mountain travel

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There is a Winter Storm Warning in place for Lake Tahoe, one that starts on Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. and lasts until Monday night at 10:00 p.m. as two major storms take aim for Lake Tahoe.

The incoming storms have prompted travel officials to warn travelers to get to Lake Tahoe by 4:00 p.m. Friday night and to stay off mountain roads from then until early Monday morning.

The warnings are calling for heavy snow at lake level anywhere from 19" to 33" and up to five feet of snow above 7000 feet over the four-day period.

This week provides another chance for South Lake Tahoe to shine as over 1100 people from over 35 countries will descend upon the city April 8-14, 2018 for the 43rd Mountain Travel Symposium (MTS), the largest and longest running annual gathering of mountain travel professionals in the world.

Meeting planners, tourism bureaus, executives from ski resorts and lodging properties and many more will take part in the symposium hosted by the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority (LTVA), Heavenly Mountain Resort, Harrah's Lake Tahoe and Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel.

The holiday travel week may not have started out as many hoped it would as a storm hit Lake Tahoe on Monday, stranding many travelers for hours. I was one of those stranded between Kyburz and South Lake Tahoe on Highway 50, making the 1.5 hour drive from Cameron Park in 8.5 hours.

This caught me off guard since I've been driving the mountain roads for the past 36 years and my four-wheel drive car with snow tires has been very steady and dependable. I normally don't drive the mountain passes when a storm is headed our way, but I had to pick my daughter up from the San Francisco Airport.

OLYMPIC VALLEY - Snow sport enthusiasts were likely suffering a "snow hangover" last spring, according to Ralf Garrison, director of Denver-based Mountain Travel Research Program, an organizatio...