"Tahoe...is the most beautiful view the whole world afford" Mark Twain

Heavenly Ski Area in California, the largest ski area in the United States at 4,800 acres, lays like a white spider web on the southern rim of the Sierra range that corrals the 22 mile long by 12 mile wide Lake Tahoe. 10,100 feet above sea level at the mountain's top, hundred mile views are framed by jagged white peaks and underscored by azure blue water. Heavenly offers 23 chairlifts, 4,800 acres of skiable terrain and trails up to 5 miles long. Add 300 inches of annual snowfall, mild winter temperatures and almost constant sunshine, and you've found the ingredients for a world class ski resort.

From the top on a cloudy day, a billowy fluff of cottonball clouds hides the lake and glitzy casino life below. When the matting of clouds lays heavy on the lake, it leaves only a 22 mile circular rim of mountain peaks poking into the blue sky. It's an aviator's view causing the soul to stir deep inside as a tingling rises from the stomach and lodges near the heart.

Up on the Nevada side at 11,000 feet, the air is thin and crisp, the air is never quite enough to fill your lungs as you skate and push across the slightly inclined 1/2 mile Skyline Trail that runs from Sky Express over the spine of the high ridge into Nevada. The hillside falls away from the narrow cat track of Skyline like the view from a winding mountain road. You can see the expanse of the California terrain--a bowl roughly three miles across cut with gullies and trails.

Continuing on Skyline, we reach the Milky Way Bowl, a vast snowfield half-in and half-out of the tree line. This run looms as a sentinel testing the would-be expert skier's metal before the more perilous canyons. The broad and open bowl is shaped like a "V" more than a bowl. It spirals away through moguls for 600 feet to an open groomed cat track in the crux of the forested gully that leads to Mott Canyon. The bowl is the highest place with a northern exposure on the mountain, and its steep pitch makes it a favorite for warm weather skiing when the rest of the mountain is mashed potato slush. The steepness can cause hundred-foot rag doll crashes, pinwheels over the moguls, after a fall at the top. This run, like most black diamond runs, has a very steep pitch.

At the base of Milky Way, a whole new world opens up for the expert. It is the entrance to Mott and Killebrew canyons, the double black diamonds. Two steel posts with a red sign backed with two black diamond shapes reads, "Super Experts Only" At the canyon rim, just beyond the rope, a small red sign nailed crookedly to a prominent scrub pine proclaims "Snake Pit." The view from the rim's top elicits reverence. The run slithers down the canyon face, as steep as an attic staircase and seemingly as narrow in spots. It makes a big "S" turn down some 1,000 feet of slope. Thirty feet wide at the top and quickly narrowing to half that, it squeezes around a rock outcropping in its middle. Moguls choke the middle of the run like huge white gum balls jammed in the narrowness of the hourglass shaped run.

The double black diamond canyons of Heavenly are more than just part of the ski area. They represent a challenge, a test, a way to conquer and feel the mastery of your environment. Mott Canyon is a place where one's will and dedication can be tested. It is a place where you can find your place among nature and men. This place is the ultimate equalizer, and by its nature represents an affront to one's masculinity. It seems to shout out from its high perch down into the puny valleys, "You think you are good? Then try to ski my spine if you dare!"

Since every inch of this bowl is great skiing, the "one" best path down is hard to identify. Some paths are obvious, deliberately cut through the trees giving order and direction for those that would follow. These trails, so inviting, are worked by so many skiers that moguls form where skier after skier, making the same turn, causes a berm to form. These berms form a pattern all the way down the hill making it easy for the next skier to see each move necessary to reach the bottom. There are many such ways down this canyon. Albeit difficult, these trails have been cut and the way is clear.

Heavenly is known by the skiing community to be a place of freedom. The largeness of the resort and the space between the trees allows open range skiing--go where you like. Many skiers refer to the terrain as the best tree skiing in the country. It is a place for the purist. A place for a man who is not accustomed to borders and well laid plans. The trees of Mott canyon are spaced far enough apart so you can cut from one trail to another as it suits you.

"Two paths diverged in the wood and I took the one less traveled."Robert Frost

Is it not every man's choice to decide his own way? To individually seek the skier's prize--untracked powder. Powder is found in a place where no man has skied. Here, you can float unhindered in a place where time and the troubles of everyday life do not exist. Nobody has not been down this path for a reason--it's dangerous and out of the way. You could hook a tip, lose a ski or fall in a tree well. Success is not easy in the untracked powder. Sometimes in the heavy mush of spring slush, it is seemly impossible. You can float when you do it right.

