tseeb
Well-known member
After having my best, but somewhat frustrating, powder day of the year on Monday at Kirkwood, I did not expect to be finding much untracked at Heavenly on Monday 4/2, and did not load the tram until 10 am. I went to the top and started towards Nevada. Pinnacles, a newer, west-facing run off Skyline trail was open for the first time that I have been there. Since that area gets wind-stripped and afternoon sun, snow was still a little thin in places, but terrain was interesting. Snow is retained through use of a lot of fences. Lower down, the ungroomed Pinnacle run (really glades) was icy so I moved to lower Ellie’s, which was still firm, but had been groomed somewhat recently.
Next time across Skyline trail, I took the bootpack to the top of Milky Way Bowl. It’s only about 6 minutes and gains 100 feet back to near 10,000 feet where Sky chair unloads. Only a couple of people had gone to the left at the top ahead of me and I took a higher traverse to where I got about 20 powder turns before hitting the traverse across the top of the bowl. I followed it across and found Gate A, the highest entrance into Killibrew Canyon was open. I took it and stayed near the boundary rope, skiing Outer Limits, where I found some steep, tracked, but still deep and skiable powder. Lower down, north-facing snow in the Meadows, between Pipeline and Boundary Chutes was still very good; steep, deep, dry and not totally tracked. My usual higher exit traverse from Killibrew had already melted out so I took off my skis to cross a bare spot and left them off until around the corner where snow was continuous. The creek just before the chair was already melting through and I jumped off a log to get through above where holes had opened. I did the hour-plus circuit of Dipper chair, ski CA trail, Sky chair, bootpack, short powder run, traverse, steep canyon run, then Motts chair two more times with the variations being:
1. Second time I went down Maggies Canyon where lower elevation, not totally tracked snow was still good in shade on north-facing side of Canyon. Went up Powderbowl chair to Sky.
2. Second time down I did Stateline Chute. The highest entrance was rocky so I came in from above The Fingers. Snow was very good in the chute, but sun and heat-affected below
3. Second time I took the lowest exit from Killibrew which required a much longer and sketchier bootpack that eventually rejoined the higher exit. Instead of jumping off log above the holes made by the creek, I went above it.
4. My third and last time down, I went into Motts instead of Killibrew and skied the left side of skier’s right leg of the Y. The entrance to the left leg of the Y was rocky, but it looked like the longest fall line and I planned to do it later in the week.
I picked up lunch I had stashed by Tamarack Lodge and took a 2 to 2:30 break there. After going out for a couple of fast cruisers to Stagecoach base, I was back at Tamarack Lodge for start of 3:30 Happy Hour when the normally $10 large beers are $5. I finished mine quickly in time to pole past the gondola and across Von Schimdt Flat to CA trail and get on Sky Chair before 4 pm close. I skied Ridge Run into trees above Waterfall, and then took my usual narrow left side line between trees and mogul course there. I pushed through flat part of Roundabout and skied lower Gunbarrel. Temps were not that warm so snow held up well even though it was 4:20 when I quit with 23K vertical. I went to Lakeside Inn for a quick happy hour free drink and 2 tacos for $3 before going to Mont Bleu for the Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings, my first time seeing the very interesting and crowded event.
On Tuesday 4/3, I got an even later start at 11:30 as I wasted a couple of hours trying to fix what I though was a defective cable connection caused by my son hooking up a video game player, but turned out to be operator error. I went up the CA side and skied to NV. The best circuit I found was Dipper to Motts using Meteor run to get above the slow, sticky traverse from top of Motts chair to where the steep and north-facing runs held good snow. It was warmer and windier than previous day, but it varied from very warm and no wind at bottom of Motts to cool and breezy at top of Dipper and Sky chair. I took an after 3:30 run on narrow, upper Ellie’s, finally open this year on a narrow path next to snow fences. The west-facing snow, between 9 and 10K elevation snow was good, but it definitely skied as a black run. I ended the day similar to previous one going up Sky at almost 4 pm, but then took Groove chair and skied the Face from the top and finished again at 4:20 with 22K. I did not go back to the cabin. Instead, after dropping my wider skis for an overnight tune, I got some $1 tacos and margaritas and $2 Patrons, Coronas and poppers at different bars in Mont Bleu. Then bounced I between there and Harrah’s to catch the Sharks game that was only on at Harrah’s, where they were suffering through a power failure.
On Wednesday 4/4, I had a 3 pm cable TV appointment and planned to go skiing early. Then, while watching local TV ski channel, they announced that Heavenly gondola was loading at 8:15 for passholders (instead of usual 9 am weekdays/8:30 weekends start). I rushed out of the cabin, without finding my watch, picked up my skis at 8 am, parked behind Harrah’s where I booted up and hiked the 5 minutes to the gondola. There was a short line, that I think was 100% male, waiting on a morning that was cold and sunny with a moderate wind over the top. Heavenly claimed 1-2’ inch and it was the perfect storm where it was not snowing when I went to bed, but there was new snow in the morning. I was about 25th up the gondola, 5th up Tamarack and 3rd up Dipper.
