- Nevada County HP: #6
- Difficulty: ⭐️⭐️
- Summit Elevation: 9,594 feet
- Mountain Range: Carson Range
- Ancestral Lands: Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla; Washoe
PLANNING DETAILS
Location: East Peak is located at the top of the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort, just north of the Nevada-California border. The closest town with amenities is Stateline, NV (or South Lake Tahoe, CA).
When to Visit: June to October. Mt. Rose is typically snow-covered until early June.
Fees/Permits Required: The Heavenly Mountain gondola ride costs $84/person for a round-trip ticket. Summer tickets are good for the entire day and can be used multiple times by the same rider.
Getting There: The “summer route” begins with a gondola ride from South Lake Tahoe. The lower station for the Heavenly Mountain Resort’s scenic gondola is just across the Nevada-California state line.
Directions from Reno: Follow I-580 south for 30 miles to where the highway ends in Carson City. Continue west on US-50 toward South Lake Tahoe. Follow US-50 west for 22 miles to the Nevada-California border. As you enter the border town of Stateline, NV, continue south on Lake Tahoe Blvd (US-50) for 0.5 miles. The Heavenly Mountain Resort ticket office and lower gondola station are located on Lake Tahoe Blvd between the Marriott Timber Lodge and Marriott Grand Residence Club.
Parking: There are multiple paid parking garages and street parking options near the Heavenly Mountain Resort’s gondola. Rates are typically $1.25 per 20 minutes.
Difficulty Rating: ⭐️⭐️ (Moderate Hike) — The shortest approach to this high point begins in South Lake Tahoe, CA, and uses the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort gondola to ascend 2.5 miles to Tamarack Lodge. Visitors who use the “summer route” follow a wide dirt road (the Von Schmidt ski route) up to the Olympic Express ski lift and the ski patrol cabin. The final stretch to the high point requires a brief 200-yard off-trail hike between the ski patrol cabin and the summit, as well as a class 2 rock scramble.
Pets Allowed: Yes.
Kid-friendly: This hike is suitable for children aged 7 and above. Adult assistance may be needed to ascend the rock pile at the summit.
The Summit: The summit is located 200 yards from the ski patrol building near the top of the Olympic ski lift. There is a rock outcropping at the summit with a small cell tower and a geodetic survey marker. On clear days, Lake Tahoe is visible from the summit.
TRIP SUMMARY
Date Visited: June 30, 2026
Route Used: Von Schmidt Trail from Heavenly Mountain Gondola – 2 miles round-trip
This was the second Nevada CoHP that I walked right past during my 2020 thru-hike of the Tahoe Rim Trail. In reality, I was still about 1,000 vertical feet beneath the true high point when I hiked past East Lake and beneath the ski lifts on Heavenly Mountain’s eastern side.
Given my familiarity with the ski resort’s eastern side, I’d planned to return via Kingbury Grade Road and make the 9-mile round-trip hike from the Heavenly Stagecoach Lodge. Yet after three consecutive days of hiking three other Nevada CoHPs (Granite Peak, Star Peak, and Mt. Rose), my calves and quads were toast. I needed a day off, or at least an alternate plan.
That’s when I remembered reading that other highpointers had used the peak’s “summer route” to ascend the ski resort’s western side. This approach is much shorter and easier because, instead of hiking up the steep ski runs, you can ride a gondola 2.4 miles uphill from South Lake Tahoe to the Tamarack Lodge near the top of the ski resort.
The only downside to this summer route was the cost. The resort’s scenic gondola costs $84 to ride up and back!! That ticket price felt like highway robbery. Last September, while hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc, I had the opportunity to ride the La Flégère gondola near Chamonix, France, and it was a fraction of the cost!
But my very weary legs talked me into buying the gondola ticket. And, if there is a silver lining to this absurd cost, I can say I’ve now ridden the 3rd longest gondola in the U.S. (only surpassed by the Silver Mountain gondola in Kellogg, ID, and the Silver Queen gondola in Aspen, CO)
It’s a surprisingly long gondola ride, taking 10 minutes to travel from the lower to the upper station. But I broke it up into two chunks on the ascent, briefly stopping at the observation deck 1.7 miles up the mountain. This quick stop let me get some terrific morning views of South Lake Tahoe and take in the different shades of blue as the lake transitions from shallow to deep water.
After returning to the gondola, I rode the final 0.7 miles to the upper station at the top of the ski resort. This is where visitors will find some of the easier ski lifts amid the summer activities, like a climbing wall, ropes course, summer tubing slope, or mountain coaster ride. And of course, there was also plenty of overpriced food and drinks at the Tamarack Lodge, too.
Although the area around Tamarack Lodge is considered the top of the resort, it’s really only at 9,150′ elevation and straddles the state line between California and Nevada.
