Kirkwood, CA - 4/17/06

[ChrisC]

Tahoe was just a mess on Easter Sunday. Parts of 50 were closed -- leaving I-80 the only way out. Backups over Donner Pass were 3hrs+. Forget it.

So it was an extra night in Tahoe. Kirkwood the destination -- since it was cut-off from everyone for Easter Sunday and only the lower lifts bothered to open that day.

Kirkwood Monday AM still cut off from Sacramento/SF...but the road from Tahoe finally opened in the morning.

SKIING WAS....let stats describe.... TEMP: 18. SNOW: 24-36" in 24 hours. 48"+ Storm Total. Crowds: Few. Lifts: Not open since Saturday.

Reality, the Tahoe snow skied like a Utah 18"....and it was mostly knee deep for me. But just great stuff.

Mostly skied the Cornice Lift (#6) with traversing further and further out as the day wore on. Did the Wall a few times too. The Backside was closed.

I think the Cornice Lift is the best single lift in Tahoe on a powder day....it serves 1800 vert (more than than anything at Alpine, Heavenly, etc). And the vast amount of terrain that you can reach via an easy travers is mind-blowing.

Epic.

However, it started to warm up and destroy the powder by the late afternoon.

Next year.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Cornice lift at Kirkwood also has just enough scattered trees to retain visibility and remain open during many storms. March 13, 1987 at Kirkwood was my first ever wire-to-wire powder day: 23K total, 17K of powder. A nice call for Monday, and the one I would have made if I'd been up there.