I went down black Dipper Bowl, but found it tough skiing the small, but firm bumps with only one or two inches new. The next couple of runs I went down blue Big Dipper run, which skied very well as it must have been groomed before it snowed. Next time down, I moved into tree line to skiers left where I was mostly able to stay out of the coral reef under the new snow, then found more untracked on steep ridge dropping under chair to the bowl. I moved to Meteor, where I was able to miss the rock that I hit previous day when I should have known better since I saw it on previous run. I was going to move to Sky chair but there was a sign saying it was closed due to wind. I moved to CA trail and Tamarack chair and, after stopping for an EpicMix photo skied it three times hitting some of the jumps made by the wind on the left side. I went down Dipper Woods, then skied towards Milky Way Bowl from Dipper chair where traffic coming from CA made it obvious that Sky Chair had opened.
Using Sky and Dipper chairs, I did the bootpack to the top of Milky Way Bowl twice. I followed the only track to the left that went higher than where I had gone Monday, but found it went too high to start the run. When I did drop down a little and start, I counted 26 untracked turns before I hit the first traverse. Once past the traverses, lower down into the bowl was also good as snow had drifted deeper on this slope. Next time up the bootpack, there were more tracks, but they all went right, including a guy who was standing on top of the peak, while I made the second of three sets of tracks from where I started to the left.
After the hikes and many runs since I started so early, I took a low-angle shallow powder cruise down Perimeter and Outlaw into Heavenly’s most reviled lift, the not very steep, long and slow, Galaxy. I was ready for a break and had a 450 ml Stella in my pocket that almost lasted for the 12 minute ride. I avoided Motts on this day as I did not want to see how the little bit of new snow would ski on steep north-facing chutes.
I was not done exploring as I wanted to see if it was possible via the Nevada Trail to get from upper Nevada to Stagecoach base without hiking. But as happens to many Heavenly skiers, I started cranking turns in the soft untracked snow down Comstock, a new run to the right that I had never seen before; I ended up back at Galaxy. Next time down Nevada trail I was able to avoid Galaxy without hiking, and found good, softening snow on Lower Stagecoach.
I went up Stagecoach and Olympic and skied the top half of the downhill, then dropped into the tree before Boulder Chute and skied untracked all the way to the Boulder base. As I already knew, since it was a weekday, the chairs on that side were not running, but I hit the shuttle to Stagecoach base perfectly. I went up to the top of Olympic again and thought about taking lower Nevada Trail, which I knew would have perfect conditions with a couple of inches new on top of a smooth and softening base (and nobody on it), but did not want to push my luck with the shuttle. I also thought about going up NV and then skiing to the CA base, then shuttling to where my vehicle was, but instead rode the gondola to make sure I did not miss the cable guy. Without counting the gondola ride down, I finished with 22K in six hours at 2:20.
Will add some pictures when I have more time
Next time across Skyline trail, I took the bootpack to the top of Milky Way Bowl. It’s only about 6 minutes and gains 100 feet back to near 10,000 feet where Sky chair unloads. Only a couple of people had gone to the left at the top ahead of me and I took a higher traverse to where I got about 20 powder turns before hitting the traverse across the top of the bowl. I followed it across and found Gate A, the highest entrance into Killibrew Canyon was open. I took it and stayed near the boundary rope, skiing Outer Limits, where I found some steep, tracked, but still deep and skiable powder. Lower down, north-facing snow in the Meadows, between Pipeline and Boundary Chutes was still very good; steep, deep, dry and not totally tracked. My usual higher exit traverse from Killibrew had already melted out so I took off my skis to cross a bare spot and left them off until around the corner where snow was continuous. The creek just before the chair was already melting through and I jumped off a log to get through above where holes had opened. I did the hour-plus circuit of Dipper chair, ski CA trail, Sky chair, bootpack, short powder run, traverse, steep canyon run, then Motts chair two more times with the variations being:
1. Second time I went down Maggies Canyon where lower elevation, not totally tracked snow was still good in shade on north-facing side of Canyon. Went up Powderbowl chair to Sky.
2. Second time down I did Stateline Chute. The highest entrance was rocky so I came in from above The Fingers. Snow was very good in the chute, but sun and heat-affected below
3. Second time I took the lowest exit from Killibrew which required a much longer and sketchier bootpack that eventually rejoined the higher exit. Instead of jumping off log above the holes made by the creek, I went above it.
4. My third and last time down, I went into Motts instead of Killibrew and skied the left side of skier’s right leg of the Y. The entrance to the left leg of the Y was rocky, but it looked like the longest fall line and I planned to do it later in the week.
I picked up lunch I had stashed by Tamarack Lodge and took a 2 to 2:30 break there. After going out for a couple of fast cruisers to Stagecoach base, I was back at Tamarack Lodge for start of 3:30 Happy Hour when the normally $10 large beers are $5. I finished mine quickly in time to pole past the gondola and across Von Schimdt Flat to CA trail and get on Sky Chair before 4 pm close. I skied Ridge Run into trees above Waterfall, and then took my usual narrow left side line between trees and mogul course there. I pushed through flat part of Roundabout and skied lower Gunbarrel. Temps were not that warm so snow held up well even though it was 4:20 when I quit with 23K vertical. I went to Lakeside Inn for a quick happy hour free drink and 2 tacos for $3 before going to Mont Bleu for the Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings, my first time seeing the very interesting and crowded event.