I quickly ditched the tourists waiting in line for the summer activities and set out to find the best route to East Peak. Locating the resort’s hiking trails wasn’t difficult. They were marked with a tall wooden archway near the Bear Cave Kid’s Ski School. But I’m not sure I would call them traditional trails. These were more like wide dirt roads that turn into ski runs in the winter.
About 200 yards past the entrance arch for the hiking trails, I reached a junction with several dirt roads and turned left to head up the Von Schmidt ski run.
At the top of the Von Schmidt run, I reached the green upper station of the Olympic Express ski lift, which dropped down the mountain’s east side. Naturally, the ski lift was immobile this time of year and I was the only person who’d seemed to venture up this way.
A 2-story red ski patrol building rested on the slope behind the Olympic Express lift. This was my final landmark. I was just below the summit of East Peak. I couldn’t see the rocky summit from this vantage point, but I knew that it was just to my north, so I planned to head cross-country up the final hill and into the tall trees.
As I made my way around to the north (aka right) side of the ski patrol building, a weird little overhang caught my eye. It was covered with the same shingled material as the roof. A thick cluster of power cables emerged from beneath this overhang and seemed to run directly up the hill in the same direction I was headed.
These cables were as close as I was going to get to a breadcrumb trail, so I followed them as they rose over a 200-yard stretch to East Peak’s rocky summit, where they connected to a power box and antenna.
The last bit of my approach required a rock scramble over some large, slanted boulders, but it was a relatively easy ascent to the top. And once I reached the antenna, I spotted a metal survey benchmark embedded in nearby rocks, with more epic views of Lake Tahoe to the west.
In hindsight, I’m glad I opted to take the easy route up East Peak. I would now have a novel memory of the gondola ride to distinguish it from all the more difficult Nevada CoHPs. Plus, I had plenty of time after I returned down to South Lake Tahoe to walk over to the “real” hiking trails at Van Sickle Bi-State Park, weaving back and forth between Nevada and California.
BONUS MATERIAL
Alternate Routes:
- Kingsbury Route. Visitors who want to avoid the high price tag of the Heavenly Mountain gondola can hike up the eastern side of Heavenly Mountain’s ski slopes. The highest parking area is located near Kingsbury Grade Road (NV-207) near the Stagecoach Express chair lift. The eastern route follows the ski trails uphill for 2.3 miles up to East Peak Lake. From here, visitors continue uphill on ski trails to the Von Schmidt Trail, located on the ridge at the top of the ski resort. From the ridge, head north to the Olympic Express Ski Lift and the ski patrol building located just below East Peak’s summit. The total round-trip distance for this route is ~9 miles.
Public camping nearby:
- Campground by the Lake is located in South Lake Tahoe, CA. This city park campground is open seasonally from May to October and offers 99 campsites, picnic tables, campfire rings, flush toilets, coin-operated showers, an RV dump station, and access to a bike path. Cost: $47/night. (66 sites are reservable online for an additional $10 fee, while sites on Loop C are only offered on a first-come, first-served basis.)
- Eagle Point Campground is located inside Emerald Bay State Park, approximately 12 miles from the Heavenly Mountain gondola and South Lake Tahoe. This exceptionally popular lakefront campground is open seasonally from mid-June to Labor Day and offers 97 campsites, picnic tables, bear boxes, flush toilets, token-operated showers, bear-resistant trash dumpsters, hiking trails, and lake access. Reservations are strongly recommended. Cost: $35/night (plus an additional $8.25 online reservation fee).
- Fallen Leaf Campground is located near the south shore of Lake Tahoe, 8 miles from the Heavenly Mountain gondola. This USFS campground is open seasonally from late May to late October and offers 206 campsites, 6 yurts, picnic tables, bear boxes, flush toilets, coin-operated showers, hiking trails, and access to Fallen Leaf Lake. Cost: $47/night. (Campsites are reservable online for an additional $8 fee.)
Resources:
- Overview of East Peak (Summit Post)
- East Peak hiking route (All Trails)
- Heavenly Mountain Gondola (gondola tickets)
- Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (USFS)
- Current Wildfire Conditions (Nevada Fire Info)
- Douglas County (official site)
A quick note on my difficulty ratings:
- ⭐️ = Easy hike (0-5 miles long, defined trail, flat or limited vertical gain, good for all ages)
- ⭐️⭐️ = Moderate hike (<5 miles round-trip, on trail, some vertical gain)
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Challenging (5-15 miles round-trip, possible off-trail navigation, steep climbs, or bouldering)
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Hard (10+ miles roundtrip, with off-trail navigation or very steep climbs)
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Very Hard (20+ miles round-trip, and/or technical skills or equipment required)