tseeb
Well-known member
I skied 11-2, short day on way home similar to December 3,2024, but snow depth and amount of ski area open has improved a lot since then. I parked next to where snowcats cross Kirkwood’s entrance road and where I could ski to with 30’ of my SUV. Photo taken at 2 pm. Note snowcat building mound between parking lots.
January 6 started my ski season in 2021 and during lunch and phone charging break at car I got updates from my wife of the violent insurrection in Washington DC, while January 6 was my 9th day in 2025.
Late start due to clearing, cleaning and closing cabin and also dealing with smoke detector problem caused by one sister’s stay there this Fall, then having to stop before losing cell service leaving Meyers to deal with other sister’s problems in San Jose. It drizzled, then rained a little early in South Lake Tahoe and I saw a few flakes falling near top of Luther Pass on way to Kirkwood where it was mostly cloudy with some breaks and cooler than expected.
I skied 182 cm Salomon Stance 96 barely used, new-to-me demos I’d bought last Summer. They worked great in conditions that were mostly smooth groomers with some firm spots. I eventually braved taking pristine bases into steep ungroomed. I started by riding Timber Creek 3x, then moved to Cornice for three laps, skiing groomed Sentinel and Zachary’s, then ungroomed Olympic.
I moved to The Wall, which has been open for weeks, but this was first day open this season when I was there. Headwaters on left. Main Wall run in glare between chair and sun.
Entrance road is in and the Stances held great on steep, bumped, firm turns required at top of Wall. I stopped to help early 40s Indian who had lost a ski and was unsure how to get it back on while on steep firm run. I saw a flat spot on top of a bump a couple of feet behind him and stomped a bigger flat there for him. No way was I going to get below him to help and get taken out. I talked to his pre-teen son further down slope who said it was their first time at Kirkwood. I continued down main groomer while looking at barely getting sun gully to right.
Next time up I went into ungroomed area between Wall run and Headwaters and found good smooth snow. Then I dropped into gully, getting a few turns in sun before cutting across above top of Reut lift and skiing Conestoga which was a little less bumped than adjacent Shotgun. After asking patrol at top of Wall about condition of route around back to entrance to Notch Chute, I skied it from traverse across Wall. (They said route around back was thin and entrance may require crampons.) Notch Chute was challenging, narrow in places, and firm and steep enough that I was glad to be on skis with a lot of hold. Looking up Notch Chute.
Looking down Notch Chute from same place with choke partially hidden below.
Not my cleanest run through choke but I did not find any rocks.
I moved back to Cornice for 6 laps in under an hour. Two were on Zachary’s, the main frontside groomer. First time I skied the lap fast, just over 8 minutes including chair ride, but also may have found a rock or two (my Garmin watch tells lap times after loading next chair). The other time on Zachary’s, I went left across Look Out Janek, cutting below cliffs and skiing one of the chutes I like between there and Olympic. I also checked out and later skied the steeper chute closer to Olympic where route through cliffs is barely covered. Steeper chute on right. Previous run through area was probably out of photo to left.
I finished my day skiing Sentinel and exiting into the first chute before the doobie cave and finished with the Ditch of Doom. Avocet, Garmin and SkiTracks all counted 15 runs while SkiTracks had me over 18.5K and Avocet was almost 19K. Carson Spur, the avalanche closure prone area just W of Kirkwood.
My drive home was 4 hrs 15 min including a stop in Pioneer to get a couple of gallons of $4.15 gas to be able to make it to Ernie’s where CA-88 ends at CA-99 and regular is $3.49 cash. I also stopped at winery S of Stockton on 99 where I had a couple of pickups, bought a box to take to Mexico in less than two weeks, found a couple of $3 half-bottle in sale boxes and did a quick tasting of their reds. There was a spectacular sunset between Manteca and Tracy. First photo is from I-5 S.
2nd photo taken six minutes later from I-205W. It was much better in person as these photos taken through windshield only when roads went W. At home I took dog who having problem with one of her back legs for short walk and moved her from mid- to lowest level of our home so she can exit to backyard without any steps.
Late start due to clearing, cleaning and closing cabin and also dealing with smoke detector problem caused by one sister’s stay there this Fall, then having to stop before losing cell service leaving Meyers to deal with other sister’s problems in San Jose. It drizzled, then rained a little early in South Lake Tahoe and I saw a few flakes falling near top of Luther Pass on way to Kirkwood where it was mostly cloudy with some breaks and cooler than expected.
I skied 182 cm Salomon Stance 96 barely used, new-to-me demos I’d bought last Summer. They worked great in conditions that were mostly smooth groomers with some firm spots. I eventually braved taking pristine bases into steep ungroomed. I started by riding Timber Creek 3x, then moved to Cornice for three laps, skiing groomed Sentinel and Zachary’s, then ungroomed Olympic.
I moved to The Wall, which has been open for weeks, but this was first day open this season when I was there. Headwaters on left. Main Wall run in glare between chair and sun.
Entrance road is in and the Stances held great on steep, bumped, firm turns required at top of Wall. I stopped to help early 40s Indian who had lost a ski and was unsure how to get it back on while on steep firm run. I saw a flat spot on top of a bump a couple of feet behind him and stomped a bigger flat there for him. No way was I going to get below him to help and get taken out. I talked to his pre-teen son further down slope who said it was their first time at Kirkwood. I continued down main groomer while looking at barely getting sun gully to right.
Next time up I went into ungroomed area between Wall run and Headwaters and found good smooth snow. Then I dropped into gully, getting a few turns in sun before cutting across above top of Reut lift and skiing Conestoga which was a little less bumped than adjacent Shotgun. After asking patrol at top of Wall about condition of route around back to entrance to Notch Chute, I skied it from traverse across Wall. (They said route around back was thin and entrance may require crampons.) Notch Chute was challenging, narrow in places, and firm and steep enough that I was glad to be on skis with a lot of hold. Looking up Notch Chute.
Looking down Notch Chute from same place with choke partially hidden below.
Not my cleanest run through choke but I did not find any rocks.
I moved back to Cornice for 6 laps in under an hour. Two were on Zachary’s, the main frontside groomer. First time I skied the lap fast, just over 8 minutes including chair ride, but also may have found a rock or two (my Garmin watch tells lap times after loading next chair). The other time on Zachary’s, I went left across Look Out Janek, cutting below cliffs and skiing one of the chutes I like between there and Olympic. I also checked out and later skied the steeper chute closer to Olympic where route through cliffs is barely covered. Steeper chute on right. Previous run through area was probably out of photo to left.
My drive home was 4 hrs 15 min including a stop in Pioneer to get a couple of gallons of $4.15 gas to be able to make it to Ernie’s where CA-88 ends at CA-99 and regular is $3.49 cash. I also stopped at winery S of Stockton on 99 where I had a couple of pickups, bought a box to take to Mexico in less than two weeks, found a couple of $3 half-bottle in sale boxes and did a quick tasting of their reds. There was a spectacular sunset between Manteca and Tracy. First photo is from I-5 S.
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