Massive snowstorm

Bay Area visitors are stranded in Tahoe amid a massive snowstorm

Joshua Bote

Days after getting her picture-perfect white Christmas, San Francisco-based surgeon Dr. Karen Horton is just waiting — waiting to go out skiing with her family in Lake Tahoe, waiting to reschedule the dozens of appointments she was forced to cancel this week, waiting to go back to the bay.

She’s just one of the likely thousands of travelers stranded in Lake Tahoe after they arrived during the holidays, enduring punishing winds and snowfall so heavy it smashed Tahoe's December snowfall record set in 1970. The storm has left all major roads shuttered indefinitely, visitors scrambling to find last-minute accommodations and Tahoe residents struggling to get back into town after leaving the area. At least six people were hospitalized because of car crashes on the roads leading to Tahoe, KTVU reported.

On her way up, Horton recalled a fair bit of dangerous driving due to how seemingly ill-prepared some out-of-towners were for the trip. She noted that during her six-hour trip from San Rafael to Incline Village, she was delayed for an hour — twice — waiting at the chain checkpoint.

“On the sides of the road, especially at the chain checkpoint, there are a lot of drivers that are not prepared,” she said. “They're driving their Priuses or driving their Teslas, they don't have chains and they're still driving the same speeds that you would if the roads weren't covered in snow and ice. It's really scary.”

Horton also recalled lending another traveler, driving what she called a “non-SUV,” a shovel — noting how unprepared this person seemed for this snowstorm. “He wasn't wasn't wearing proper snow attire, and he looked really shell-shocked,” she said.

Demand for room and board in Tahoe also appears to be high. A call made by SFGATE to Harrah’s Lake Tahoe was put on hold for 15 minutes before it was seemingly hung up. As of Monday afternoon, only a few dozen last-minute properties are available for Monday and Tuesday on Airbnb. Most major ski resorts, including Heavenly and Sierra-at-Tahoe, are also closed.

Horton had anticipated a snowy holiday, but did not quite anticipate the severity of this snowstorm.

“There are worse places to be stuck,” Horton said, calling from her short-term lease in Incline Village, where she’s holed up with her husband, her 11-year-old twins and her dog.

She appears better prepared than many other Bay Area visitors. She just finished “burning 3,000 calories shoveling off our steps and walkway,” she joked during a call to SFGATE, but was able to go grocery shopping Sunday before her place was snowed in. She also came equipped with board games, portable chargers and other resources to keep her family busy and entertained. ("They obviously have their iPads and they're happy, you know, just like any tween," she said.)

For what it's worth, she might be something of an exception among the many travelers in town. Horton grew up in Toronto, and she said she has "a lot of experience driving in snowy conditions." Their short-term lease also runs through May, meaning she’s not scrambling to find a place last minute.

But more than anything, the storm — and this most recent trip up to Tahoe — was a reminder to her to be extra-prepared for future journeys. Her advice to other visitors is sound: Bring an emergency kit with food, water, candles and a match and gear to tackle the snow.

"Think of yourself as a survivalist, even though it's Lake Tahoe," she said. "Your health and safety comes first and everything else can wait."