tseeb
Well-known member
After returning home from my last trip to Tahoe, 12/20-22/2012, I woke up with a sore throat the next morning that turned into a cold that still has not totally gone away. The last four nights of 2012, my son stayed at our family cabin at So. Tahoe with 3 girls from his college and 3 guys from his high school to celebrate his 21st birthday and attend SnowGlobe. I don’t know how anyone could think a three evening outdoor music festival (went until from 3-10 pm the first two night and to after midnight on New Years Eve) in a place where average late Dec. low temps. are in the mid-teens was a good idea. This year it was below zero two nights and only got above freezing one day. This is the festival where a nineteen year-old girl disappeared and apparently died from exposure. Anyway, I needed to go check on cabin to make sure it was shut down properly and presentable for the next guests.
I arrived at Kirkwood about 10 on Thursday. Parking was busier than I expected as I could not find a space along the road by chair 7 and had to go into lot there. Chair 7 had a small line all day, but I did not find much of a line anywhere else. Groomed snow was very good and there some windsift from east wind on previous day(s). I saw Olympic had been groomed and hardly skied so I took a couple of runs on it before moving to the Wall for my first time this year, where there was very nice windsift in the gullies. Then I moved to the Backside (Sunrise chair) also for the first time this year for me. Groomers there also were good, but the slow lift drove me away after three rides. To exit, I took Two Man chute in Thunder Saddle and found some powder along the edges.
I wanted to ski the Vista T-bar, but was not feeling strong enough to do the hike from the top of chair 2 to get to it so I skied down and rode chair 3 which got me closer to base of T-bar. I skied one of the shots under Lookout Vista and hit some good windsift and packed powder although finding where to drop off ridge was difficult. I went up chair 2 again and skied west-facing High Whiskey, which was groomed, not something I remember seeing. I had hoped to buy a $1 water from ski patrol sled at the top of chair 2 as I was getting dehydrated, but they no longer sell anything there (Vail?). Instead I went to Elevation 7800 in the Tower building where Coors are $2 and microbrews $4 – you can get two microbrews for less than the price of one in Vail-operated Monte Wolf, which is closer to chair 10/11 bases.
I had a Coors and a couple of waters and talked to a guy at the bar that needed to get back to chair 7. I told him I could show him the way, but then thought about backing out when I saw he was a boarder. He said he had done chair 10/The Wall, but realized he was mistaken when we got close to the steep, firm and bumpy top. He made it although slow and then wanted to take the easiest way down which was also the firmest as it had been groomed or skied too much. He also was slow on chair 6/Cornice, barely getting to the base of chair 7 in time to meet his wife who had driven him to Kirkwood from South Tahoe in the morning and returned at 3 to pick him up. I had planned to quit around 3, but had not skied much in the PM so I took a couple of more runs on Cornice before finishing at 3:30 with 20.8K vertical. Temperature warmed the last couple of hours, the opposite of what often happens at Kirkwood on winter afternoons when sun goes behind the ridge.
I planned to ski Friday at Northstar with friends from Reno and Truckee, but they all flaked so instead of 40 mile drive there or 35 miles back to Kirkwood, I drove about a mile to Heavenly where a parked within 100 feet of the tram. I had a couple of runs on Sky chair before it developed a small line. I then took a couple on Canyon where they had made a lot of snow to try to open terrain park and I found an inch or two of man-made along the fence. Both short and steep Sky Canyon and Ridge Bowl runs skied very well. A little after 10, I moved to Nevada to ski Mott Canyon, but chair was not running. I went by it a couple of more times in the morning and later learned there was an electrical problem and it did not open until afternoon when I did not have enough energy left to try it. Since Dipper was too crowded, I skied lower on Nevada, making a couple of laps of Stagecoach and Olympic chairs. I skied former East Peak chair line to Comet chair and took a break at Tamarack Lodge.
