Tahoe resorts report bustling business over long holiday weekend

Sandra Chereb

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2000 | 9:32 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Blue skies, lots of snow and a three-day weekend lured hordes of skiers to Lake Tahoe resorts, helping operators make up for slow business and a lack of slow earlier this winter.

"We had a great weekend," said Monica Bandows, spokeswoman at Heavenly Ski Resort on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, on Monday. "We hit an all-time record on Saturday. I think there's been a lot of pent-up demand from people who couldn't or wouldn't get away over Christmas and New Year's."

At Boreal Ski Area off of Interstate 80 near Truckee, Calif., parking lots were jammed and vehicles were lined up off the freeway, spokesman Jonathan Scott said.

"We had an incredibly great weekend," Scott said. "We had a threat of a big storm but it really fizzled out. And the storm threat didn't scare anybody off."

The higher elevations of the Sierra received an inch or two of snow on Sunday. On Saturday and Monday, conditions were nearly picture-perfect, operators said.

"President's Day is historically one of our busiest weekends. And the conditions have been terrific," said Katja Dahl at Squaw Valley USA. "It was beautiful. Bright blue skies and not a breath of wind on Saturday. And today's sunny again. Definitely more people come out when the sun shines."

At Alpine Meadows, Saturday proved to be the busiest day in the resort's history, spokeswoman Rachael Woods said. Sunday was the second best.

A lack of natural snow combined with Y2K jitters and other holiday obligations to keep many people off the slopes over Christmas and New Year's.

But storm clouds began arriving en masse in the Sierra by mid January. A series of wet, powerful systems dumped foot after foot of snow.

Earlier this month, another series of storms left up to 5 feet of additional snow, bringing depth totals to anywhere from 3 feet to more than 13 feet, depending on the location and elevation.

Murray Blaney at Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe southwest of Reno said the recent snows and packed slopes this weekend were "Just what the doctor ordered."

"It lets us know that we're back on track for the season," he said.