tseeb
Well-known member
I’ll try to keep this week's three day trip report shorter than the last one. I left Milpitas at 8:35 a.m. and turned into Kirkwood three hours later, where it was spring conditions, but mostly skied well until closing. I loaded The Wall just before noon. There was not an easy entrance and it was still firm for the top half. I skied down it twice, and then moved to sunnier and too soft Eagle Bowl to get to the Backside. The main east-facing Backside run was still good. Next time up I took both drag lifts and skied just past The Wave. I skied Thunder Saddle/Two Man Chute to get back to Caples Crest lift where I went up it and Lookout Vista T-bar and skied Boylermaker, where snow was good for the top 2/3, but it got too soft and sticky getting back to lift. After going up Caples Crest again, I skied High Whiskey to my car where I waxed, then changed to my wider skis. I skied The Wall, and then moved to high-speed Cornice chair where east-facing runs were out of the sun and starting to corn. I finished my day getting on The Wall chair about 10 minutes before 4 pm close. I skied Headwaters, which was getting sun and skied great. I thought about going over Norm’s Nose, but was not sure of coverage so I skied the runs to skiers left of it where snow was also excellent, especially considering it reached 62 that day in South Lake Tahoe. I finished with 18K vertical, including over 7K in the last hour with The Wall twice and Cornice three times.
I stayed with friends who had a very nice timeshare on the lake side of US-50 a couple miles into NV. This is the third time he has reserved one in the area and every time he has missed the storms and sometimes he has barely skied while there due to poor conditions. This trip, he skied Heavenly on Monday by himself, then he and his wife skied there Tuesday. They were a little behind me getting to Heavenly Wednesday morning. I got on Gunbarrel chair just after 10 and went to Sky Chair to the top of CA side. I took one warm-up on Sky before moving to NV where I traversed across Milky Way Bowl to get to the highest entrance to Killibrew Canyon. I was lucky it was warm enough to soften Pipeline, where the 41 degree 900 foot fall line (according to guide I have) had a choke that was partially shaded. I skied the sunnier part of lower Killibrew, then had to take off skis for about a 5 minute walk to get to corner where snow started.
I took a few runs on upper NV lifts before meeting friends in Comet liftline and skiing with them to Tamarack lodge where we ate outside. My friend’s wife was almost ready to quit for the day so we went up Tamarack lift, them skied CA trail to Sky Chair where we skied Ridge Run to the valley where we put my friend’s wife onto Patsy’s Chair to take tram back to their car. We went to the top of CA, skied a great line I’d spotted earlier on Milky Way Bowl that still had winter-like snow at the top, then went down Bill’s into Mott Canyon. I pre-released when I hit much softer snow than expected on my first turn into the steep run. It was soft enough that I easily stopped less than 10 feet below my ski. The rest of the run was very good snow and uneventful. We went down Mott again, skiing the Y. My friend wanted to go under the cable with the cliff sign, but we were both smart enough to go around and then look up at the 30 foot long 4 foot wide choke that could be skied, but not by us this day.
We went back to CA and took two runs on Ellie’s, where snow on left side, protected by wind fence was very good. The first time we cut too low towards the shady Canyon and got into some sticky snow in the west-facing trees before getting back on run. I made it to the Canyon the second time and snow was still good at almost 3 pm on a day it got to 68 in South Lake Tahoe. My friend was tired from the two runs in Mott so we worked our way down CA with him taking an intermediate route. I took Ridge Bowl, then Waterfall and was still feeling strong so I skied the left side of Gunbarrel at the top, then the left side of the Face lower down and beat him to the car. I finished with 21.5K.
Thursday, I left the timeshare about 9 AM as I planned to go to Kirkwood, then home. Instead, I decided to do a South Tahoe/Vail double and ski both Heavenly and Kirkwood on the same day. There was a heavy overcast at Heavenly and it was the first day this week that I wore goggles and more than spring gloves or a light layer or two. I got on the tram, then rode lifts to the top of CA. I skied Sky Chair once, then moved to NV, traversing out of Milky Way Bowl as anything not groomed was frozen and rattled you. I went up Comet, then Olympic and skied nearly empty Olympic run to Stagecoach base. Then I went up to top of Comet and skied to Tamarack chair, went up that, skied to Sky chair and then did top to bottom run on the CA side. The lower and flat entrance to Roundabout is starting to get brown and the higher Advanced Roundabout is already closed. Lower down I ducked a rope (but not a closed sign) into West Bowl where snow had not frozen overnight and skied well. I got to the car not much after 11 with 11.5K vertical in a little over 90 minutes.
After the 35 mile drive to Kirkwood, I parked near Timber Creek and was on the lift at 12:10. There was a lot more sun at Kirkwood and snow was getting sticky where sun was hitting it. I skied Cornice twice, then The Wall twice, finding a lot of good snow, with some places like Sentinel Bowl still mostly firm. On my second run on the Wall, I traversed to skiers left and found great snow where sun was hitting a little harder and on west-facing Waterfall. I moved back to Cornice for a couple of more runs, now having to ski in the trees as much as possible to avoid the sticky snow near the bottom where it flattens and sun hits harder. I moved back to the Wall and skied it three more time. I first traversed over to look at the top of the Notch chute, but could not really see the entrance very well. The snow in the steep and north-facing chute skied very well and I found a fun line. Then I twice did the hike into the top of the Notch chute. You had to take your skis off for a less than five minute walk to get there. The first time I did it there was a skier and snowboarder getting ready to ski and they showed me the preferred path to hike in snow on left side of the entrance. There was a good flat place to put skis back on and both times I dropped off near vertical ramp on left side at the entrance. The second time I went one chute to the right into All The Way. Finally, I went up Cornice and did one more run on Sentinel before skiing gully below it to the car. I quit at about 3:30 PM with over 16K vertical at Kirkwood.
