Kirkwood kicks off season, Heavenly opens gondola

Kirkwood Mountain Resort kicks off the season this week and reservations are open and Heavenly Mountain Resort will also open the Nevada side of the resort on Friday, officials announced Wednesday.

Kirkwood opens Friday morning with chairs 5, 7 and 9 scheduled to churn. Reservations are required to access the mountain.

Priority reservation days for the core season (Dec. 8-April 4) for Kirkwood, Heavenly and Northstar are also available for pass holders. For more information, visit EpicPass.com.

Kirkwood will have grab and go food options available seven days a week at Timber Creek Lodge and Monte Wolfe’s from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the General Store from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Restrooms will be open with limited capacity. Officials encourage guests to bring their own water, food and snacks.

The resort will open with more than 187 acres of beginner and intermediate terrain.

By the Mountain Village, Solitude (Chair 5) will provide access to Lower Zachary, Mokelumne, Lower Monte Wolfe, Outlaw and Lower Olympic. At Timber Creek, TC Express (Chair 7), Bunny (Chair 9), will provide access a range of progressive terrain including Free ‘N’ Easy, Hole ‘N’ Wall, Home Run, Janes Jaunt, Up ‘N’ Over, Squirrel Ridge, Funny Bunny, Graduation and School Run.

Additionally, the Wonder Carpet will be available for ski and ride school guests only. Chair lifts open at 9 a.m. and close at 4 p.m.

This Friday, Heavenly will open additional terrain on the Nevada side of the resort, as well as skiing and riding access via the Heavenly Gondola. Skiing and riding will be available in both California and Nevada, accessible from the California Lodge and Heavenly Village base areas.

Additional runs opening in Nevada are California Trail, Tamarack Return, Big Dipper, Orion and Big Easy. Access to the Nevada and California sides of the resort will be available from either the Heavenly Gondola or California Lodge base area, with Sky Express chairlift providing access via the Skyline Trail to link the two sides. Additional chairlift openings include Tamarack Express, Dipper Express, Big Easy, Baby Bear Carpet. Sky Express will open only for skiing access to Nevada.

Starting this Friday, and for the remainder of the season, Heavenly’s sightseeing will remain open with limited availability and reduced hours of operation in order to prioritize the skiing and riding experience. There will be no online purchase option for sightseeing and guests can purchase at the gondola ticket windows starting at 10:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. Officials are asking guests to stay off closed trails due to limited natural snow coverage. The Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, Epic Day Pass and entire suite of pass products go off sale Sunday