tseeb
Well-known member
Did the storm ever end? On Sunday morning, Kirkwood claimed 84-94” storm total with 2” new in last 24 hours and 8-10” in the last 48 hours. The storm was supposed to be over for the weekend with 10% chance of snow predicted for Saturday, but it snowed lightly most of the day and got heavier a couple times. The wind was light, but snow was not as dry as expected with snow level of about 2500 feet. It did stop snowing about 3 pm Sat. afternoon and the sun almost came out. But on Sunday it started snowing again when we arrived about 9:30 am. It snowed all day, harder than on Sat. and winds were probably 25-30 mph maximum at the tops of chairs 4 and 6.
Sat. was very busy. We arrived a little before 10 after more than an hour delay due to 50 miles of chain control. But traffic mostly moved at 25-30 mph and there were far too many people with and without chains to try passing. It was nothing compared to getting to Mt. Baldy or the 20 miles of stopped cars I heard about on I-80 Friday night going into the Sierras, We parked in the 2nd lot across the road from Lift 7 base and went to Cornice. The hill was tracked out unless you went deeper into the trees than others had been. My friend, who worked at Kirkwood in the 70s and only skis a day or two a year now, was struggling with new boots and old straight skis. We split up after a couple of runs.
I headed left at the top of the chair where I skied along the cornice and then hiked up for a couple of minutes. I was the first person to drop in along that section of the cornice and got a couple of untracked turns before turning right above the trees where I hit more untracked that ran about halfway down. Next run I brought a couple from the chair who were at Kirkwood for the first time and showed them what less than 100 steps of skis on hiking would get them. That run I launched straight off the cornice and barely got control in the deep snow before the trees. We moved to the Wall where I took them down Notch Chute. It had lightly packed powder in the middle, some untracked on the walls and a 10 foot wide choke point near the bottom. Next run we went on what had been a rockpile three weeks ago and found no rocks, lightly packed powder on top and some moderately tracked in the middle. I should have stayed further right, but thought the gully to skiers left of The Reut (chair 11) was more untracked than it was.
I met up with my friend for lunch and, after our longest wait of the day at chair 7 which had stopped for a while, we skied a run or two on Cornice. Then we skied Eagle Bowl off chair 10 to chair 2. The snow was great as the sun had not gotten to it and I found deep untracked in the trees near the bottom. After a couple of runs on chair 2 where the low angle powder was too deep to be easily skied, we took High Whiskey back to the base and found some dry, untracked, slightly windblown on the way. He was done for the day, and I went up Reut and skied Waterfall, which is getting good enough coverage that I came in just under the cliff signs. Cornice still had a line at 4 pm, but it was going down when I loaded at 4:10. I traversed high above Sentinel Bowl and found good snow without hiking most of the way to the bottom. On our way out, chairs were packed on Kirkwood Meadows road almost to Highway 88 and some were in a turnout on the other side of the highway
Sunday we arrived at Kirkwood a little earlier and parked in the first lot across from Chair 7. I took a run while my fried was exchanging voucher for ticket and found superhero snow as the groomed had an inch or two of dry snow in most places. We went up Cornice, then the Reut and moved to the uncrowded Backside (Chair 4). None of the drag lifts were running and the light was too flat to ski the ungroomed unless near trees The wind was blowing hard out of the south so we went right our two times down. On our third lift ride, the chair stopped for at least 10 minutes when we were about halfway up before running very slowly to unload everyone. Our lift ride was over 30 minutes and we thought they told us at the top that not just that lift, but the whole place was shutting down due to power problems .
My fried was unsure about skiing Thunder Saddle back to the base, but was glad he did as it held its usual deep snow and we skied one of the chutes to the meadow. Since it was about noon and we planned to quit at 2 pm, we were ready to get our vouchers for another day due to power problems, but found empty lifts were beginning to load again. We took a couple of runs on Cornice before splitting up. The singles line got very long, far out of the maze, but still less than five minutes. I moved to less crowded Reut and took a run on chair 2 where I hiked right at the top of the chair. The powder was deeper and heavier than I expected and I buried a ski which released, then did a forward layout in the snow which got snow down my back. It took a few minutes to find my ski as it was higher than I expected. I skied High Whiskey to the Reut and did a very exposed line between the rocks of Waterfall before ending the day with some high-speed turns in very lightly tracked powder past Sentinel.
