tseeb
Well-known member
Kirkwood 3/21/2018
I was not in that big of a hurry to get to Kirkwood (base elevation ~7800) as snow levels were predicted to be 7500-8000' (see http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/tahoe/post/11104" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for Tues. post). I had just left my house at 6 AM when friends who were trying to use Squaw 2fers and had room booked at No. Tahoe for the night texted me to say they were heading to Kirkwood where 5" new (4" overnight with 5 AM temp of 33) was reported vs. Squaw where it was raining at the bottom and the top was closed. They were the only vehicle in parking lot across road from chair 7 when I arrived not much after 9. I went out to try the snow and found it OK on the two low-angle groomed laps I took on chair 7, but the 4-5" deep that was not groomed on steeper Sentinel was very difficult to ski and seemed like it would be easy to hurt a knee in it. I should have switched to my powder skis as more rocker and width may have worked better.
Friends and I got together in plastic tent/structure that has served as lodge at base of chair 7 for many years. I reviewed the (6 of each) Buddy passes/Ski With a Friend tickets I had with my pass and noticed that the later would be cheaper when needed for my wife next month in Whistler so I let them use $74 Buddy tickets. We did a warm-up on chair 7, then skied more groomed Zachary from Cornice chair. We moved to the Reut where we took a couple of laps. We started with usually most-groomed Buckboard, but found too much soft/wet snow had fallen that was difficult to ski. We took runs under both Reut and Wall chairs which were better.
Rain drove us into to 7800 where two of us had beers and we all split some nachos while trying to dry out our gloves. We came back out for two more laps on slow Reut chair, then used Cornice chair and Sentinel to return to our vehicles. EpicMix counted 12 lifts and barely over 10K for me. I could have changed gloves and shells and gone out for more, but with snow level higher than 8600' Carson Pass did not. I heard that afternoon at Heavenly was OK after "--cking awful" morning. I stopped by cabin and did a couple of repairs while friends continued to No. Tahoe where they ended up driving back to Bay Area. Thurs AM instead of skiing Thurs/Fri. The only picture I took is gloves drying in fireplace at 7800.
Heavenly 3/22/2018
Friend who shared his nice timeshare with and I arrived Heavenly's 7480' Stagecoach base about 9 AM, getting some of the last parking spots in upper lot. They reported 13" new (8 overnight) and another 14" fell during the day. We took two laps on Stagecoach as it was the only lift open for a while. There was only one 10' wide groomed track on both lookers right and left of the lift. Since I was on my powder skis, I was doing OK although my friend was working hard on K2 Pinnacle 95s. They opened Dipper (8625' base - one of the highest at Tahoe) about 10 AM. I ended up skiing it 10 times. I had lot of untracked including both sides of Dipper Bowl and three sides of Milky Way Bowl. Before going in to catch up with friend, who was on at least his second break, I talked to patroller who said Mott Canyon may open soon as they were finished with it and it was now waiting for lift ops to do their part.
My friend was done and I could not talk him into going up Olympic after skiing Crossover to get a longer run down. So I skied down lower Olympic with him finding groomed track nearly govered with chopped up snow and went to car to change gloves and shell. I returned to Dipper and was still finding untracked in Dipper Woods although getting to exit from Milky Way Bowl was tough as snow below 9K was getting heavy and it got too flat. Mott never opened. One of the best runs I found was trees to skiers left of Meteor which allowed me to cut back to Orion and over to Jack's where I tested trees there and found snow getting heavy. I thought about going to Tamarack Lodge for a break, then maybe skiing Firebreak to gondola base, but Tamarack chair had closed and with such a warm storm it probably would not be a good idea trying to ski below 6500'. I took a break in East Peak lodge, then rode Comet and skied trees into deep gully to right of run. Snow was deep and barely tracked, but getting heavy. I was going to ride up Comet, then ski Crossover to Olympic, but they had closed all upper NV lifts due to lightening strikes within 15 miles. So I had to pole around East Peak Lake, and a lot of boarders, to get to Stagecoach base. Lift was still loading, but I quit with 19.5K and went to join friend for hot tub at timeshare instead.
Pictures are my last 'good' run into gully skiers right of Comet run and the exit from there which is not as flat as it looks.
I was not in that big of a hurry to get to Kirkwood (base elevation ~7800) as snow levels were predicted to be 7500-8000' (see http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/tahoe/post/11104" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for Tues. post). I had just left my house at 6 AM when friends who were trying to use Squaw 2fers and had room booked at No. Tahoe for the night texted me to say they were heading to Kirkwood where 5" new (4" overnight with 5 AM temp of 33) was reported vs. Squaw where it was raining at the bottom and the top was closed. They were the only vehicle in parking lot across road from chair 7 when I arrived not much after 9. I went out to try the snow and found it OK on the two low-angle groomed laps I took on chair 7, but the 4-5" deep that was not groomed on steeper Sentinel was very difficult to ski and seemed like it would be easy to hurt a knee in it. I should have switched to my powder skis as more rocker and width may have worked better.
Friends and I got together in plastic tent/structure that has served as lodge at base of chair 7 for many years. I reviewed the (6 of each) Buddy passes/Ski With a Friend tickets I had with my pass and noticed that the later would be cheaper when needed for my wife next month in Whistler so I let them use $74 Buddy tickets. We did a warm-up on chair 7, then skied more groomed Zachary from Cornice chair. We moved to the Reut where we took a couple of laps. We started with usually most-groomed Buckboard, but found too much soft/wet snow had fallen that was difficult to ski. We took runs under both Reut and Wall chairs which were better.
Rain drove us into to 7800 where two of us had beers and we all split some nachos while trying to dry out our gloves. We came back out for two more laps on slow Reut chair, then used Cornice chair and Sentinel to return to our vehicles. EpicMix counted 12 lifts and barely over 10K for me. I could have changed gloves and shells and gone out for more, but with snow level higher than 8600' Carson Pass did not. I heard that afternoon at Heavenly was OK after "--cking awful" morning. I stopped by cabin and did a couple of repairs while friends continued to No. Tahoe where they ended up driving back to Bay Area. Thurs AM instead of skiing Thurs/Fri. The only picture I took is gloves drying in fireplace at 7800.
Heavenly 3/22/2018
Friend who shared his nice timeshare with and I arrived Heavenly's 7480' Stagecoach base about 9 AM, getting some of the last parking spots in upper lot. They reported 13" new (8 overnight) and another 14" fell during the day. We took two laps on Stagecoach as it was the only lift open for a while. There was only one 10' wide groomed track on both lookers right and left of the lift. Since I was on my powder skis, I was doing OK although my friend was working hard on K2 Pinnacle 95s. They opened Dipper (8625' base - one of the highest at Tahoe) about 10 AM. I ended up skiing it 10 times. I had lot of untracked including both sides of Dipper Bowl and three sides of Milky Way Bowl. Before going in to catch up with friend, who was on at least his second break, I talked to patroller who said Mott Canyon may open soon as they were finished with it and it was now waiting for lift ops to do their part.
Pictures are my last 'good' run into gully skiers right of Comet run and the exit from there which is not as flat as it looks.
