tseeb
Well-known member
12/21 My last skiing was 3 days at Northstar at the end of Nov. and I developed a cough and stuffy nose. It lingered into Dec. and developed into a full-on cold Dec. 15-18. I did not want to miss Dec.skiing for probably the first time since 1980 so I left San Jose after 7 am and drove to Kirkwood. I skied from 1130 until almost 4 and rode every non-beginner lift running at least once plus chairs 4 and 10 four times each and chair 6 three time. I was surprised there was chain control past Kirkwood at almost noon and ~1" new. No crowds. Many places skied well, but obstacles are still showing that are usually covered and lower third of the mountain had some firm snow. 18.5K vertical
12/22 Heavenly was better than expected. I drove 6.5 miles to Stagecoach base (so I wouldn't have to download as on CA side or gondola) and parked in the middle of the upper lot at 8:20. I thought they opened at 8:30, but had to wait until 9. I was on 5th chair there, then 2nd chair on Dipper where I had three fast mostly empty laps on the corduroy. I moved to Milky Way Bowl which had the best snow and I ended up skiing it 6 or 7 times. The higher entrance, which led to a few good longer lines than the main bowl, was very thin, but at some point they shoveled snow onto place where I was having to lift a ski to avoid a rock. I also did a couple of laps in Aries Woods and found good snow there.
The guy from Newport Beach that I was skiing with and I skied California Trail to nearly deserted Sky chair, then returned to NV hoping to catch a higher entrance to Milky Way Bowl, but it was closed. We skied from top of Sky to Stagecoach base using Nevada trail and he went in while I went up and took of couple of laps on Olympic. Wind from the SW was moving some snow around between 11 and 1 when I quit for lunch in town and to work at cabin. Crowds were not that bad and I only found 4-5 rocks, none on groomers. Over 19K vertical.
12/23 I was not surprised that it was chains or 4WD on either side of Kirkwood. The wind was so strong over the pass about 9 that there was not much snow on the road in many places and drifts along the edges in others. Just before the summit, where wind was howling, a CHP was behind vehicle with chains that had gotten stuck in drift. I was hoping Kirkwood was running a couple of lifts as I've seen them totally shut down in similar winds. Driving up, I saw chair 7 running so I parked across the road from it and hiked up and skied low-angle untracked on it once before moving to Kirkwood's main base.
On my first lap down The Reut I found some untracked skiers right of Shotgun, then was surprised to see they had started loading The Wall. But even though about 10-15 chairs had loaded, it looked like they were holding everyone outside the maze and the last chair had a couple of patrollers on it. So I headed for hi-speed Cornice which had also started loading. No line had formed at either chair as usual on a powder day as I think everyone expected wind holds all day. I skied untracked on right side of Olympic once, then cut hard right at the top of Sentinel towards Jim's twice, finding a lot more untracked that was 4-6" deep in places. There was a crust in places from the wind and it broke and slid in on the steep edges of gullies. My next three runs, I went towards the Palisades. There was a rope line I respected, but I didn't even find it until my second run as it was all untracked around big rocks in one of the gullies. My second time out there, I saw a large group at the top of Sentinel before the traverse. I figured they were just re-grouping or chit-chatting or whatever people do at the top of runs, I went to the left and above them into some trees to get my music going again. When I dropped towards the traverse somebody (female patroller) yelled something about it being closed, then said OK to go ahead. That time and the next and for my last run of the day, I got all the way out to the boundary rope where there was a lot of low angle untracked meadow skipping getting back to chair 7. Only once did I step up a little to higher traverse, but it ran me into boundary rope on top of a ridge so I had to return to gully with big rocks via a S-facing slope that did not ski as well as the E-facing gully and trees.
