tseeb
Well-known member
Saturday was warm in CA. The temperature was 77 at my house in San Jose and at 5:50 PM, it was 53 at South Lake Tahoe. The wind was predicted to pickup Sunday as a storm moved past to the north with gusts up to 100 mph over the ridgetops possible. Between 4 and 5 AM Sunday morning, the top of Alpine was showing a steady 60 mph wind out of the SE with gusts up to 80. It was not that windy Sunday at Kirkwood (or during the day at the top of Alpine), with a maximum of only about 25 mph on top of Cornice and the Backside. The snow was good on the top on my first run, Olympic, off Cornice chair, but the bottom half was a little too firm, probably because if melted more and froze harder than the top on Saturday. Next run, I took east-facing Monte Wolf where skier’s left was softening nicely. I met up with two friends who had driven up separately from San Jose, and their friend, Todd, who has skied Kirkwood a lot the last few years. Todd and I hiked past the patrol shack to Monte Wolf, but he went too far right and did not find the softer snow. The other two friends, who do not hike much, went down Cornice’s main run, Zachary, which was very firm due to a lot of traffic and grooming. Next run, we all took the below the Cornice traverse to Monte Wolf where everyone got the soft snow.
We headed to the Backside and tried to take a high-speed run down Elevator Shaft, but there was too much traffic to really let go. Next run, we took the two drag lifts Devil’s Draw which not only was freshly groomed, but has some very dry blown-in snow. My friends were heading for the Backside BBQ and I had to leave to meet my son and friends I came with for lunch. To return to the car, I skied north-facing Thunder Saddle which was way too firm and then caught a shuttle back to Hole-in-the-Wall base. After lunch, I took a couple of runs off Cornice, where Sentinel was still firm, while Olympic was now good all the way down. I moved to The Wall for a couple of runs. It was groomed almost to the top with fast, but carveable, snow. A few boarders were taking long slides. I tried the ungroomed, but it was too firm at 2 PM. I followed my friends up the Reut and came down Conestoga fast, trying to catch up with them. They were going in for a beer so I took one more on The Wall before joining them on the deck outside Off The Wall bar where they had built a bar out of snow and were selling $5 Red Hooks which is a bargain compared to Heavenly.
We all went up The Reut and came down Shotgun. Then we went up the Wall and I dropped off into west-facing Waterfall which had good coverage and had softened into great corn. For our last run, we went up Cornice and skied Olympic to Home Run back to the car at Hole-in-the-Wall. My two friends were driving up to Reno to meet up with some other guys and my friend and our two sons, who came up with me, drove to South Tahoe. We turned on the cabin, poached a lakefront hot tub, then pigged out and enjoyed the view at the buffet on top of Harrah’s. No pictures as my son borrowed my camera and it did not get back to me before the trip. My Avocet counted 25 runs and 30K vertical.
We headed to the Backside and tried to take a high-speed run down Elevator Shaft, but there was too much traffic to really let go. Next run, we took the two drag lifts Devil’s Draw which not only was freshly groomed, but has some very dry blown-in snow. My friends were heading for the Backside BBQ and I had to leave to meet my son and friends I came with for lunch. To return to the car, I skied north-facing Thunder Saddle which was way too firm and then caught a shuttle back to Hole-in-the-Wall base. After lunch, I took a couple of runs off Cornice, where Sentinel was still firm, while Olympic was now good all the way down. I moved to The Wall for a couple of runs. It was groomed almost to the top with fast, but carveable, snow. A few boarders were taking long slides. I tried the ungroomed, but it was too firm at 2 PM. I followed my friends up the Reut and came down Conestoga fast, trying to catch up with them. They were going in for a beer so I took one more on The Wall before joining them on the deck outside Off The Wall bar where they had built a bar out of snow and were selling $5 Red Hooks which is a bargain compared to Heavenly.
We all went up The Reut and came down Shotgun. Then we went up the Wall and I dropped off into west-facing Waterfall which had good coverage and had softened into great corn. For our last run, we went up Cornice and skied Olympic to Home Run back to the car at Hole-in-the-Wall. My two friends were driving up to Reno to meet up with some other guys and my friend and our two sons, who came up with me, drove to South Tahoe. We turned on the cabin, poached a lakefront hot tub, then pigged out and enjoyed the view at the buffet on top of Harrah’s. No pictures as my son borrowed my camera and it did not get back to me before the trip. My Avocet counted 25 runs and 30K vertical.