Bottom terminal with drive and a parking rail.Maze and loading area.Top terminal and breakover.Early Doppelmayr Uni station.Top towers and terminal.Lift line view.Another view down the line.Top part of the line with some chairs off line for a storm.Lower lift line.Just above the base.Side view of the drive.Chairs parked.This is the highest lift-served point at the resort.Breakover towers.An early EJ chair with DS grip and footrest-less safety bar.The entire lift line.Riding up.View down the first part of the line.Arriving at the return terminal.
jules is right. The lift is due for a six pack. I’ve been on Sky Express for too long to know that on weekends and on peak days, this lift gets crowded. maybe a D-line?
Sky is probably the “flagship” lift at Heavenly, in that it covers a large amount and variety of terrain with 1400′ of vertical for about a 5-minute ride. Therefore, it almost always has a wait after 10:00. (Although conversion to a HS6 may eventually happen, it will probably do nothing to mitigate the wait, as it will only draw more people, and just make the runs that much more crowded. I personally think up to a 10-minute wait, at least a couple of times, is worth a few less people on the runs. If it gets much worse, I just move to another lift) It’s also the weakest link in the entire lift system. Not only do the frequent wind closures make it impossible to access NV, but the CA side has pretty limited choices unless it is open. Couple that with Cal Base having, by far, the largest parking lot, and Canyon, even Powderbowl, will get absolutely massive lines. I won’t even consider going up in CA if Sky is closed or might possible close. If you start in CA and move to NV regularly (like I do), at least going back to CA, there are 3 lifts that will work – Dipper, Comet, Olympic. The latter two require Tamarack to be open to be reasonable options, and it’s usually on wind hold whenever Sky is. This means skating or walking a portion of the very flat Von Schmidt trail, but at least it’s still possible. Unlike a Sky closure, which makes going from CA to NV IMPOSSIBLE.
Until such time as there is a more wind resistant way to access NV from CA (it will NEVER happen under the Vail regime), I’ll keep avoiding CA whenever the wind is predicted to be over 20 mph, even if it means getting up a little earlier to make “first” chair in NV.
Its been a while but genuinely another reason I am not a fan of Vails management style, a low capacity hsq or fixed grip quad from the bottom of sky to the bottom of tamarack would solve almost all of this, be wind resistant and move people to california directly.
Lift Blog 
this lift should really be made a six pack with footrests, the old lift should be relocated elsewhere
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NO! Too many people on these runs as it is.
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jules is right. The lift is due for a six pack. I’ve been on Sky Express for too long to know that on weekends and on peak days, this lift gets crowded. maybe a D-line?
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Sky is probably the “flagship” lift at Heavenly, in that it covers a large amount and variety of terrain with 1400′ of vertical for about a 5-minute ride. Therefore, it almost always has a wait after 10:00. (Although conversion to a HS6 may eventually happen, it will probably do nothing to mitigate the wait, as it will only draw more people, and just make the runs that much more crowded. I personally think up to a 10-minute wait, at least a couple of times, is worth a few less people on the runs. If it gets much worse, I just move to another lift) It’s also the weakest link in the entire lift system. Not only do the frequent wind closures make it impossible to access NV, but the CA side has pretty limited choices unless it is open. Couple that with Cal Base having, by far, the largest parking lot, and Canyon, even Powderbowl, will get absolutely massive lines. I won’t even consider going up in CA if Sky is closed or might possible close. If you start in CA and move to NV regularly (like I do), at least going back to CA, there are 3 lifts that will work – Dipper, Comet, Olympic. The latter two require Tamarack to be open to be reasonable options, and it’s usually on wind hold whenever Sky is. This means skating or walking a portion of the very flat Von Schmidt trail, but at least it’s still possible. Unlike a Sky closure, which makes going from CA to NV IMPOSSIBLE.
Until such time as there is a more wind resistant way to access NV from CA (it will NEVER happen under the Vail regime), I’ll keep avoiding CA whenever the wind is predicted to be over 20 mph, even if it means getting up a little earlier to make “first” chair in NV.
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Its been a while but genuinely another reason I am not a fan of Vails management style, a low capacity hsq or fixed grip quad from the bottom of sky to the bottom of tamarack would solve almost all of this, be wind resistant and move people to california directly.
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Going up this lift always feels like going to heaven.
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