Tahoe, California, is a massive spiderweb of trails and trail systems, many of which connect. And, as locals know, it’s also a place where riders earn their turns. Aside from Northstar California Resort, closer to Truckee, there are no other lift-access options in Tahoe aside from the occasional shuttle.
But as of August 17, the Tahoe area has another up-lift option. Heavenly Resort, near South Lake Tahoe, opened the Heavenly Gondola for mountain bikes, where a pass provides riders all-day access to multiple 2,000-foot descents.
Did South Lake Tahoe just get a bike park?
Heavenly Mountain Resort sits just east of South Lake Tahoe, half in the Eldorado National Forest and the other half in the Toiyabe National Forest. But the division goes even deeper: half the resort is in California and the other half across the border in Nevada — the state line dividing the forests.
And it’s massive. Heavenly boasts nearly 5,000 acres of terrain, with over 100 trails and nearly 30 lifts. The summit reaches over 10,000 feet, providing an elevation loss of nearly 3,000 feet when all is said and done.
Unfortunately, all of those numbers are winter- and skiing-related. But the resort does have summer activities, with some popular Tahoe multiuse trails running through the USFS land the resort occupies. And Heavenly is now offering a 2.4-mile gondola ride that gains nearly 3,000 feet of elevation to access those trails.
“We’re thrilled to offer mountain bike access via the Heavenly Gondola for the first time in the resort’s history,” said Peter Disch, Vice President of Mountain Operations at Heavenly Mountain Resort. “This milestone reflects the dedication and collaboration of our community partners, who helped bring a shared vision to life.”
While Heavenly isn’t “now a bike park” by any means, linking several trails together can provide some pretty impressive descending.
Panorama Trail as the connector
“The Panorama Trail is the first of a linked system,” Drew Bray, Executive Director of the Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association (TAMBA), told Singletracks.
Regardless of the route you decide to take from the gondola, it wouldn’t be possible with the new Panorama Trail. The trail starts at a “mid-mountain” stop nearly three-quarters of the way from the end of the gondola ride. However, those who want to ride all the way to the top can take a short service-road ride down to the start of Panorama.
Panorama connects riders to the infamous Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) after almost four miles of pedaling. During these four miles, the intermediate Panorama is essentially a traverse, gaining as much elevation as it drops — about 400 feet, give or take.
Once riders connect to TRT, it becomes a choose-your-own-adventure back to South Lake Tahoe.
TRT to Van Sickle
The more advanced option off of Panorama is to head north on TRT, linking it to Van Sickle, both advanced-rated trails. This section of TRT stretches about four miles and drops around 700 feet in elevation. It is a typical Tahoe technical trail, picking lines through chunky granite sections as you climb, descend, and climb again.
TRT links into Van Sickle, a three-mile descent losing 1,300 feet. The trail is fast and loose, with chunky sections mixed in. Riders will also run across a few steeper and significantly more challenging segments where “chunk” turns into proper boulders.
Van Sickle ends just a few blocks from where the Heavenly Gondola starts, making it easy to jump back on for another lap. One important note: Van Sickle sees a lot of hiking traffic because of its proximity to South Lake Tahoe, so descend with caution. In fact, all these trails are multi-use and multi-directional.
TRT to Monument Pass to Cold Creek
Rather than heading north on TRT, turn south to access the Monument Pass and Cold Creek trails. This is a more intermediate option, but it starts with a 500-foot grind up TRT before descending about seven miles back to town.
Monument Pass is rated intermediate, dropping 1,150 feet in just over three miles. It has a good mix of fast, flowy sections and moderately chunky areas to keep things spicy.
After Monument Pass come Upper and Lower Cold Creek. Upper is advanced, dropping 800 feet in two miles. The trail starts easy enough but quickly gets into classic Tahoe slabs and chucky descending. Fast flow, then tech, then back to fast flow again.
Lower Cold Creek is back to an intermediate rating and has many of the same trail characteristics as Upper, but at a blue-trail level. It is just under two miles and isn’t quite as steep, dropping almost 600 feet.
A new trail in the works
Bray also mentioned a new trail that will eventually be a third option for gondola descenders. Heavenly to High Meadows is currently proposed as a part of the Basin Wide Trails Analysis Project.
While the proposal is still in the early stages, Heavenly to High Meadows will be a “contouring trail that should offer incredible views and will link to Cold Creek, Monument Pass, and Star Lake Trails.”
When it’s complete, it will stretch for almost 4 miles and drop riders off roughly in the same zone as the aforementioned Monument Pass to Cold Creek descent.
Bike park prices
While Heavenly Mountain Resort doesn’t have a bike park, you’ll pay bike park prices (maybe more) to ride the gondola. A Heavenly Gondola pass is $84 for the day. If you bring a mountain bike, you’ll pay an additional $39 fee. That is $123 for a day pass.
But that gets you as many rides as you can do that day — well, between 10 AM and 5 PM. And descending Van Sickle drops riders blocks from the gondola.
Locals with a Northstar bike park pass can ride free of charge. So, maybe make a trip out of it and hit both mountain bike destinations.
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