By Paula Peterson
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – It was a perfect storm over the holiday weekend at Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Lake Tahoe, and it wasn’t just the snow. A massive power outage over the New Year’s holiday weekend on the Nevada side of the ski resort forced all operations onto the California side and shut down mountain access via the gondola. This left just the California Base Lodge as the only access point to the mountain after feet of snow fell, creating what should have been an epic day on the slopes.
Instead, it was a parking and mountain access nightmare.
Cars filled Ski Run Boulevard and all streets surrounding Heavenly, causing traffic jams and a standstill of vehicles full of those wanting to take advantage of great conditions, as well as vehicles of locals trying to get to work or out for supplies after the storm.
“Today was again a difficult day, specifically when it came to shuttles and getting our guests to the California side of Heavenly,” said Tom Fortune, chief operating officer for Vail Resorts for the Tahoe Region on January 2 in a message on Twitter.
Heavenly suspended shuttles to the base lodge at 11 a.m. in order to try and clear up the traffic jams and parking situation on Ski Run Blvd. and surrounding streets. Cars were parked haphazardly on every street, in no parking zones, and along heavily snow-covered neighborhood roads. Photos of the area resembled more of an Armageddon than a fun day in South Lake Tahoe. They were able to resume shuttles in the afternoon after the morning mess was cleared out.
The culprits of the power outage after 50″ of snow, 100+ mph wind gusts, and 8″ of precipitation were a broken power pole on the Nevada Trail and two downed power lines at Mott Canyon and Dipper runs. NV Energy and Liberty Utilities completed repairs on January 3. Before that, the large crowds were only able to use just one-third of the normal Heavenly terrain.
South Lake Tahoe Police Chief David Stevenson, City Manager Joe Irvin, Fortune, and others met on January 5 to discuss the situation from Monday.
“We need to improve the experience for both the locals and the visitors,” said Irvin.
Had the police department been given a head’s up that all access was going to be forced onto the California side, Stevenson said they would have had extra staff scheduled to manage the situation. He said staff would have been able to direct traffic and get vehicles parked legally instead of having to respond to a situation already out of control before the lifts started spinning.
“We are more aware of how quickly it can get out of control,” said Stevenson.
Coming out of the meeting was a promise from Fortune for better communication and they are all working on a plan moving forward.
Part of that plan would include Heavenly reimbursing the City for staff expenses if they are being pulled into a situation created by those heading to the resort.
Irvin said the City will be looking at the parking contract with Heavenly for its use of surface streets around the resort during the winter, a contract in place for almost a decade. Overflow parking at Heavenly is directed onto the streets covered in the contract.
“It is time to look at that, analyze and think about operation plans and service delivery expectations,” said Irvin.
Some of the parking issues could possibly have been fixed, or at least partially taken care of, by the ability to tow more vehicles parked illegally. With only one main tow company in South Lake Tahoe, Stevenson said there was no ability to tow all of the cars that were illegal. When there is a lot of snow the tow company is taxed with all of the needed responses on the highway.
Fortune communicated twice daily with those following Heavenly’s social media, updating them on operations and shuttle and lift availability.
“I want to express gratitude for your patience and acknowledge how difficult the experience has been for so many of you over the past few days due to traffic, parking, and access to the mountain,” said Fortune at the end of the day on January 3. “We are working with the City on both short-term and longer-term solutions to Ski Run Blvd. and surrounding City streets.”
By Wednesday, January 4, with the Nevada side reopened at Heavenly, the amount of traffic and number of people were normal, and more manageable, said Stevenson.