Great snow, blue skies combined for busy Lake Tahoe weekend

No Vacancy signs at South Lake Tahoe lodging properties were prominent throughout South Lake Tahoe this past weekend after tourists headed to town after several feet of snow fell at local resorts

The crowds at Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe were evident as parking lots were full shortly after opening at each resort.

For a brief time at Kirkwood on Sunday, cars were attempting to park along State Route 88 to gain access to the resort as their lots were full, but the California Highway Patrol (CHP) was on the scene to keep that from happening according to Vail Resorts.

At Sierra-at-Tahoe, cars were stop and go for six miles in both directions after the resort had to close their parking lot around 9:30 a.m. Dozens of cars were allowed to park along Highway 50 were there are turnouts and the vehicles could park off the shoulder. According to CHP Officer Mike Brown, a few cars were towed that were illegally parked. Once parked, the occupants walked along the highway, many times walking on the roadway, and then up the two mile long road to the resort. The back up in both directions started when people attempting to get into Sierra had no place to go. Many of those turned away headed into South Lake Tahoe where a steady stream of cars were seen heading down Echo Summit and into Meyers. CHP is normally located at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra at Tahoe Road at the end of the day to help with traffic flow but they were stationed there longer Sunday to assist.

Brown said he'd only seen this happen once before, during last year's winter.