If you love skiing, then powder skiing is the ultimate thrill. And even if you can't make a single turn in powder, chances are you will be able to feel the "float" at some time during the struggle. At the bottom Mott chair is the only way out of the canyon short of skiing out-of-bounds down to the town of Gardernerville, an old mining town famed with the oldest bar in Nevada. During mid-winter, when it's cold, the snow line will touch the desert road two miles below making an unforgettable trek. Warren Miller filmed here. If you decide to take this journey, have someone meet you on Hiway 395. Taxis rarely cruise this lonely stretch of road, and it would be a long walk back up the pass in ski boots.

The rock bluff called the Promise Land at the top of Mott canyon culls butterflies of inadequacy. The area is home to the two insane descents simply called "Over" and "Under" (the waterfall) These avalanche chutes start out 20 feet across, but after a 100 feet, they steepen and narrow into an almost vertical five foot width. Another ten feet through the tight section and the chute ends like a waterfall dropping fifteen feet into the foot of a mature pine forest. The first turn upon landing is crucial. If you fall, your chances of rag-dolling into the trees are good. The two chutes are identical except for the one on skier's right has a longer cliff area. They lie side by side split by a ominous granite outcropping obviously impervious to the years of erosion which carved the gorges on each side. A sign hangs ten feet overhead from a cable which spans the gorges' mouths. It reads "Danger Cliff Area." In the tight section, a pair of 200 cm skis will hit rock on both sides.

Why ski an area if it's obviously so dangerous? It comes down to bragging rights and pushing the your comfort zones. Being the best means you are the first to dare a narrow opening through rocks and trees, or the first to launch off a windblown cornice hanging like the bangs of a 1960's pompadour haircut in some snow choked avalanche chute, not foolhardy bravado, but control through skill and knowledge-- to know exactly how to approach the problem and pull it off. Anybody can launch themselves off a cliff and land with a "splat" in neck-deep powder. It's the experience that allows a good skier to safely negotiate where nobody else would dare. Competition is the opportunity to let others push us to excel when we might only fade and wither. It is our duty to keep the drive and hope alive, and not allow ourselves to become just a part of the majority. If you decide to do something in life, then shouldn't you do it with passion? Strive to be the best? After all, what's the point if you can't make a contribution, or stand out among the many. Courage can be found and proved in Mott.

Mott canyon is a place for contemplation, a place where one can go and commune with the highest of competitors--nature. You can witness the glory, the beauty, and most importantly, the vastness of life. You can survey the expansive valley below as if you were some great king watching over his kingdom. Mott canyon is a place of dreams and catharsis. You can break out of the small niche that commands your everyday life and master a natural world. The beauty of skiing is found in the simple truth of its challenge. Would-be skiers and posers are exposed for the pretentious lot they are, and braggarts are humbled and left behind. * * *

Turning right from the top of the Mott chairlift to leave the canyon, a cat track takes you to East Peak Lodge. This lodge is nestled into the bottom of a high mountain valley, half as big as the California upper bowl. It sits like an aristocrat's lake-front lodge next to a two acre snowmaking lake. The expansive deck is a great place to people watch while the aroma of charbroil wafts in the air. There are three, five-foot, barbecue pits stoked up and waiting for you to throw on whatever delicacy you1ve backpacked up the mountain. Or, if you didn't prepare, you can purchase steak, chicken breasts and vegetables "grilled" or "to be grilled" from the outdoor vendor. Inside, a sandwich deli and cafeteria round out the choices. On a sunny spring day, bikini clad women and shirtless men sun themselves while drinking Chardonay or Pete's Wicked Ale. The mogul run, "Little Dipper", rises center stage in front of the lodge.

Little Dipper is the best and most consistent mogul skiing on the mountain. It rises straight out from the East Peak Lodge and is bordered by the "Comet" high speed quad chairlift. The moguls are small and gradually increase in size. If you want to learn how to ski moguls without beating yourself up, this is the best bet on the mountain. At the top of the lift, a ski instructor, stands confident in uniformed regalia--a green, black and magenta parka, black tight-fitting pants and slick-daddy sunglasses. A sign at his side reads "Ski With A Pro $10."

A left turn past the instructor puts you on either "Von Schmidt" or "Crossover." Von Schmidt is the way back to California, while Crossover runs over a saddle in the ridge to another network of trails that lead down the mountain to the Nevada base lodge (skiers can begin their day either at the California or Nevada base lodge). The skiing on this part of the mountain is good, but the chairlifts (there are three) are all slow and long--no high speed quads here.