After lunch, I rode Tamarack chair three times before moving back to CA via Maggies Canyon where there was a little untracked. Moguled Waterfall did not ski very well, so I moved up to Canyon chair for a couple of fast runs. I saw a lull in Sky chair line and went up it and skied The Pinnacles, a fairly new run that is best in late afternoon and still held some decent tracked powder. The Sky line had returned so I went up Canyon and skied down Ridge Run. Then I did a couple of runs on lightly skied Powder Bowl. The snow was great on the top third, had some firm spots in the middle and I found nice lines in the trees for the bottom part. I did not like the line I saw on Groove chair so I pushed into Roundabout where I cut a couple of the corners skiing west-facing steep shortcuts. I went up Gunbarrel chair and skied down to and went up superslow Patsy’s chair to get to Upper Roundabout for my last run of the day. I quit about 3 pm with 23.7K vertical
Heavenly was more crowded on Sat. 1/5/13 than on Fri. 1/4. I got on tram more than 15 minutes earlier (EpicMix says 8:50 vs. 9:07) after parking about a little farther from tram. Instead of nobody waiting and nearly empty tram the previous day, there were about 10 in line and tram nearly filled. I took one run on Sky chair to see if Ellie’s run from the top had opened, but they were still blowing snow on the narrow top so it will not open until Sun. at the earliest. The first time up Sky, there was no line for singles and a small regular line. At the bottom, I saw even singles had a line so I moved to much less busy Canyon for three runs.
A little before 10, I waited in about a 5 minute line to go up Sky. I was at Gate A into Killibrew Canyon as patroller was dropping the rope. After skiing Outer Limits, the SE boundary line in Killibrew, and going up Mott chair, I skied to Dipper chair and found no singles line and a moderate regular line. After skiing Milky Way Bowl, I tried to get back to Killibrew, but ended up too low at closed Gate D so I skied into Mott, near Widowmaker. I skied Mott once more, going down Bills, which is one of the longest and widest of the steep chutes and had very good snow.
When I got to East Peak Lodge base area, both Comet and Dipper had similar lines, including long singles lines. I waited more than five minutes and found the unloading area so crowded it was difficult to get through. I skied from the top of NV, down CA trail, then further W in Maggie’s Canyon than I usually go, but snow needed more sun to soften and was better deeper in canyon. I continued past Groove chair, where there was a small line, into Roundabout and got to my car at 11:45 with a 13.3K vertical.
I arrived at Kirkwood about 10 on Thursday. Parking was busier than I expected as I could not find a space along the road by chair 7 and had to go into lot there. Chair 7 had a small line all day, but I did not find much of a line anywhere else. Groomed snow was very good and there some windsift from east wind on previous day(s). I saw Olympic had been groomed and hardly skied so I took a couple of runs on it before moving to the Wall for my first time this year, where there was very nice windsift in the gullies. Then I moved to the Backside (Sunrise chair) also for the first time this year for me. Groomers there also were good, but the slow lift drove me away after three rides. To exit, I took Two Man chute in Thunder Saddle and found some powder along the edges.
I wanted to ski the Vista T-bar, but was not feeling strong enough to do the hike from the top of chair 2 to get to it so I skied down and rode chair 3 which got me closer to base of T-bar. I skied one of the shots under Lookout Vista and hit some good windsift and packed powder although finding where to drop off ridge was difficult. I went up chair 2 again and skied west-facing High Whiskey, which was groomed, not something I remember seeing. I had hoped to buy a $1 water from ski patrol sled at the top of chair 2 as I was getting dehydrated, but they no longer sell anything there (Vail?). Instead I went to Elevation 7800 in the Tower building where Coors are $2 and microbrews $4 – you can get two microbrews for less than the price of one in Vail-operated Monte Wolf, which is closer to chair 10/11 bases.
