New at Heavenly
Heavenly Mountain Resort announced its resort improvements for the 2011-12 ski and snowboard season, pushing all its chips to the middle of the table and going "all in" for fun for the entire family or group. Heavenly made enhancements to virtually every aspect of the guest experience, priming the resort to rival last year's record-breaking season.
New Ski School Building
Heavenly will open a kid's adventure zone called Black Bear Hollow at the top of the Gondola. Black Bear Hollow is a meandering, low-angle skiing and riding trail with groomed whoop-de-dos, wood carvings of local animals and wildlife fact signage. The adjacent entry-level progression park features small rails, gentle jumps and boxes designed to help youngsters explore.
New and Wider Trails
For the larger kids, Heavenly has added three new trails in the Galaxy "trail pod" on the Nevada side of the mountain, bringing the massive resort's total run count to 97. These solid intermediate trails provide 20 more groom-able acres for skiers and snowboarders to enjoy on one of the less-traveled portions of the mountain.
Not to be outdone, the trails on Heavenly's California side will get a serious upgrade. Heavenly is widening five of its core California trails, improving the quality of skiing and snowboarding, reducing slope density and allowing the resort to manicure more terrain because the runs will be wider, straighter and thus, easier to groom.
New EpicMix Photos
What could be cooler that exploring the mountain, capturing your ski or snowboard vacation with the perfect photo and sharing it with friends and family? The next generation of Vail Resorts' popular ski and snowboard application, EpicMix, will revolutionize how guests take and share photos at all six of the companies mountain resorts.
Upon request, the Company's professional photographers will take portrait and action photos and automatically deliver the images to the guest's EpicMix account by quickly scanning a guest's RF-enabled lift ticket or season pass. Vail Resorts will provide these professional photos free to guests, in a "low-res" format for sharing on Facebook and Twitter, while high-resolution images can be purchased for $19.99, allowing guests to print unlimited copies at the vendor of their choice or on their own.
Additional Grooming Machines
When you talk about the finest snow surfaces at Lake Tahoe, that conversation begins and ends with Heavenly. Heavenly has purchased two more Prinoth Beast grooming machines, bringing the world's largest fleet of the most technologically-advanced snow cats to four. The Beast is equipped with the most state-of-the-art technology to date, allowing it to groom 30 percent more acreage per hour than traditional grooming machines.
Redesigned Food and Beverage Location
For 2011-12 Snow Beach, Heavenly's uber-popular open-air hang out on the California side, will have the feel of a European beer garden, highlighted by an outdoor barbecue, a sea of Adirondack chairs and the relocated Umbrella Bar – under the new name Stein! Accompanied by a beer and a bratwurst, it will continue to be one of the coolest places on the mountain.