LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (KGO) — The Sierra Nevada is covered in fresh snow for the holiday week, but with the reward comes risks.

Sports Basement was busier than usual Friday afternoon as skiers and snowboarders picked up rental gear. The Sierra Nevada got hit hard in the last 72 hours.

Tahoe-area marketing expert Kevin Cooper — known as “Coop” — says winter has arrived in Lake Tahoe.

“We went from zero to here grow, this last storm really did deliver.”

What had been dirt is now covered by a blanket of fresh snow, bringing with it dangerous roads.

“I-80 has been opened and closed from Nyack all the way to the Nevada border for over 12 hours in the last two days due to spin outs,” said Cooper.

If you’re making the trek from the Bay Area, give yourself plenty of time and don’t forget chains for your tires. Whether you’re in it for he beauty or the sport, this weekend is expected to hit the mark.

LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Holiday shopping is in full swing. At one warehouse in the Las Vegas Valley, thousands of customers a day are lining up to pick up items they won online in an auction at prices they say can’t be beat.

Quinton Stephenson has been shopping at NellisAuction.com for a decade and says the deals can’t be beat.

“You can find just about anything on the website, and you can usually save, you know, 30, 50, up to 70 percent pretty easily,” Stephenson said. “I picked up a 10-man Coleman tent for my son. He likes to camp a lot. I think it was like 66 bucks, and it was like a 300 and something dollar tent,” he said.

Wide selection and quick pickup process

They have more than 50,000 items up for bid in Las Vegas alone, with tens of thousands more at other locations. It all starts on the website.

“And there they can find kind of any item you can think of. TVs, hair dryers, toothpaste. We sell anything and everything that you can think of. They’re going to bid online. And when they win it, they’re going to come and they’re going to pick up through our curbside pickup process,” said Kyle Johnson, chief communications officer.

More than 3,000 customers alone stopped by the site on Dean Martin Tuesday alone. In the rain, they checked in and the items they won in the auction were loaded in their vehicles. Many times in less than 5 minutes.

Return policy draws repeat customers

What keeps many shoppers coming back, is the auction’s rare return policy.

“I can return things for just about any reason at all. So there’s no, you don’t have to pay to return something. There’s, there’s no fee for it. Um, so there’s like no risk,” Stephenson said.

The auction started as a mom-and-pop shop on Nellis Boulevard with one pallet. Now they have thousands upon thousands of pallets with tens of thousands of items.

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