tseeb
Well-known member
Day 37 for me and my deepest powder day of season although not sure if it was my best. Kirkwood reported 18" new at base and 24+" at top in last 24 hours and 12" of that was overnight. I left So. Tahoe at 7:40 and approached the still moderate Cornice line an hour later. An employee said Cornice would not load until 9:30 (and the Wall would not load until 10:30) so I moved over to lower angle and slow Solitude which opened a little before 9 and I skied five times. My snowboarding friend from Truckee joined me after a lap and we rode chair together a few times. While new snow was deep and I had some good untracked turns in the trees, I was finding logs (hopefully) or rocks a couple of times each run.
Cornice started loading a little before 9:30, but the singles line was too long for me so I did not move there until about 10. When I did, I found lightly tracked deep snow in Rabbit run skiers left of Sentinel, then on next run skied then hiked lookers left at top towards the corner. I did not hike to top as many people were doing as I found some deep untracked by cutting back under rocks. I had arranged to meet Coop, Kirkwood's marketing/PR person mid-morning so I went into office about 10:30 and after waiting a couple of minutes for him to come out of meeting, he gave me pair of Smith I/O goggles with two lenses that I had won with a tweet while watching their online show from home a couple of weeks ago. He said I should be on The Wall as it just opened. I told him I don't like lines as the singles line went over 100 people up the hill and was barely moving. Instead, I walked back to Cornice and skied Palisades twice. Patrol had a rope line at the top that people were ducking, but I stayed below it and found a lot of untracked before getting on lowest catchline that returned to lift.
I then skied Rabbit run again and, after stopping to pickup lens cloth I had dropped from chair much earlier, skied the gully, then under condo building and came out right at my car. There I poured a short beer from my growler and picked up a tall one for my pocket. I called and talked my friend from Truckee into meeting me for one more Solitude. He drove all the way from Truckee to avoid N* where he was bored on Monday when they had 9 runs open including four beginner runs and then came to Kirkwood and only skied Solitude. He is going in for one knee replacement on 4/15 which we both hope will return him to pain-free boarding. The line for the Wall had gone away so I went up it and did not quite have time to finish 16 ounce Sierra Nevada on 11 minute ride.
My first two runs I skied over towards Norm's Nose and into Conestoga where I found many large untracked patches and even better near bottom. The entrance to The Wall was very congested as many people were taking it on their rears. I next took the highest traverse left and pushed the track a little further before dropping into lightly tracked snow below the Sisters. After a couple of more laps, I skied Notch Chute which had excellent snow, especially high on the walls, and a wider/better covered than expected crux. But the exit from the drain was worse than Monday. There usually was a snowboarder or two down where it was only a foot wide above creek and later in the day it was impossible to go right without crossing dirt.
About 2:45, the lift operator told me Eagle Bowl had just opened so I did two laps there. I went far right on first lap. I should have hiked a little higher as where I came down the only way I could see, I dropped between and scraped over some rocks. From below I could see a better line with only one track and was able to direct a snowboarder to it. The next run I dropped in earlier and found deep chopped-up snow, then came over a knoll and got some untracked. I did one more lap on The Wall, taking a more direct line so I could get to Cornice for one more lap before it closed. I returned to the Palisades and found patrol had removed rope line although sign still prohibited hiking to ridge. I got my only faceshot of the day coming over an untracked knoll. Lower down snow that had not been shaded by trees was getting refrozen. I avoided the worst of it and skied to within 10 steps of my car at 4:20 pm with 29K of challenging skiing that was more than half in powder.
Not sure if I'm done for the season as I may go to Squaw on 4/17, then Heavenly on 4/18 before hitting Kirkwood again for their close on 4/19. Then I have two free days at Mammoth to try to use. All these pictures are from my phone and I did not take many until after 2 pm. I'll try to add some from my camera when I have more time. The singles line on Cornice chair about when it opened went out of the picture. The singles line on the Wall got even longer.
Cornice started loading a little before 9:30, but the singles line was too long for me so I did not move there until about 10. When I did, I found lightly tracked deep snow in Rabbit run skiers left of Sentinel, then on next run skied then hiked lookers left at top towards the corner. I did not hike to top as many people were doing as I found some deep untracked by cutting back under rocks. I had arranged to meet Coop, Kirkwood's marketing/PR person mid-morning so I went into office about 10:30 and after waiting a couple of minutes for him to come out of meeting, he gave me pair of Smith I/O goggles with two lenses that I had won with a tweet while watching their online show from home a couple of weeks ago. He said I should be on The Wall as it just opened. I told him I don't like lines as the singles line went over 100 people up the hill and was barely moving. Instead, I walked back to Cornice and skied Palisades twice. Patrol had a rope line at the top that people were ducking, but I stayed below it and found a lot of untracked before getting on lowest catchline that returned to lift.
I then skied Rabbit run again and, after stopping to pickup lens cloth I had dropped from chair much earlier, skied the gully, then under condo building and came out right at my car. There I poured a short beer from my growler and picked up a tall one for my pocket. I called and talked my friend from Truckee into meeting me for one more Solitude. He drove all the way from Truckee to avoid N* where he was bored on Monday when they had 9 runs open including four beginner runs and then came to Kirkwood and only skied Solitude. He is going in for one knee replacement on 4/15 which we both hope will return him to pain-free boarding. The line for the Wall had gone away so I went up it and did not quite have time to finish 16 ounce Sierra Nevada on 11 minute ride.
My first two runs I skied over towards Norm's Nose and into Conestoga where I found many large untracked patches and even better near bottom. The entrance to The Wall was very congested as many people were taking it on their rears. I next took the highest traverse left and pushed the track a little further before dropping into lightly tracked snow below the Sisters. After a couple of more laps, I skied Notch Chute which had excellent snow, especially high on the walls, and a wider/better covered than expected crux. But the exit from the drain was worse than Monday. There usually was a snowboarder or two down where it was only a foot wide above creek and later in the day it was impossible to go right without crossing dirt.
About 2:45, the lift operator told me Eagle Bowl had just opened so I did two laps there. I went far right on first lap. I should have hiked a little higher as where I came down the only way I could see, I dropped between and scraped over some rocks. From below I could see a better line with only one track and was able to direct a snowboarder to it. The next run I dropped in earlier and found deep chopped-up snow, then came over a knoll and got some untracked. I did one more lap on The Wall, taking a more direct line so I could get to Cornice for one more lap before it closed. I returned to the Palisades and found patrol had removed rope line although sign still prohibited hiking to ridge. I got my only faceshot of the day coming over an untracked knoll. Lower down snow that had not been shaded by trees was getting refrozen. I avoided the worst of it and skied to within 10 steps of my car at 4:20 pm with 29K of challenging skiing that was more than half in powder.
Not sure if I'm done for the season as I may go to Squaw on 4/17, then Heavenly on 4/18 before hitting Kirkwood again for their close on 4/19. Then I have two free days at Mammoth to try to use. All these pictures are from my phone and I did not take many until after 2 pm. I'll try to add some from my camera when I have more time. The singles line on Cornice chair about when it opened went out of the picture. The singles line on the Wall got even longer.
