KIRKWOOD, HEAVENLY & NORTHSTAR TO OPEN EARLY FOR THE 2022/23 WINTER SEASON
The three Tahoe-area resorts will open Saturday, November 12 – six days ahead of plan at Northstar & Heavenly and 20 days earlier than anticipated at Kirkwood
Lake Tahoe, CALIF. -- November 10, 2022 – Three of the Lake Tahoe Region’s premier resorts, Northstar California, Heavenly Mountain Resort, and Kirkwood Mountain Resort will kick off the 2022-2023 winter season earlier than initially planned on Saturday, November 12. Mother Nature delivered an earlier-than-expected mix of cold weather and snow, allowing for natural accumulation and supporting our excellent snowmaking teams to get the mountains read, ultimately allowing these resorts to welcome guests ahead of schedule. Northstar and Heavenly are opening six days earlier than anticipated, and Kirkwood is opening a whopping 20 days earlier than planned.
"We are thrilled to welcome skiers and riders back to Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood for the upcoming season even earlier than we anticipated,” said Tom Fortune, VP & COO of Heavenly and the Tahoe Region. “Mother Nature came through for us, allowing natural snowfall to fly and pile up while also giving us the temperatures needed for our snowmakers to do their best work. We are thankful for this incredible gift, and can’t wait to welcome our guests back for winter. Most of all, I’d like to recognize and thank the incredible resort teams at these three mountains for kicking things into high gear and making it possible to open early. Winter is here and we are ready!”
Early season terrain will be accessible at all three resorts; lifts spinning this Saturday include:
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Northstar: Big Springs Gondola will begin loading guests at 8:30am with Vista, Arrow, and The Big Easy starting at 9am.
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Heavenly: Tram, Gunbarrel, Patsy’s, and Powderbowl, starting at 8:30 am.
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Kirkwood: Chair 5 (Solitude) starting at 9am.
All three resorts will continue to make snow and monitor the weather to expand terrain offerings.
Epic Passes and Epic Day Passes are still available here or can be purchased at our ticket windows (please note, prices go up November 20). Guests planning to visit this winter are encouraged to purchase their lift access in advance – whether it is a lift ticket, Epic Day Pass or season pass. Lift tickets will be limited every day, across every resort, during the 2022-23 season in order to preserve the guest experience at each resort.
"With three drivable resorts in the Tahoe region all offering a unique experience, there will be something for everyone to enjoy,” said Fortune. “We are eager for another season of adventure and fun at our resorts."
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General Updates:
We encourage all who visit our mountains to check out our pre-arrival details page on each website (see below); please also look for operational news and real-time updates via each resort’s operations twitter feed. We will be sharing updates related to opening of new terrain, along with other important news content, on our social channels throughout the season:
- Northstar pre-arrival page; Operations Twitter feed
- Heavenly pre-arrival page; Operations Twitter feed?
- Kirkwood pre-arrival page; Operations Twitter feed
New This Season:
- Heavenly and Northstar both received Epic Lift Upgrades for the 2022-2023 season!
- ?Heavenly's upgraded North Bowl Lift is scheduled to open in mid-December. The new lift is on track to open in correspondence with the Nevada side of the mountain.
- Upgraded from a fixed-grip 3-person chair to a high-speed detachable 4-person chair, it will increase uphill capacity by more than 40% and reduce the combined ride time of the Boulder and North Bowl lifts. This is expected to also reduce wait times at the Stagecoach and Olympic lifts and will provide better access to some seriously cool and underutilized terrain at our resort.
- ?Northstar ’s newly upgraded Comstock Express lift is slated to open as planned on November 25 (conditions permitting).
- ?Having been replaced at mid-mountain from a four-person chair to a new high-speed six-person chair, the new Comstock lift is designed to reduce wait times at one of the mountain’s most popular lifts and will increase uphill capacity by nearly 50%.
- ?Heavenly's upgraded North Bowl Lift is scheduled to open in mid-December. The new lift is on track to open in correspondence with the Nevada side of the mountain.
Anniversaries:
- Kirkwood and Northstar will both be celebrating their 50th anniversaries this season, culminating five decades worth of adventure, traditions, and memories. Keep an eye on each resort’s events page for upcoming ways to celebrate. Northstar Events Page Kirkwood Events Page
Media contacts:
Sara Roston, Director of Communications, West Region
Cole Zimmerman, Communications Manager, Heavenly Mountain Resort
Dennis Baggett, Communications Manager, Kirkwood Mountain Resort
Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading global mountain resort operator. Vail Resorts' subsidiaries currently operate 40 destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada; Perisher, Falls Creek and Hotham in Australia; Stowe, Mount Snow, Okemo in Vermont; Hunter Mountain in New York; Mount Sunapee, Attitash, Wildcat and Crotched in New Hampshire; Stevens Pass in Washington; Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Laurel Mountain, Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail, Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania; Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, Brandywine and Mad River in Ohio; Hidden Valley and Snow Creek in Missouri; Wilmot in Wisconsin; Afton Alps in Minnesota; Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and Paoli Peaks in Indiana. Vail Resorts owns and/or manages a collection of casually elegant hotels under the Rock Resorts brand, as well as the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning and development subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.