LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – The doom and gloom of a potentially terrible season in Tahoe have been buried under more than eight feet of snow. Lines at lifts are up to an hour long in some areas as excited riders take to the mountain to get a taste of what has been a highly anticipated Tahoe winter wonderland.

As snow totals from the recent storm continue to accumulate, resorts are thrilled with the way things are turning out. 

Kirkwood Mountain Resort, among them, has received 232 inches of snowfall so far this season, with 60 inches in the last three days.  

“We’re expecting another 8–12 inches by the weekend,” said Carly Mangan, Communications Manager at Kirkwood Mountain Resort. “We were really excited that this storm came in and has remained very cold, which has brought us some really high-quality, light powder. The skiing and riding has been incredible. This amount of snow has set us up with a really healthy snowpack and base to carry us through the reminder of the winter and into the springtime.”

While lifts were being dug out over at Heavenly and wind gusts were wreaking some havoc on their upper-mountain lifts during the storm, it’s nothing their team couldn’t handle, and the weather provided a much needed layer of snowpack for the resort.

“Prior to this storm, it’s no secret that the Tahoe region did not receive much snow after the holidays. While we were able to stay 100% open throughout that time period, we welcomed this snowfall with open arms to refill, refresh, and set our snowpack up for a great spring skiing season,” said Cole Zimmerman, Senior Manager of Communications at Heavenly. “We have received 58 inches of snow in this storm cycle with additional snow falling consistently throughout the day today, February 19.” 

On the other side of the lake, Diamond Peak reported a 59 inch storm total from the recent storm cycle. 

“Everyone is very excited, everyone is very tired,” said Diamond Peak Marketing and Communications Manager, Paul Raymore, noting how hard mountain operations teams have been working to get everything open. 

“We’re pretty proud that Diamond Peak is one of the few resorts able to operate fully during the storm,” said Raymore. “The snow is great. It came in very cold so the powder is very light and fluffy – a skier and snowboarder’s dream.” 

Thanks to the previous holiday winter storms, Diamond Peak was able to sustain until the next snowfall. “It really helped kick things off and brought conditions to what we expect in Tahoe,” Raymore said. “While we haven’t seen too many big storms in between, the conditions have been pretty good.”

Mt. Rose’s elevation has kept them a top contender during the dry periods of the season so far.

“Our high base elevation at 8,260 feet gave us the 5-plus feet at Christmas, plus the 2 feet in early January gave us the deep base we needed to be 100% open,” Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe marketing director Mike Pierce told the Sun.

With great conditions now set for resorts around Lake Tahoe, an optimistic spring ski season is on the horizon.