Posted 08 May 2007 - 06:12 PM
It looks like Heavenly will be putting in two high speed quads or one two staged hsq to replace North Bowl and Olympic. It is unclear to me whether this is happening this summer or not. I'm thinking not.
Heavenly to launch sensitive new plan
Dan Giesin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 6, 2007
After a skirmish with conservationists that nearly scuttled the project, Heavenly Mountain Resort has been granted approval to proceed with an ambitious agenda for on-mountain improvements.
"This plan solidifies our position as the premier snow-sports destination at Lake Tahoe," resort CEO Blaise Carrig said after the Tahoe Regional Planning District on April 25 gave the nod for Heavenly's "Master Plan Amendment." "We're extremely excited about the next 10 years."
Over the next decade, South Lake Tahoe's bi-state ski and snowboard playground will implement a three-phased plan "that will improve the resort in an environmentally sensitive way," Carrig said.
The improvement plan almost came to naught when the League to Save Lake Tahoe objected to the part that called for replacing two aging lifts on the resort's Nevada side -- the North Bowl triple chair and the Olympic double chair -- with one high-speed detachable lift. It was estimated that 1,100 trees, including more than 150 old-growth red firs with a diameter exceeding 24 inches, would have to be removed in order to install the lift.
After a series of meetings, Heavenly revised that part of plan; instead of a straight shot from the base of the present North Bowl chair to the top of the present Olympic chair, the resort will either put in two high-speed lifts which will roughly follow the current lift lines or install a two-stage "angle" lift that will make a right turn more than halfway up the mountain. (Carrig said a decision on which way to go will be made at the end of the month.)
"Although the straight shot is the one project we wanted," Carrig said, "we're fine with what we've got. It's still a great plan. And the big trees are going to be saved."
"The decision to spare the North Bowl trees is tremendous," said Rochelle Nason of the League to Save Lake Tahoe. "It was a real struggle, but it had a happy ending. We're very glad they are taking that approach."
Phase 1 of the master plan, which is expected to be completed over the next two to four years, according to Carrig, calls for the aforementioned North Bowl lift system; a couple of new trails in that area; an 1,100-seat indoor/outdoor restaurant/lodge at the top of the Powder Bowl lift; a "ski bridge" from the gondola's upper terminus to the base of the Tamarack lift; the re-grading of the Sky Line trail that connects the California side of the resort with the Nevada side, and the cutting of two intermediate trails that will descend from the Sky Line trail. The lift, trails and ski bridge should be in place by next season.
Carrig would not say how much all these improvements would cost -- Vail Ski Corp., the Colorado-based owner of Heavenly refuses to publicly divulge those figures -- but it "represents a significant infusion of capital."
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Limelight, on Apr 16 2007, 12:17 AM, said:
