Heavenly, Tahoe 2021

What not to do when planning a ski trip with 2 kids under 10 yrs old to Heavenly, Tahoe:

Do not fly into Reno Airport past 8PM

Do not rent a car from Budget Rental Car

Do not have skis/boots delivered to your hotel by Heavenly Sports Rental

Avoid most ski runs on the Nevada side

Do not go on the weekend

We had a smooth, uneventful flight from LAX to Reno/Tahoe on a non-holiday weekend in March during Covid on United Airlines. It takes about an hour ½ and the flights were only $100 per person roundtrip. Because we had credits leftover from cancelled 2020 flights, we only had to pay $100 TOTAL.

The stress level went up exponentially though when we arrived at 8:30PM into Reno/Tahoe, got our luggage and went to pick up the rental car. What we should have done is divide and conquer: Steve gets bags; I get in rental car line. It is a super small airport so baggage claim and the rental car pick up area are next to each other. Unfortunately, we did not do that. There was one person on staff at Budget…and apparently, no one rents from the other car companies! The line was insane. We waited for over an hour to get our car.

When we finally got our booster seats (took another 20 minutes) and got out of the rental car parking lot, it was 10PM. We then had an hour 20 minute drive in the snow to our South Lake Tahoe hotel. Luckily, the girls fell asleep…way past their bedtimes and there was serious infighting going on while we waited for the rental car and at the beginning of the road trip.

We made it to the Marriott Timber Lodge at about 11:15PM. www.marriott.com.  We settled into our studio room with a king bed and foldout couch and literally crashed! I didn’t even change the girls into pajamas.

The location of the Marriott Timber Lodge is the best! On the first morning there, I walked out of the hotel and 15 feet away found the check in for tickets/pass holders and the gondola that directly goes to mid-mountain. So easy after a long night of travel!!! It’s also located right in the Heavenly Village, so restaurants, shops, ski rentals and a movie theater are steps away…there is a grocery store about a 10 minute walk from the Marriott.

Heavenly is an Epic pass ski resort and Steve and I already had our passes. I waited in line for a half hour to get the girls’ Epic friends/family passes, but when I got to the ticket window, I was told I should have pre-ordered and paid for the tickets online already. No payment accepted at the ticket window. Luckily, I could cut the line once I took the proper steps. EVERY resort is different!

Steve had pre-ordered our rental skis/boots from Heavenly Sports Rental for delivery to our hotel at 8AM thinking this would save time. We realized as we were walking the 3 minutes to Heaven’s Little Café www.heavenslittlecafe.net for breakfast that morning that the rental place was right next to the café. But, they keep delivery “inventory” in a separate warehouse away from the resort and due to heavy traffic that morning, our delivery was 2 hours late! As we sat in the hotel lobby, watching the line for the gondola up to the mountain getting longer and longer until finally it disappeared behind a building about 50 yards away, we decided NEVER, EVER, EVER do delivery when the actual rental place is a 2 minute walk from the hotel.

Our skis/boots fit when they finally arrived, thankfully, and we walked the length of the snaking gondola line to the end. We waited in line for an hour and ½.  Again, you HAVE to take the gondola up to the top of Heavenly unless you want to bus or drive to California, Stagecoach or Boulder Lodges. If you park at California Lodge area though, to ski back down at day’s end, you only have one blue run option (Round-A-Bout) and the others are black or double black diamonds. Blue runs service Boulder Lodge, but you can reach Stagecoach Lodge by a green run. Note that each of these alternate routes only have one lift to get up the mountain. Lines can get long at these locations as well in the morning and after lunch.

The Village gondola takes you to the Nevada side where Tamarack Express will then take you up to the skiable part of the mountain. If you choose to stay in Nevada, beware of the flat runs. You can’t tell from the ski maps which runs actually have pitch and which will leave you pulling your kids by your ski poles and burning out the muscles of your thighs! Thank God we’re not snowboarders. I heard several of them cursing the mountain as they walked by us carrying their boards.

