FIRE DANGER FUELS SMOKING BAN AT TAHOE RESORTS

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29 June 2012

Push to The Latest: No

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., June 29, 2012—With an extremely high threat of forest fire at Lake Tahoe, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Northstar California Resort and Kirkwood Mountain Resort have instituted a number of precautionary measures, including banning all smoking on their respective mountains for the summer.

“We want everyone to enjoy their time on the mountain, but with the extremely dry conditions we wanted to be very aggressive in protecting our mountain communities,” said Pete Sonntag, Heavenly's general manager. “The no-smoking policy will be enforced by our staff, and we appreciate everyone's cooperation in this effort.”

The Forest Service has increased its fire restrictions to Stage II, which prohibits building, maintaining, attending or using a fire or campfire, charcoal grill, coal, wood burning stove or sheepherders stove, including in developed camping and picnic grounds.

Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood are instituting additional precautions:

• No parking vehicles on any vegetation

• No open flames, e.g., lighters, stoves

• No fireworks

The resorts are urging guests to report smoke or fire on the mountain immediately via 911, or to notify employee who can alert mountain dispatch.

At Kirkwood, smoking is prohibited in all areas of the mountain, including all company facilities at the resort. At Northstar, smoking is only allowed in designated areas within the Village at Northstar. At Heavenly, the smoking ban includes, but is not limited to, all activities related to the Gondola, Tamarack Express and Adventure Peak, as well as weddings and special events at the Aerial Tram and Lakeview Lodge.