I had a Coors and a couple of waters and talked to a guy at the bar that needed to get back to chair 7. I told him I could show him the way, but then thought about backing out when I saw he was a boarder. He said he had done chair 10/The Wall, but realized he was mistaken when we got close to the steep, firm and bumpy top. He made it although slow and then wanted to take the easiest way down which was also the firmest as it had been groomed or skied too much. He also was slow on chair 6/Cornice, barely getting to the base of chair 7 in time to meet his wife who had driven him to Kirkwood from South Tahoe in the morning and returned at 3 to pick him up. I had planned to quit around 3, but had not skied much in the PM so I took a couple of more runs on Cornice before finishing at 3:30 with 20.8K vertical. Temperature warmed the last couple of hours, the opposite of what often happens at Kirkwood on winter afternoons when sun goes behind the ridge.
I planned to ski Friday at Northstar with friends from Reno and Truckee, but they all flaked so instead of 40 mile drive there or 35 miles back to Kirkwood, I drove about a mile to Heavenly where a parked within 100 feet of the tram. I had a couple of runs on Sky chair before it developed a small line. I then took a couple on Canyon where they had made a lot of snow to try to open terrain park and I found an inch or two of man-made along the fence. Both short and steep Sky Canyon and Ridge Bowl runs skied very well. A little after 10, I moved to Nevada to ski Mott Canyon, but chair was not running. I went by it a couple of more times in the morning and later learned there was an electrical problem and it did not open until afternoon when I did not have enough energy left to try it. Since Dipper was too crowded, I skied lower on Nevada, making a couple of laps of Stagecoach and Olympic chairs. I skied former East Peak chair line to Comet chair and took a break at Tamarack Lodge.
After lunch, I rode Tamarack chair three times before moving back to CA via Maggies Canyon where there was a little untracked. Moguled Waterfall did not ski very well, so I moved up to Canyon chair for a couple of fast runs. I saw a lull in Sky chair line and went up it and skied The Pinnacles, a fairly new run that is best in late afternoon and still held some decent tracked powder. The Sky line had returned so I went up Canyon and skied down Ridge Run. Then I did a couple of runs on lightly skied Powder Bowl. The snow was great on the top third, had some firm spots in the middle and I found nice lines in the trees for the bottom part. I did not like the line I saw on Groove chair so I pushed into Roundabout where I cut a couple of the corners skiing west-facing steep shortcuts. I went up Gunbarrel chair and skied down to and went up superslow Patsy’s chair to get to Upper Roundabout for my last run of the day. I quit about 3 pm with 23.7K vertical
Heavenly was more crowded on Sat. 1/5/13 than on Fri. 1/4. I got on tram more than 15 minutes earlier (EpicMix says 8:50 vs. 9:07) after parking about a little farther from tram. Instead of nobody waiting and nearly empty tram the previous day, there were about 10 in line and tram nearly filled. I took one run on Sky chair to see if Ellie’s run from the top had opened, but they were still blowing snow on the narrow top so it will not open until Sun. at the earliest. The first time up Sky, there was no line for singles and a small regular line. At the bottom, I saw even singles had a line so I moved to much less busy Canyon for three runs.
A little before 10, I waited in about a 5 minute line to go up Sky. I was at Gate A into Killibrew Canyon as patroller was dropping the rope. After skiing Outer Limits, the SE boundary line in Killibrew, and going up Mott chair, I skied to Dipper chair and found no singles line and a moderate regular line. After skiing Milky Way Bowl, I tried to get back to Killibrew, but ended up too low at closed Gate D so I skied into Mott, near Widowmaker. I skied Mott once more, going down Bills, which is one of the longest and widest of the steep chutes and had very good snow.
When I got to East Peak Lodge base area, both Comet and Dipper had similar lines, including long singles lines. I waited more than five minutes and found the unloading area so crowded it was difficult to get through. I skied from the top of NV, down CA trail, then further W in Maggie’s Canyon than I usually go, but snow needed more sun to soften and was better deeper in canyon. I continued past Groove chair, where there was a small line, into Roundabout and got to my car at 11:45 with a 13.3K vertical.