 If you don’t plan to spend a good amount of your time cross country skiing on flat runs, head to the California side as soon as you get to the top of Tamarack. You’ll need to banzai the lower part of the California Trail and you still may have to pull your kids and yourselves a bit of the way to the Sky and Canyon Express lifts in California, but the California Trail cat track provides gorgeous views of the mountain. It is the most beautiful run we took on the mountain.

We could ski the runs off the Sky and Canyon Express lifts with the kids all day, except for the lift lines. We didn’t go on a holiday weekend and yet still had 20-30 minute wait times on Friday and 30-45 minute wait times on Saturday. The runs aren’t long enough to justify the wait. The gondola was our most direct route off the mountain at the end of the day. We waited in line for 45 minutes to get on the gondola on Friday.

On Saturday, we started out much earlier based on the lessons we’d learned from the day prior, and ended our day at about 2PM…we were too frustrated over the wait times for lifts and frankly, our kids were done standing in line over and over again. Normally we would ski much closer to 4PM. Having experienced the 45 minute wait time at about 3:30PM on Friday, we decide to beat the crowds and head to the Marriott pool.

To book the hot tubs, you have to wait in a line at 8AM the morning of the day that you want to reserve the space. One family per hot tub and only a ½ hour per rental time. We decided to just hit the warm-ish pool that didn’t require a reservation. The kids loved it. I braved it. Steve laid on a lounge chair, fully clothed, with all of our pool towels wrapped around his body and head.

Meals on mountain are OK. Still no indoor dining when we went. I think it’s best to stick to the grilled hamburgers and the bratwurst:  East Peak Lodge on the Nevada side; Steins (brats and beers) and Sky Deck on the California side. I made the mistake of ordering a Caesar salad on Friday for lunch and the lettuce was old, discolored and soggy. Then Steve repeated the mistake on Saturday and had the same experience at a different restaurant. Both salads were pre-packaged and just gross. Stick with the grilled meat!!!

Dinner at the Marriott is our favorite. The in-house restaurant is a Mongolian BBQ called Fire & Ice. www.fire-ice.com. The kids enjoy it because they can build their own bowl full of the foods they like then watch it cooked by an entertaining chef. We could sit indoors here and not freeze while eating. Base Camp Pizza Co is excellent pizza whether you dine in and listen to live music or take out to your hotel room. www.basecamppizzaco.com. Azul Latin Kitchen is also good food with a great outdoor entertainment venue. www.azullatinkitchen.com. For dessert, try The Baked Bear. www.thebakedbear.com. You build your own brownie or cookie ice cream sandwich and the flavors are really creative and fun. The kids LOVED it. All of these restaurants are located in Heavenly Village. The best restaurant we went to for breakfast was “off campus” at The Landing, about a 5 minute drive away from the Marriott. Jimmy’s Restaurant is on the lake and their Sunday brunch was delicious. www.thelandingtahoe.com. It was probably the healthiest meal we had in South Lake Tahoe as well!

Before we headed back to the airport on Sunday afternoon, we fit in one more activity: tubing. Tahoe Snowmobile Tubing Hill is located next to Mont Bleu Resort and Casino about an 8 minute drive from the Marriott. www.tahoesnowmobile.com. It’s only $40 per tube for one hour and the girls shared one. The operators are really cool…high energy, enthusiastic and happy to send riders into spins and twists down the inner tube hill. I went a couple times down and laughed the whole way. Super fun. There are 4 different hills and you had to pre-book your hour to avoid crowding. We rarely waited in line and even then, only has a couple people in front of us. It was a great way to end a mediocre ski trip.

The thing is, our family typically has a great time together so that wasn’t the issue. We will have good memories from this vacation. I doubt, with all the other options available, you’ll see us heading back to Heavenly though. From the rental car line, to the 2 hour wait for skis, to the 45 minute lift lines and the lines to take the gondola on and off the mountain, we kept saying to each other, “this is not worth it!” If you decide to go, I hope you have a better experience…