On Tuesday 4/3, I got an even later start at 11:30 as I wasted a couple of hours trying to fix what I though was a defective cable connection caused by my son hooking up a video game player, but turned out to be operator error. I went up the CA side and skied to NV. The best circuit I found was Dipper to Motts using Meteor run to get above the slow, sticky traverse from top of Motts chair to where the steep and north-facing runs held good snow. It was warmer and windier than previous day, but it varied from very warm and no wind at bottom of Motts to cool and breezy at top of Dipper and Sky chair. I took an after 3:30 run on narrow, upper Ellie’s, finally open this year on a narrow path next to snow fences. The west-facing snow, between 9 and 10K elevation snow was good, but it definitely skied as a black run. I ended the day similar to previous one going up Sky at almost 4 pm, but then took Groove chair and skied the Face from the top and finished again at 4:20 with 22K. I did not go back to the cabin. Instead, after dropping my wider skis for an overnight tune, I got some $1 tacos and margaritas and $2 Patrons, Coronas and poppers at different bars in Mont Bleu. Then bounced I between there and Harrah’s to catch the Sharks game that was only on at Harrah’s, where they were suffering through a power failure.
On Wednesday 4/4, I had a 3 pm cable TV appointment and planned to go skiing early. Then, while watching local TV ski channel, they announced that Heavenly gondola was loading at 8:15 for passholders (instead of usual 9 am weekdays/8:30 weekends start). I rushed out of the cabin, without finding my watch, picked up my skis at 8 am, parked behind Harrah’s where I booted up and hiked the 5 minutes to the gondola. There was a short line, that I think was 100% male, waiting on a morning that was cold and sunny with a moderate wind over the top. Heavenly claimed 1-2’ inch and it was the perfect storm where it was not snowing when I went to bed, but there was new snow in the morning. I was about 25th up the gondola, 5th up Tamarack and 3rd up Dipper.
I went down black Dipper Bowl, but found it tough skiing the small, but firm bumps with only one or two inches new. The next couple of runs I went down blue Big Dipper run, which skied very well as it must have been groomed before it snowed. Next time down, I moved into tree line to skiers left where I was mostly able to stay out of the coral reef under the new snow, then found more untracked on steep ridge dropping under chair to the bowl. I moved to Meteor, where I was able to miss the rock that I hit previous day when I should have known better since I saw it on previous run. I was going to move to Sky chair but there was a sign saying it was closed due to wind. I moved to CA trail and Tamarack chair and, after stopping for an EpicMix photo skied it three times hitting some of the jumps made by the wind on the left side. I went down Dipper Woods, then skied towards Milky Way Bowl from Dipper chair where traffic coming from CA made it obvious that Sky Chair had opened.
Using Sky and Dipper chairs, I did the bootpack to the top of Milky Way Bowl twice. I followed the only track to the left that went higher than where I had gone Monday, but found it went too high to start the run. When I did drop down a little and start, I counted 26 untracked turns before I hit the first traverse. Once past the traverses, lower down into the bowl was also good as snow had drifted deeper on this slope. Next time up the bootpack, there were more tracks, but they all went right, including a guy who was standing on top of the peak, while I made the second of three sets of tracks from where I started to the left.
After the hikes and many runs since I started so early, I took a low-angle shallow powder cruise down Perimeter and Outlaw into Heavenly’s most reviled lift, the not very steep, long and slow, Galaxy. I was ready for a break and had a 450 ml Stella in my pocket that almost lasted for the 12 minute ride. I avoided Motts on this day as I did not want to see how the little bit of new snow would ski on steep north-facing chutes.
I was not done exploring as I wanted to see if it was possible via the Nevada Trail to get from upper Nevada to Stagecoach base without hiking. But as happens to many Heavenly skiers, I started cranking turns in the soft untracked snow down Comstock, a new run to the right that I had never seen before; I ended up back at Galaxy. Next time down Nevada trail I was able to avoid Galaxy without hiking, and found good, softening snow on Lower Stagecoach.
I went up Stagecoach and Olympic and skied the top half of the downhill, then dropped into the tree before Boulder Chute and skied untracked all the way to the Boulder base. As I already knew, since it was a weekday, the chairs on that side were not running, but I hit the shuttle to Stagecoach base perfectly. I went up to the top of Olympic again and thought about taking lower Nevada Trail, which I knew would have perfect conditions with a couple of inches new on top of a smooth and softening base (and nobody on it), but did not want to push my luck with the shuttle. I also thought about going up NV and then skiing to the CA base, then shuttling to where my vehicle was, but instead rode the gondola to make sure I did not miss the cable guy. Without counting the gondola ride down, I finished with 22K in six hours at 2:20.
Will add some pictures when I have more time