On the way back to California there is a secret place called "Maggie's Canyon". There are no signs to mark this area, just a few tracks from past skiers that lead from the cat track of Von Schmidt into the woods. This is wilderness area within the ski area1s boundaries. Maggies is a square mile section of mountainside that leads down to Maggie's Meadow beginner area and Patsy's warming hut. If you stay far right, hugging the highest possible traverse route in Maggies, you will eventually come to the forbidden Raley's Bowl.

Raley's bowl is out of bounds and spills away from sight with only the backdrop of the lake's blue hue in the distance. It's not a bowl that you can see because of the trees. But it's an area of two square miles on the northwestern face of the mountain that reaches down to the backdoors of the casinos along U.S. Hiway 50. This area is out of bounds and unlawful to ski; the penalty is a hefty fine. There are no ropes warning you it's out of bounds, because most people would turn back before getting this far out. It takes thirty minutes of breaking trail through Maggie's waist deep snow to get to the saddle in the ridge that marks the entrance, but if you1re lucky someone has already broke the trail. Unless you know where you are going, you will not happen into this area by accident. The deepest snow and steepest terrain on the mountain awaits in Railey's. It is unknown to outsiders and savored as a treat by locals. It1s reminiscent of the nation1s great runs. Wide open and long like the "Hoebacks," of Jackson Hole, but steep and festooned with rocks and trees like "Eddy's High Nowhere" at Alta. In order to ski it, you have to find it. It1s best to be treated by an experienced local who knows the way. A little to the right and you could end up in a canyon that leads to town. If you stay to the left, the steepest and freshest powder fields you have ever skied await, And after 1500 feet of vertical, Raley's will open onto a road that skirts along the mountain and leads to the base lodge and the tram.

The "Face", the grand daddy of black diamond mogul runs and the only visible run from the California base lodge, looms ominously over anyone who dares to ski beyond their ability. For a 1,000 vertical feet, moguls as big as semi tires fill every inch of the double wide run before it breaks off into "Pistol" and "West Bowl". Off to the side, some of the steepest and best tree skiing awaits in the forest when the weather is right. The Face has made many beginners think twice before boarding the tram or Gunbarrel chair. Being able to beat the moguls and do it with style is the goal of the "face rats," the locals who ski only this trail, run after run after run. The challenge of the Face is to master the toughest mogul skiing on the mountain while getting a cardiovascular workout. If you can ski the run from top to bottom, you are among the reveered!

After a three minute tram ride over the "Face" you are left at Monument Peak, a hub of activity centered around the popular restaurant. Monument Peak Restaurant, commands such a view that many weddings have been performed on its deck overlooking the Lake Tahoe valley. Outside the concrete structure of the Tram house, beginners clumsily struggle with gear while sheepishly looking for the safest place to ski, and all the while experts, with an air of confidence, precisely and exactly click into their skis and race off as if fleeing the scene of an accident. The Poma lift is on the left and two slow moving chairlifts unload shaky neophytes on the right.

A short green run from the tram leads to Maggies Meadow, a small mid-mountain valley, where two chairlifts lead to the upper mountain. People are shuffling around on their skis getting into line, going to the small food hut or coming down one of the many runs that lead into this two-acre snowfield of activity. Patsy's warming hut is a 1/2 garage-sized outdoor convenience stop with restrooms in the back and a service window in the front. Peering in, you can see the offerings: sandwiches, fresh baked cookies, non-alcoholic drinks, Power Bars, candy and packaged muffins--a good stop for quick energy. An outdoor seating area is fenced in with neon orange plastic roll-a-fence encompassing six picnic tables. A sign on the fence says, "no skis past this point." Three chairlifts rise out of this gully. Patsy's goes North back to the top of the tram, while Powderbowl and Waterfall go south dropping you within an easy ski to the Sky Express chair and the top of the mountain.

Skiing in Heavenly's wide open expert terrain leads to a life of freedom and choice. You can venture out and find your own ground. High up on the mountain, close to God, the reward for skillful mountain mastery is self-awareness. You can learn who you are and what you1re capable of--you can learn how far your motivation will take you on the hill and in life.

Author's bio: John Mukavitz, currently living in Tahoe, is a ski instructor with an unbridled passion for the sport. He has found a place where it is possible to balance the intellectual and athletic pursuits of life. He started skiing at age three and has never stopped. He has worked in the ski industry for 17 years holding posts of ski instructor, assistant director and director in both North and South America. In 1990, he started his own travel guide newspaper dedicated to helping the tourists of the Big Snow Country in the midwest find the best deals. But in 1994, in seeking a bigger market to ply his marketing and writing endeavors, he moved to Lake Tahoe.