All pictures are from iPhone 4 and from the last day where I skied both Heavenly and Kirkwood. Maybe I’ll post more pictures from other days later.
I stayed with friends who had a very nice timeshare on the lake side of US-50 a couple miles into NV. This is the third time he has reserved one in the area and every time he has missed the storms and sometimes he has barely skied while there due to poor conditions. This trip, he skied Heavenly on Monday by himself, then he and his wife skied there Tuesday. They were a little behind me getting to Heavenly Wednesday morning. I got on Gunbarrel chair just after 10 and went to Sky Chair to the top of CA side. I took one warm-up on Sky before moving to NV where I traversed across Milky Way Bowl to get to the highest entrance to Killibrew Canyon. I was lucky it was warm enough to soften Pipeline, where the 41 degree 900 foot fall line (according to guide I have) had a choke that was partially shaded. I skied the sunnier part of lower Killibrew, then had to take off skis for about a 5 minute walk to get to corner where snow started.
I took a few runs on upper NV lifts before meeting friends in Comet liftline and skiing with them to Tamarack lodge where we ate outside. My friend’s wife was almost ready to quit for the day so we went up Tamarack lift, them skied CA trail to Sky Chair where we skied Ridge Run to the valley where we put my friend’s wife onto Patsy’s Chair to take tram back to their car. We went to the top of CA, skied a great line I’d spotted earlier on Milky Way Bowl that still had winter-like snow at the top, then went down Bill’s into Mott Canyon. I pre-released when I hit much softer snow than expected on my first turn into the steep run. It was soft enough that I easily stopped less than 10 feet below my ski. The rest of the run was very good snow and uneventful. We went down Mott again, skiing the Y. My friend wanted to go under the cable with the cliff sign, but we were both smart enough to go around and then look up at the 30 foot long 4 foot wide choke that could be skied, but not by us this day.
We went back to CA and took two runs on Ellie’s, where snow on left side, protected by wind fence was very good. The first time we cut too low towards the shady Canyon and got into some sticky snow in the west-facing trees before getting back on run. I made it to the Canyon the second time and snow was still good at almost 3 pm on a day it got to 68 in South Lake Tahoe. My friend was tired from the two runs in Mott so we worked our way down CA with him taking an intermediate route. I took Ridge Bowl, then Waterfall and was still feeling strong so I skied the left side of Gunbarrel at the top, then the left side of the Face lower down and beat him to the car. I finished with 21.5K.
Thursday, I left the timeshare about 9 AM as I planned to go to Kirkwood, then home. Instead, I decided to do a South Tahoe/Vail double and ski both Heavenly and Kirkwood on the same day. There was a heavy overcast at Heavenly and it was the first day this week that I wore goggles and more than spring gloves or a light layer or two. I got on the tram, then rode lifts to the top of CA. I skied Sky Chair once, then moved to NV, traversing out of Milky Way Bowl as anything not groomed was frozen and rattled you. I went up Comet, then Olympic and skied nearly empty Olympic run to Stagecoach base. Then I went up to top of Comet and skied to Tamarack chair, went up that, skied to Sky chair and then did top to bottom run on the CA side. The lower and flat entrance to Roundabout is starting to get brown and the higher Advanced Roundabout is already closed. Lower down I ducked a rope (but not a closed sign) into West Bowl where snow had not frozen overnight and skied well. I got to the car not much after 11 with 11.5K vertical in a little over 90 minutes.
After the 35 mile drive to Kirkwood, I parked near Timber Creek and was on the lift at 12:10. There was a lot more sun at Kirkwood and snow was getting sticky where sun was hitting it. I skied Cornice twice, then The Wall twice, finding a lot of good snow, with some places like Sentinel Bowl still mostly firm. On my second run on the Wall, I traversed to skiers left and found great snow where sun was hitting a little harder and on west-facing Waterfall. I moved back to Cornice for a couple of more runs, now having to ski in the trees as much as possible to avoid the sticky snow near the bottom where it flattens and sun hits harder. I moved back to the Wall and skied it three more time. I first traversed over to look at the top of the Notch chute, but could not really see the entrance very well. The snow in the steep and north-facing chute skied very well and I found a fun line. Then I twice did the hike into the top of the Notch chute. You had to take your skis off for a less than five minute walk to get there. The first time I did it there was a skier and snowboarder getting ready to ski and they showed me the preferred path to hike in snow on left side of the entrance. There was a good flat place to put skis back on and both times I dropped off near vertical ramp on left side at the entrance. The second time I went one chute to the right into All The Way. Finally, I went up Cornice and did one more run on Sentinel before skiing gully below it to the car. I quit at about 3:30 PM with over 16K vertical at Kirkwood.
All pictures are from iPhone 4 and from the last day where I skied both Heavenly and Kirkwood. Maybe I’ll post more pictures from other days later.
