tseeb
Well-known member
Heavenly, CA and NV 12/16/2015
What a difference a day or two makes. I did not get on hill until after 10 on Wed as temps started in low single digits again. I started my day by skiing The Face and catching the same tram 6 times in a row. They were still blowing snow (over 30 hrs straight) and there was 2" of loose manmade snow most of the way down. As long a I had I faster turnaround at top, it was easy to beat tram down. If tram left before me, it took more effort to catch and beat it down. I then moved to Gunbarrel and skied that and rode chair up once. You had to be a lot more cautious there as run was thinner in width and snow depth, but the lower part had some untouched manmade.
I moved up the very sunny but still cold enough to not melt anything CA side skiing Waterfall, then rocky Liz's into Ellies before moving to NV. I took an earlier entrance into Milky Way Bowl than previous day and had a few nearly untracked powder turns before taking highest traverse and finding more powder a couple of hundred feet before Killibrew Canyon rope line. I took a couple more runs in NV before having lunch outside at 9150' elevation Tamarack Lodge. I did one more lap into Milky Way Bowl this time following the bootpack to 10,000' pass just before Monument Peak.
I again finished my day with two laps on the lowest CA slopes,skiing Gunbarrel then The Face. Substantial moguls had formed on the right near the top, but they were easily avoided by skiing the center and the left edge of run was very smooth.I again quit at 3:30 and had 25K vertical. I found an iPod in the parking lot next to my car that I turned into security. After skiing, I knocked all the icicles off the cabin and shoveled snow off the edge of the roof hoping that it will make the ice dams that have formed go away in warmer weather predicted. I also shoveled and swept the snow and pine needles off the skylights in the bathrooms as it's dark in there when they are covered.
Kirkwood, CA 12/17/2015
While Mott Canyon at Heavenly was supposed to open on Thursday, I was not sure my skis or body are ready for possible damage from skiing there. The opening of Backside/Sunrise/chair 4 at Kirkwood was also announced for Thurs on Facebook although later posts said Friday (when it may not open due to wind). I thought that since I did not catch my first lift until almost 9:30, I had missed it. But after riding two chairs to get to entrance and seeing it running, I found it still closed and heard it would probably not open until12 or 1. So I skied the Wall/chair 10 for my first two times this season, finding good windpack plus a little windsift and powder, then great groomers on the lower half. I moved to Cornice and did two steep groomers there, finding conditions much improved since my last runs there a month ago.
After returning to car for a quick break, I rode the Wall and skied E-facing Eagle Bowl to check on Backside. The E-facing was not that good as it had crusted due to wind on Tues, sun on Wed and/or moisture in air early on Thurs. I wrapped a little farther around and found steep NE-facing better. Then I skied Caples Crest three times waiting for ski patrol to remove closed signs going towards Backside. After 4th slow ride up, I asked it I had time for one more and patrol said they were not sure so I stuck around and was one of the less than people there when it opened and shared first chair with a guy I lost on my first run.
A lot of the snow was crusted, especially at the top, but there was some good untracked powder where trees had protected it from the wind. I rode the slow lift 10 times with the highlights being a knoll looker's left of the main groomers, three runs into N-facing Thunder Saddle area and the run I did the last two times where I skied the wind-packed Wave where multitude of traverse tracks did not affect surface, then I found and skied moderate and low-angle untracked nearly to bottom of lift.
I was on top of Thunder Saddle area, past the main entrance, near some boarders and dropped a sketchy line into what is probably Moon Bowl. One of them wondered how after dropping the other side of the ridge than they did, I got back to chair ahead of them (without realizing I rode another lift.) I skied Bogie's Slide my first run down Thunder Saddle and then found a lot of untracked on the main run on my last return from the Backside. I finished my day with one more lap on the Wall and got to my car at 4 pm. (I could have loaded lift again.) EpicMix did not miss any of my 25 chair rides (only 2 were high-speed) so I have to use their vertical of 26.7K, about 3% lower than my watch which had nearly 27.5K My 4-day total was 105K. Pictures from 2nd day will be added soon.
