But serious skiers clamored to reach other resorts that got the most fresh powder in nearly a century.
"We got buried. It's awesome," said Katja Dahl, a spokeswoman for Squaw Valley USA, a ski resort 42 miles west of Reno across the California border. "It may take a little more time to get up here, but it's worth it."
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Photo Gallery: Dangerous mudslides destroyed homes, snarled traffic, and left an unknown number of people dead.
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Video: Bodies Found in of Calif.
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The resort had snow every day for the past 15 days, for a total accumulation of 12 feet since Dec. 28. The mountain gets an average of 37 1/2 feet a year, Dahl said.
She said trail groomers, ski patrols and avalanche-control workers had been working virtually nonstop for the past two weeks. "They're tired, they're overworked, and they're ready for the sun to come out," Dahl said. "But this is what we do, and we love it."
At Heavenly Mountain Resort along the California-Nevada border, high winds and poor visibility forced the closure of some higher lifts over the weekend when more than five feet of snow fell in 24 hours. But all 27 lifts were running yesterday, resort spokeswoman Toni Toreno said. The 15 feet that has fallen at the resort since Jan. 1 has surpassed the mountain's January 10-year average.
"Our parking lots are pretty much filled," Toreno said. "It's like an extra Christmas gift."
In Flagstaff, Ariz., a spokeswoman for the city's visitor's center also called the snow a boon. "It's exciting for us," said Sharlene Fouser. "There's rows of cars going up to . . . go skiing. It looked like a string of Christmas lights with all the cars coming off the mountain."
But for some, the novelty of a white Christmas, a white New Year's and a white January has started to wear thin.
The snow and icy conditions in the past two weeks twice forced the closing of the Reno/Tahoe International Airport for the first time in 40 years, said airport spokesman Brian Kulpin. More than 30,000 truckloads of snow have been removed from the runways from storms that have dumped 7 1/2 feet on the airport since Thanksgiving.
"In Reno, we usually have about 300 days of sunshine," Kulpin said. "And, boy, have we missed it."
Special correspondents Kimberly Edds in Los Angeles and Caroline Keating in Austin contributed to this report.
