The amount of traffic post-Covid almost destroyed my soul. Even when I left my house by 6 a.m. to head to the resort, there was no guarantee of a prime lift line position. All it takes is one spin-out and traffic would stretch for miles, enough to turn around, head back home, and build a van to become a snowbird. I didn’t sign up to live in a city. But enough about me. This led me to ask some folks:

What is your most memorable Tahoe traffic experience?

Dan Rooney, Reno
Owner/operator, Silver State DJ 

A couple of years ago, on a random Tuesday, I went to [Palisades Tahoe] for a powder day. Left Reno at 6:30 a.m. and didn’t get to the resort until noon. And that’s why I ride Mt. Rose now.

Niels Krejcir, Prosser
Technical project manager

The weekend ski traffic. Being a weekend warrior can sometimes mean a 2-plus hour trip from Truckee to the parking lot, which is typically a 20ish-minute trip. As great as the mountain and the skiing is, if I can’t leave early enough and beat the traffic, it’s often not worth that much extra time in the car.

Mike Holmes, Canada
Canadian tourist        

Yesterday [early July], driving from Tahoma to Incline to Reno to Truckee, and back to Tahoma. Every minute of it sucked.

Mike Barra, South Lake Tahoe
Marketing

Driving from Kings Beach to Palisades on a powder day. Due to a multitude of wrecks on the way we fell behind the traffic. Google Maps gave us another hour to Palisades, so we tried going up the backside [to Sherwood at Alpine]. A truck got stuck sideways at the top of the road, and we turned around and went home.

Jack Kashtan, Donner Lake
Retired

Five hours from Olympic Valley to Donner Lake during a Sunday snowstorm. I was lucky. When 80 closed later, people still on 89 spent the night there.