blue lake and distant mountains under a clear sky.A blue ski sign and two skiers are on a snowy mountain overlooking a wide valley under a clear sky.Multiple people ski and snowboard down a snowy slope overlooking a large blue lake and distant snow-capped mountains.A person in ski gear stands on a snowy slope overlooking a vast blue lake and distant snow-capped mountains.Two people in ski gear stand on a snowy mountain overlooking a large blue lake and distant snow-covered mountains.A smiling man in a blue jacket and orange hat on a snowy mountain overlooking a lake and distant peaks.A panoramic view of a snowy mountain slope with several people, a large blue lake, and distant snow-capped mountains.Many skiers on a snowy mountain slope overlook a large blue lake framed by snow-capped mountains under a clear sky.

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