While Caltrans worked to clear I-80, travelers could only wait. In some cases, travelers waited more than 24 hours for the major highway through the high Sierra to reopen.
"My daughter's getting married in Reno and I have to be there tomorrow," said Henry Navarro from Sacramento.
"I've been here since 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The skiing is going to be awesome. I'm going to wait as long as I can because it's going to be really incredible tomorrow," said skier Rich Tansey.
Truckers were held even farther down the road at Applegate, where dozens of big rigs waited out the closure. A few Reno-based drivers spent the night in Auburn, clearly weary of all the stormy weather.
"We spent the night in our trucks. [It was] cold," said trucker Michelle Harrison.
"It's been terrible, miserable, cold, dealing with the chains, but by the same token, there's been excitement," said trucker Hector Diaz.
At Boreal Ski Resort, workers spent the day trying to clear the roof, while heavy equipment made a path to the main lodge, all in hopes of getting the resort open for the weekend.
And at Cisco Grove, two guys had to shovel feet of snow off a gas station canopy to keep it from collapsing.
"That canopy can only hold so much. That canopy is like a square bowl and when it rains, the snow will get heavier, and that's going to be dangerous," said Manny Singh from Cisco Grove.
All day on Friday, Caltrans had to deal with the dilemma of where to put all of the snow. They tried throwing it up on the banks, but it would just come back down.
Anyone headed up to Tahoe is advised to check for the very latest road conditions.