Sat. 15 runs/17.5K vertical and Sun 15 runs with just under 15K vertical as we quit at 2 pm and I didn’t go up the Wall (chair 10) or ride crowded Cornice as much. I was able to ski across the road and to the car both days. While Thursday and Friday would have been better, it was great for a very busy weekend that was supposed to be between storms. I’ll add some pictures when I have a chance, but don’t think I have anything that great as I couldn’t get my camera into snow mode on Sat. and only took a couple on Sun. and light was not very good.
Sat. was very busy. We arrived a little before 10 after more than an hour delay due to 50 miles of chain control. But traffic mostly moved at 25-30 mph and there were far too many people with and without chains to try passing. It was nothing compared to getting to Mt. Baldy or the 20 miles of stopped cars I heard about on I-80 Friday night going into the Sierras, We parked in the 2nd lot across the road from Lift 7 base and went to Cornice. The hill was tracked out unless you went deeper into the trees than others had been. My friend, who worked at Kirkwood in the 70s and only skis a day or two a year now, was struggling with new boots and old straight skis. We split up after a couple of runs.
I headed left at the top of the chair where I skied along the cornice and then hiked up for a couple of minutes. I was the first person to drop in along that section of the cornice and got a couple of untracked turns before turning right above the trees where I hit more untracked that ran about halfway down. Next run I brought a couple from the chair who were at Kirkwood for the first time and showed them what less than 100 steps of skis on hiking would get them. That run I launched straight off the cornice and barely got control in the deep snow before the trees. We moved to the Wall where I took them down Notch Chute. It had lightly packed powder in the middle, some untracked on the walls and a 10 foot wide choke point near the bottom. Next run we went on what had been a rockpile three weeks ago and found no rocks, lightly packed powder on top and some moderately tracked in the middle. I should have stayed further right, but thought the gully to skiers left of The Reut (chair 11) was more untracked than it was.
I met up with my friend for lunch and, after our longest wait of the day at chair 7 which had stopped for a while, we skied a run or two on Cornice. Then we skied Eagle Bowl off chair 10 to chair 2. The snow was great as the sun had not gotten to it and I found deep untracked in the trees near the bottom. After a couple of runs on chair 2 where the low angle powder was too deep to be easily skied, we took High Whiskey back to the base and found some dry, untracked, slightly windblown on the way. He was done for the day, and I went up Reut and skied Waterfall, which is getting good enough coverage that I came in just under the cliff signs. Cornice still had a line at 4 pm, but it was going down when I loaded at 4:10. I traversed high above Sentinel Bowl and found good snow without hiking most of the way to the bottom. On our way out, chairs were packed on Kirkwood Meadows road almost to Highway 88 and some were in a turnout on the other side of the highway
Sunday we arrived at Kirkwood a little earlier and parked in the first lot across from Chair 7. I took a run while my fried was exchanging voucher for ticket and found superhero snow as the groomed had an inch or two of dry snow in most places. We went up Cornice, then the Reut and moved to the uncrowded Backside (Chair 4). None of the drag lifts were running and the light was too flat to ski the ungroomed unless near trees The wind was blowing hard out of the south so we went right our two times down. On our third lift ride, the chair stopped for at least 10 minutes when we were about halfway up before running very slowly to unload everyone. Our lift ride was over 30 minutes and we thought they told us at the top that not just that lift, but the whole place was shutting down due to power problems .
My fried was unsure about skiing Thunder Saddle back to the base, but was glad he did as it held its usual deep snow and we skied one of the chutes to the meadow. Since it was about noon and we planned to quit at 2 pm, we were ready to get our vouchers for another day due to power problems, but found empty lifts were beginning to load again. We took a couple of runs on Cornice before splitting up. The singles line got very long, far out of the maze, but still less than five minutes. I moved to less crowded Reut and took a run on chair 2 where I hiked right at the top of the chair. The powder was deeper and heavier than I expected and I buried a ski which released, then did a forward layout in the snow which got snow down my back. It took a few minutes to find my ski as it was higher than I expected. I skied High Whiskey to the Reut and did a very exposed line between the rocks of Waterfall before ending the day with some high-speed turns in very lightly tracked powder past Sentinel.
Sat. 15 runs/17.5K vertical and Sun 15 runs with just under 15K vertical as we quit at 2 pm and I didn’t go up the Wall (chair 10) or ride crowded Cornice as much. I was able to ski across the road and to the car both days. While Thursday and Friday would have been better, it was great for a very busy weekend that was supposed to be between storms. I’ll add some pictures when I have a chance, but don’t think I have anything that great as I couldn’t get my camera into snow mode on Sat. and only took a couple on Sun. and light was not very good.