What a difference a day or two makes. I did not get on hill until after 10 on Wed as temps started in low single digits again. I started my day by skiing The Face and catching the same tram 6 times in a row. They were still blowing snow (over 30 hrs straight) and there was 2" of loose manmade snow most of the way down. As long a I had I faster turnaround at top, it was easy to beat tram down. If tram left before me, it took more effort to catch and beat it down. I then moved to Gunbarrel and skied that and rode chair up once. You had to be a lot more cautious there as run was thinner in width and snow depth, but the lower part had some untouched manmade.
I moved up the very sunny but still cold enough to not melt anything CA side skiing Waterfall, then rocky Liz's into Ellies before moving to NV. I took an earlier entrance into Milky Way Bowl than previous day and had a few nearly untracked powder turns before taking highest traverse and finding more powder a couple of hundred feet before Killibrew Canyon rope line. I took a couple more runs in NV before having lunch outside at 9150' elevation Tamarack Lodge. I did one more lap into Milky Way Bowl this time following the bootpack to 10,000' pass just before Monument Peak.
I again finished my day with two laps on the lowest CA slopes,skiing Gunbarrel then The Face. Substantial moguls had formed on the right near the top, but they were easily avoided by skiing the center and the left edge of run was very smooth.I again quit at 3:30 and had 25K vertical. I found an iPod in the parking lot next to my car that I turned into security. After skiing, I knocked all the icicles off the cabin and shoveled snow off the edge of the roof hoping that it will make the ice dams that have formed go away in warmer weather predicted. I also shoveled and swept the snow and pine needles off the skylights in the bathrooms as it's dark in there when they are covered.
Kirkwood, CA 12/17/2015
While Mott Canyon at Heavenly was supposed to open on Thursday, I was not sure my skis or body are ready for possible damage from skiing there. The opening of Backside/Sunrise/chair 4 at Kirkwood was also announced for Thurs on Facebook although later posts said Friday (when it may not open due to wind). I thought that since I did not catch my first lift until almost 9:30, I had missed it. But after riding two chairs to get to entrance and seeing it running, I found it still closed and heard it would probably not open until12 or 1. So I skied the Wall/chair 10 for my first two times this season, finding good windpack plus a little windsift and powder, then great groomers on the lower half. I moved to Cornice and did two steep groomers there, finding conditions much improved since my last runs there a month ago.
After returning to car for a quick break, I rode the Wall and skied E-facing Eagle Bowl to check on Backside. The E-facing was not that good as it had crusted due to wind on Tues, sun on Wed and/or moisture in air early on Thurs. I wrapped a little farther around and found steep NE-facing better. Then I skied Caples Crest three times waiting for ski patrol to remove closed signs going towards Backside. After 4th slow ride up, I asked it I had time for one more and patrol said they were not sure so I stuck around and was one of the less than people there when it opened and shared first chair with a guy I lost on my first run.
A lot of the snow was crusted, especially at the top, but there was some good untracked powder where trees had protected it from the wind. I rode the slow lift 10 times with the highlights being a knoll looker's left of the main groomers, three runs into N-facing Thunder Saddle area and the run I did the last two times where I skied the wind-packed Wave where multitude of traverse tracks did not affect surface, then I found and skied moderate and low-angle untracked nearly to bottom of lift.
I was on top of Thunder Saddle area, past the main entrance, near some boarders and dropped a sketchy line into what is probably Moon Bowl. One of them wondered how after dropping the other side of the ridge than they did, I got back to chair ahead of them (without realizing I rode another lift.) I skied Bogie's Slide my first run down Thunder Saddle and then found a lot of untracked on the main run on my last return from the Backside. I finished my day with one more lap on the Wall and got to my car at 4 pm. (I could have loaded lift again.) EpicMix did not miss any of my 25 chair rides (only 2 were high-speed) so I have to use their vertical of 26.7K, about 3% lower than my watch which had nearly 27.5K My 4-day total was 105K. Pictures from 2nd day will be added soon.
