Lake Tahoe South Shore offers value-added lodging and world-class outdoor recreation options, accommodating a variety of budgets. The region’s three ski resorts, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Kirkwood Mountain Resort boast spectacular views, record early season snowfall this year with more than 300 inches, moderate temperatures and plenty of sunshine.

Rand McNally is recognized as a leader in travel maps, navigation, and trip planning services. Other destinations in the top ten include Steamboat Springs, Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Quebec, Stowe, Jackson Hole and Whistler.

“South Shore is top of mind for many visitors within regional drive and air markets, but accolades like this one help to extend our reach beyond the Rockies and to the East Coast,” said Carol Chaplin, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. “This particular acknowledgement indicates a positive outlook for the local economy by highlighting our successful visitor bookings for the season. Even in a tough economy, folks find ways to make quality recreation a part of their budget.”

Other Lake Tahoe awards include top rankings from TripAdvisor as the “No. 1 Travel Destination in the U.S.” (2010, 2008) and the “No. 10 Destination Worldwide” by TripAdvisor (2008), Orbitz.com as the No. 1 ski destination for the three past consecutive years; and numerous designations from SKI Magazine, Skiing Magazine, Transworld Snowboarding for diverse categories such as snow quality, scenery, off-hill activities, and terrain parks for Heavenly Mountain Resort, Kirkwood Mountain Resort and Sierra-at-Tahoe.

Heavenly Mountain Resort recently opened picturesque Tamarack Lodge on Dec. 17, a 15,000-square-foot venue that includes a restaurant, bar, 500 indoor seats and 250 outdoor patio seats at the top of the Gondola. The new Lodge is consistent with Heavenly’s ongoing commitment to providing the finest on-mountain experience for skiers and snowboarders. The resort’s revitalization over the past eight years has included upgraded lifts, increased snowmaking and grooming, a four-lane tubing mecca at Heavenly’s Adventure Peak and additional on-mountain amenities. The resort has also introduced EpicMix™ for the winter 2010-11 season, a ground-breaking online and mobile application that allows skiers and snowboarders to digitally capture and share their mountain experiences.

Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort remains a popular resort for new skiers and snowboarders as it continues to offer a beginner’s package featuring a 2.5 hour lesson, equipment rental and lift ticket with access to two new conveyor lifts on Easy Street, as well as Easy Rider Express and Rock Garden. Staying connected on the slopes has its own set of rewards this winter as well with exclusive text-only deals for subscribers. Guests visiting Sierra can sign up for weekly text message deals and take advantage of ongoing Buy-One-Get-One offers throughout the resort including private lessons, lunch items, daycare, preferred parking, demo equipment and t-shirts. Deals change often and signing up is easy: text “DealAlert” to 29222.

Kirkwood Mountain Resort is zipping through the season with the ZipTahoe Treetop Canopy Tour, featuring eight lines with speeds up to 35 miles per hour. Also introduced this year is the High Alpine Adventure Center where guests can add old-fashioned, horse-drawn sleigh rides, throttle-twisting snowmobile tours and evening snow cat tours, to the list of outdoor adventure options available at the resort. On-mountain upgrades to chairlifts provide a facelift to the resort’s existing lifts, along with new menu items at restaurants, and the construction of a new power facility slated for completion later this year which will deliver cleaner, more reliable energy to the resort and surrounding Kirkwood community. The resort’s Day Care Dilemma Lift Ticket is transferrable between parents hoping to split their time on the slopes and in the base area while sharing time with their kids.

For real time updates on events, promotions, packages, conditions and what’s happening in South Lake Tahoe, The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority is Facebook: www.facebook.com/TahoeSouth, Twitter: www.twitter.com/SouthShoreTahoe, and YouTube: www.youtube.com/LTVA. For information about Lake Tahoe South Shore, call 1-800-AT-TAHOE (1-800-288-2463) or visit www.tahoesouth.com.