skiing | ArnieLee.com

<br /> Lake Tahoe Snow<br />

Snow in the Sierras

Lots of winter snow is a boon for those who love to ski.

The Lake Tahoe area is noted for its many ski slopes. This past March our plan was to visit relatives in Reno, Nevada and then drive to one of the nearby ski resorts. We made plane reservations, packed and were on our way.

We traveled by plane from our home in Grand Rapids to Reno which is the closest airport to Lake Tahoe.

We arrived in Reno to some very nasty weather on Friday. Snow in the Sierras was predicted to be six feet deep.

As predicted the snow fell heavily over the Lake Tahoe area. Some places reported eight feet of the white fluffy stuff. Yes, as skiers we welcomed the snow – but not this much. All of the ski resorts were closed to the public as the workers there were doing their best to dig the lifts and gondolas out of the deluge and groom the slopes and trails.

The interstate highway from Nevada to California was closed for safety reasons and the traffic was stopped at the state line for three days.

On Monday my son who lives in the area said that we might try to reach one of the ski resorts by an alternate route. To our surprise these roads were relatively clear of the snow. Instead of a drive of 45 minutes by the interstate we drove for two hours to reach Truckee, CA by this “backdoor” road.

Truckee is home to the Northstar Ski Resort and sits close to the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Since the main road to Truckee was closed in both directions – Nevada from the east and California from the west, the parking lot was not very full.

On the back road we were treated to some very nice scenery.

The alternate road was relatively clear of snow and tarffic.

Here’s our skiing crew ready to hit the slopes at Northstar.

The four of them are ascending on the quad chair.

Later on we took the gondola to one of the higher slopes where we enjoyed the view from the top.

The skiing was great with lots of fresh powder and uncrowded slopes.

We finished skiing by late afternoon. We took the interstate that was closed for three days had just reopened. Half way back to Reno we could see that the vehicles stopped at the Nevada-California border since Friday were starting to move on the other side of the highway. As you can see there were an amazing number of vehicles crawling along Interstate 80 to reach California.

We’ll remember the time we asked for snow and received way more than we needed.

Our March ski trip turned out well despite the exorbitant amount of snow that the Sierras received. We also got to visit with our son and his family for a few days.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

As this year draws to a close, I’m looking back at those things we did during the Covid pandemic to keep ourselves entertained and yet stay safe.

Thanks to the widespread availability of the remarkable vaccines, often using face masks, adhering to social distancing and staying outdoors in the fresh air we were able to enjoy many of our favorite activities.


During the cold winter, we built an ice rink the the backyard to enjoy the crisp outdoors.

We used igloos at several restaurants to keep our distance from others. And skiing was another way to enjoy the winter.

When the warmer weather arrived the pool became the center of our attention.
One way to practice social distancing was to step into pristine Lake McDonald in Glacier NP.
A long telephoto lens let us drop into the Delicate Arch in Arches NP.
Hiking Fairy Falls Trail let us avoid the crowds at Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone NP