Blue Heavenly, CA
Orion's Belt drops 138 vertical feet over 679 feet of skiing, with a steepest pitch of 19° about 460 feet below the top. That's steeper than 30% of the 5,615 blue runs we've measured in North America, and the 100th steepest of 124 named runs at Heavenly. It faces east.
Facing east at an average 12°, Orion's Belt gets about 98% of the winter sun that flat ground at Heavenly does, December through March. That's sunnier than 69% of the runs we've measured, and the 28th sunniest named run at Heavenly. Its top sits at 9,230 feet.
With little slope to hide behind, it takes nearly the full winter sun of open ground: powder settles and turns heavy sooner after a storm, and spring snow softens early. Shading from ridges and trees isn't counted yet.
under 25°25–35°35–45°45°+ Hover to follow the line on the map.
Measured by ZRankings from 1-meter USGS lidar. Steepest pitch is the steepest stretch of about 50 vertical feet along the skiable line. Run lines come from OpenStreetMap and can sit a little off the skied path.