The resort focuses on skiing and snowboarding in the winter and hiking and mountain-biking in the summer.

While most of the region's resorts are situated at the northern end of the lake, near Truckee, California, Kirkwood, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Heavenly Mountain Resort are found on the southern side of the lake.

Kirkwood is a resort with an average of high snowfalls and a selection of advanced skiing terrain.

[2] Kirkwood opened in 1972 after year-round Caltrans snow plowing service began operations for Highway 88 (CA 88) in 1971.

[3] This all-weather highway connects the resort to the populated western regions of California.