Heavenly Opens Interstate Ski Trail Using Machine-Made Snow

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE (CBS13) – Despite a lack of snow, Heavenly Ski Resort has opened its Skyline Trail.

Officials say they used machine-made snow to cover more than 4,800 feet of trail.

They got it there with a combination of the Sky Express chair lift and machine groomers.

"This project has been an amazing combination of creativity and hard work, driven by our boundless desire to make things the best they can be for our loyal guests," said Pete Sonntag, Heavenly's general manager. "We hope this is a project we never have to do again, but with natural snow being tough to come by this season, we felt that opening Skyline was a critical component to the overall experience for our guests. Now that the two separate mountains are connected, we are functioning as one large resort."

Heavenly is operating 23 lifts with 28 of its trails open.

The resort says the snow is 18-24 inches deep on the trails.

And it is hoping conditions will improve with snow in the forecast.