tseeb
Well-known member
My friend and I left San Jose a little before 6 and arrived at Kirkwood a little after 9, even though I couldn’t find the power cord for my radar detector. We parked across from Hole-in-the-Wall chair and I took a run while my friend went to exchange $51 pre-purchased mid-week voucher for a ticket. I should have taken two as he had to wait in a long line. We crossed over to the Reut chair and warmed up on Wagon Trail. The temps must have already been in the 40s, the sun was out, and the packed powder was skiing great on the very powerful 181 Volkl 724s my friend has loaned me. Next run we planned to move to Chair 2 to get to the Backside, but my friend missed the traverse, so he skied Conestoga and I went one run further east and found more nice packed. We took two runs on the Backside, then waited about 5 minutes at the stopped chair before going up and taking Thunder Saddle back to the main base. I’d had enough of the intermediate chairs stopping due to loading and other problems and moved to more advanced Cornice and the Wall chairs where I took two runs on each before meeting my friend at the car for lunch.
After lunch, I immediately lost him as I headed to Cornice chair and Sentinel run to warm up. Next run, I hiked left off the top of Cornice chair. I thought about dropping in above Monte Wolf, but continued down the cornice to Cliff or Saddle Chute which was skiing very well. Near the bottom, I looked up and saw the Notch Chute off the Wall chair had good coverage. After a run to skier’s right of the Wall, I went down the ridge, skiers left. I had to take off my skis to get to the top of the Notch where I very slowly climbed down about 20 feet of dirt, rocks and a little snow to get to the skiable snow. Even though the snow was excellent after crossing the fracture line, it was not worth the effort for getting about five turns above where you could get with a traverse from the face of the Wall. The Notch Chute was in great shape and only narrowed once. The next run, I traversed to where ski patrol was skiing down the ridge at the edge of what I thought was the Notch. Partway down I realized I was in All The Way. I went through one narrow spot, saw a very long narrows with poor coverage and traversed left towards the Notch. I thought about going down the ridge in between the two, but noticed a sign above me that must have said cliff area. I went up Cornice one more time and skied down the gully with the Cave to the car.
My Vertech watch needs it battery replaced, but I counted 20 runs and estimated almost 22K vertical. We were supposed to go back on 1/2 and maybe even ski 1/3, but between a problem with my 17 year-old left at home with my wife who worked 1/2, high winds and warm temperatures; we went out to breakfast and worked on the cabin until almost noon. We got on the road in So. Tahoe about 12:30 and did not get home until more than 5 hours later, even though I took two shortcuts to avoid miles long backup from chain control on Highway 50. It was snowing, although pretty wet, at Tahoe. According to the 1/2 Kirkwood 2 pm report, they ran all their lifts except for 2, 3, and 4 and had about 6 inches new. The season total is up to 155-184” and I heard two new surface lifts they have advertised have yet to be approved for use.
After lunch, I immediately lost him as I headed to Cornice chair and Sentinel run to warm up. Next run, I hiked left off the top of Cornice chair. I thought about dropping in above Monte Wolf, but continued down the cornice to Cliff or Saddle Chute which was skiing very well. Near the bottom, I looked up and saw the Notch Chute off the Wall chair had good coverage. After a run to skier’s right of the Wall, I went down the ridge, skiers left. I had to take off my skis to get to the top of the Notch where I very slowly climbed down about 20 feet of dirt, rocks and a little snow to get to the skiable snow. Even though the snow was excellent after crossing the fracture line, it was not worth the effort for getting about five turns above where you could get with a traverse from the face of the Wall. The Notch Chute was in great shape and only narrowed once. The next run, I traversed to where ski patrol was skiing down the ridge at the edge of what I thought was the Notch. Partway down I realized I was in All The Way. I went through one narrow spot, saw a very long narrows with poor coverage and traversed left towards the Notch. I thought about going down the ridge in between the two, but noticed a sign above me that must have said cliff area. I went up Cornice one more time and skied down the gully with the Cave to the car.
My Vertech watch needs it battery replaced, but I counted 20 runs and estimated almost 22K vertical. We were supposed to go back on 1/2 and maybe even ski 1/3, but between a problem with my 17 year-old left at home with my wife who worked 1/2, high winds and warm temperatures; we went out to breakfast and worked on the cabin until almost noon. We got on the road in So. Tahoe about 12:30 and did not get home until more than 5 hours later, even though I took two shortcuts to avoid miles long backup from chain control on Highway 50. It was snowing, although pretty wet, at Tahoe. According to the 1/2 Kirkwood 2 pm report, they ran all their lifts except for 2, 3, and 4 and had about 6 inches new. The season total is up to 155-184” and I heard two new surface lifts they have advertised have yet to be approved for use.