I took one lap on The Wall (running a little bit slow) before 1 PM and traversed far left into chute below Sisters, but found snow was more wind-packed than off Cornice. I saw a large white rabbit (Snowshoe hare) hopping up a steep slope. After one more lap on The Reut and a Cornice to Timber Creek run, I was on the road at 1:30. The drive to San Jose took almost an extra hour due to being in snow for 30+ miles as it did not turn to rain until well below 5,000'. Over 16K vertical, but another year where staying for Christmas Eve and Day would have been nice as snow continued to fall.
12/22 Heavenly was better than expected. I drove 6.5 miles to Stagecoach base (so I wouldn't have to download as on CA side or gondola) and parked in the middle of the upper lot at 8:20. I thought they opened at 8:30, but had to wait until 9. I was on 5th chair there, then 2nd chair on Dipper where I had three fast mostly empty laps on the corduroy. I moved to Milky Way Bowl which had the best snow and I ended up skiing it 6 or 7 times. The higher entrance, which led to a few good longer lines than the main bowl, was very thin, but at some point they shoveled snow onto place where I was having to lift a ski to avoid a rock. I also did a couple of laps in Aries Woods and found good snow there.
The guy from Newport Beach that I was skiing with and I skied California Trail to nearly deserted Sky chair, then returned to NV hoping to catch a higher entrance to Milky Way Bowl, but it was closed. We skied from top of Sky to Stagecoach base using Nevada trail and he went in while I went up and took of couple of laps on Olympic. Wind from the SW was moving some snow around between 11 and 1 when I quit for lunch in town and to work at cabin. Crowds were not that bad and I only found 4-5 rocks, none on groomers. Over 19K vertical.
12/23 I was not surprised that it was chains or 4WD on either side of Kirkwood. The wind was so strong over the pass about 9 that there was not much snow on the road in many places and drifts along the edges in others. Just before the summit, where wind was howling, a CHP was behind vehicle with chains that had gotten stuck in drift. I was hoping Kirkwood was running a couple of lifts as I've seen them totally shut down in similar winds. Driving up, I saw chair 7 running so I parked across the road from it and hiked up and skied low-angle untracked on it once before moving to Kirkwood's main base.
On my first lap down The Reut I found some untracked skiers right of Shotgun, then was surprised to see they had started loading The Wall. But even though about 10-15 chairs had loaded, it looked like they were holding everyone outside the maze and the last chair had a couple of patrollers on it. So I headed for hi-speed Cornice which had also started loading. No line had formed at either chair as usual on a powder day as I think everyone expected wind holds all day. I skied untracked on right side of Olympic once, then cut hard right at the top of Sentinel towards Jim's twice, finding a lot more untracked that was 4-6" deep in places. There was a crust in places from the wind and it broke and slid in on the steep edges of gullies. My next three runs, I went towards the Palisades. There was a rope line I respected, but I didn't even find it until my second run as it was all untracked around big rocks in one of the gullies. My second time out there, I saw a large group at the top of Sentinel before the traverse. I figured they were just re-grouping or chit-chatting or whatever people do at the top of runs, I went to the left and above them into some trees to get my music going again. When I dropped towards the traverse somebody (female patroller) yelled something about it being closed, then said OK to go ahead. That time and the next and for my last run of the day, I got all the way out to the boundary rope where there was a lot of low angle untracked meadow skipping getting back to chair 7. Only once did I step up a little to higher traverse, but it ran me into boundary rope on top of a ridge so I had to return to gully with big rocks via a S-facing slope that did not ski as well as the E-facing gully and trees.
I took one lap on The Wall (running a little bit slow) before 1 PM and traversed far left into chute below Sisters, but found snow was more wind-packed than off Cornice. I saw a large white rabbit (Snowshoe hare) hopping up a steep slope. After one more lap on The Reut and a Cornice to Timber Creek run, I was on the road at 1:30. The drive to San Jose took almost an extra hour due to being in snow for 30+ miles as it did not turn to rain until well below 5,000'. Over 16K vertical, but another year where staying for Christmas Eve and Day would have been nice as snow continued to fall.
