http://apps.tahoe.com/images/powderhound/SuperCub-018.jpg" title="Dana Turvey, tahoe.com" align="right" vspace="3">Let’s just assume you’ve viewed Lake Tahoe from all the normal vantage points. Heavenly’s gondola? Check. Atop Alpine Meadows’ Lakeview ski run? Sure. The vista point from Echo Lakes? Absolutely.

Frankly, you’re still missing out, unless you’ve flown through the air over Lake Tahoe. It’s not too late, and there are several venues available to help you. Helicopters, planes and air balloons all offer ways to see the lake from one of the most amazing viewpoints imaginable.

For as little as $49, HeliTahoe will do a quick out-and-back to Emerald Bay, or try their other tours ranging from a 20 minute flight over the entire south shore to the ever-popular one-hour sunset tour. Based at the South Lake Tahoe airport, call (530)544-2211 for more information or to see more proof of just how breathtaking these trips are visit http://www.helitahoe.com/">www.helitahoe.com.

Owner/pilot Claudio Bellotto, who flew helicopters with the Italian Air Force Academy, said, “Over three years ago, I realized that no one has done anything like this in the area. To fly over Lake Tahoe is breathtaking – it’s a blessing to do this. We really fly where only eagles dare.”

http://apps.tahoe.com/images/powderhound/tahoe-balloon.jpg" title="Courtesy Lake Tahoe Balloons" align="right" vspace="3">For a different pace, Lake Tahoe Balloons takes four to 16 passenger hot air balloons floating over the lake each day. When conditions allow, the crafts can reach a height of 10,000 feet, offering a truly unique adventure.

Utilizing the world’s only Coast Guard certified balloon launch and recovery boat, these balloon tours start and finish on the lake. Flights typically chase the sunrise for the calmest conditions, and have start times from 5 to 7 a.m.. Trips start with a shuttle pick-up at your hotel, breakfast on the boat ride out, a one-hour balloon tour of Emerald Bay, Fallen Leaf Lake and the Desolation Wilderness area, post-flight champagne and a shuttle ride home for $250. They can be contacted at (800)872-9294 or http://www.laketahoeballoons.com">www.laketahoeballoons.com.

http://apps.tahoe.com/images/powderhound/SuperCub-019.jpg" title="Dana Turvey, tahoe.com" align="right" vspace="3">And if you’re willing to step out of a perfectly good airplane, there’s always the Minden, Nev. based Sky Dive Tahoe adventure-company. Tandem jumping allows anyone with $199 to strap a highly-trained skydiver to their back and leap from a plane at 13,500 feet over the Minden airport. From such heights, the magical Lake Tahoe basin is in full view, at least if you can bring your line of vision away from the asphalt below.

As long as you are over 18 years of age and under 200 pounds, a once-in-a-lifetime parachute panorama of Tahoe which includes a video of your flight can be booked at (775)783-8708 or at http://www.skydivetahoe.com">www.skydivetahoe.com.

Also from the Minden airport is the chance to enjoy silent flight via Soar Minden. Here, one to two passengers, along with an expert pilot, will be towed over the Sierra ridge into the Tahoe basin, before the glider plane is eventually released one mile above the Carson Valley. Awe-inspiring views combine with the quietude of soaring, at a rate of $230 for two people. Soar Minden is a year-round operation at http://www.soarminden.com">www.soarminden.com or (800) 345-7627.

http://apps.tahoe.com/images/powderhound/SuperCub-028.jpg" title="Dana Turvey, tahoe.com" align="right" vspace="3">A career pilot for American Airlines and a long-time south shore resident, Captain Chuck Kimes has flown many types of aircraft over the lake. He says, “Mark Twain once spoke of Lake Tahoe, saying that the air up there, in the clouds, is the same air the angels breathe. Well, I like to say that to fly over Tahoe is to fly where angels fly.”

Pilots and passengers seem to agree - to fly over Lake Tahoe should be on everyone’s short list. Watching from far above, as the lake unfolds below, promises beauty unseen from the mere roadside. And it can’t be too bad to soar with the angels…