SKI Magazine ranks Heavenly 12th

SKI Magazine ranked Heavenly Mountain Resort as the 12th-best ski resort in North America in its annual Top 50 Resort Guide. This is believed to be Heavenly's highest ranking ever. The South Shore resort moved up four spots from last year, when it was ranked No. 16.

Heavenly also was the highest-rated Lake Tahoe area resort. Squaw Valley was ranked No. 16, Northstar-at-Tahoe No. 23 and Alpine Meadows No. 28. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was the Sierra Nevada's top-rated resort, coming in at No. 9.

Heavenly communications director Ross Pecoraro is out of town until Thursday and couldn't be reached for comment.

Deer Valley, Utah, was rated as the continent's top resort, earning first-place marks for service, on-mountain dining, grooming and access. Vail, Colo., was rated second and was followed by Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia, Canada; Snowmass, Colo.; and Park City, Utah.

Beaver Creek, Colo., was ranked sixth and was followed by Breckenridge, Colo.; Aspen, Colo.; Mammoth; and Sun Valley, Idaho. Park City made moved up three spots from last year and Sun Valley cracked the top 10 after coming in at No. 12 last year.

More than 20,000 SKI Magazine subscribers were surveyed by an independent research firm for the Top 50 Resort Guide. Resorts were ranked in 17 categories. Complete rankings are listed in the magazine's October issue, which was distributed to newsstands in mid-September.