Bomb threat closes Sierra-at-Tahoe

Updated Jan. 14 7:55pm:

By Kathryn Reed

Sierra-at-Tahoe was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after someone phoned in a bomb threat.

The call came in about 3pm Jan. 14 to the season pass office. Resort and law enforcement officials were not releasing any details about the caller, what was said or potential motive.

El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum said the scene has been cleared before 8pm and no device was found. Two bomb sniffing dogs from the California Highway Patrol were used.

Steve Hemphill, spokesman for the resort, said he did not know of any other time when a bomb threat had been placed to Sierra. He also said there have been no layoffs and would not speculate on a reason for the threat.

Van Arnum told Lake Tahoe News, “(We’ll be) checking with the phone company and looking at persons who may be disgruntled with Sierra.”

The base lodge was immediately evacuated. Then systematically the lifts were cleared of skiers. Guests were not told why the resort was closing at 3:30pm. Access to the mountain was cut off at 4:30pm.

West Bowl is only open from 10am-2pm, so no one was over there who had to be evacuated.

About 300 people were evacuated, according to Van Arnum.

“In this day and age it’s not worth taking any chances so we are allowing them to do their thing,” Sierra General Manager John Rice told Lake Tahoe News.

Resort officials plan to open as normal on Jan. 15.