tseeb
Well-known member
Kirkwood went from Spring skiing last Sunday back to Winter this Thursday/Friday. I missed Thursday, when they reported 10" as I needed to be home to sign for my wife's new cell phone and was tired after dealing with electrical problems until almost 11 pm on our rental house where my niece and her family live. Kirkwood reported 12" new Friday, but it seemed more like they got 16" on Thurs. and only about 6" overnight which I also saw reported later. This made my 12th day during month of February which almost matched my previous recent high of 14 days in March 2012 which also included skiing 1st and last days of month.
The almost 180 mile drive started in heavy rain and took 3 hours and 45 minutes with chain control for only the last 20 miles as the snow level was high. At 6,000 feet there started to be flakes mixed in the rain and it was all snow by 6,500. Cornice and the Wall, the two best chairs at Kirkwood were not loading when I got on snow at 9:15 and there was a small line at 650 vertical foot Solitude so I walked to 900 vertical Reut.
I took the Reut five times, waiting for better lifts to open. I started with nearly untracked Shotgun where snow was a little wind-affected at top and in some other places. I was surprised how many more tracks there were next run so I went further skiers right and into the trees and found deeper untracked. I also took two runs on Waterfall that I was a little surprised to see open, but the only signs I saw said cliff area which it is. I had to cross some bomb debris to get to untracked. By 10:30, The Wall was loading so I moved there. I did not even have to traverse far getting smooth untracked into a tree-lined gully on the left side of The Wall, then moved left into double-diamond Dick's Drain. Then I started taking the traverse towards the corner of Wagon Wheel Bowl. The top of Sister's chute was totally untracked, then I traversed over to what may be Schaffer's Chute and had untracked in the very bottom of the chute, something very rare for me to find as I usually need to ride the walls to find that. Next run I went one chute further out and also got untracked in the gut of the chute.
They were not letting you on the ridge from hi-speed Cornice chair, which started loading later than Wall, with a much longer line. If they let you go past patrol shack, then ski along the ridge/above cornice, then hike for less than five minutes, you get to the same area I was getting to with gravity from the Wall. On my last two runs before lunch on the Wall, I set a 2 minute sidestep/hike skin track that got me higher on Schaffer's chute, which still was totally untracked at the top. Lower down where it had too many tracks, I went into trees to find more powder. I still did not get all the way to False Peak Chute, my usual goal from the other side. By my last run before lunch, it had started snowing again so hard that my skin track was almost filled in and I hiked further to False Peak Chute. Since it's a little more open, snow was wind-affected at the top, but I had at least 10 untracked turns, then more deep snow the rest of the way down. I was able to ski to the car for lunch and started it and ran the heater about half the time. My skis where nearly buried in less than half hour as it dumped at Kirkwood from noon until I left about 5 pm.
After lunch, I took hi-speed Cornice chair, about 200 feet from where I was parked, and skied Sentinel to warm-up and found some leftovers on the left side. Then I started traversing far looker's right to Palisades Bowl. The highest track was mostly gravity and I was surprised how much untracked was out there in the PM. I ended up going that way three times, finally hitting a buried rock solidly on my middle run. Big deep scratch, but I could not see any core. I also mixed in one run on Olympic, then moved to the steeps closer to Janek, but snow was not as deep or untracked so close to lift. I next skied Monte Wolf, then went up The Wall for one more lap into False Peak Chute. Someone was far above me going there, but my track got me to almost the same spot with a lot less effort. All the new snow had filled in a lot of the tracks from earlier.
I took one last ride on Reut and finished just before 4 pm with 21 lifts and over 24K vertical. I went to Bubb's Pub and had an excellent personal pizza and pint special that is only $7.50, less than the price of a beer at some ski areas. I should have gone to car while waiting for pizza to get out of damp clothes and get more money as I didn't know the beer I ordered was $1 more and I only had $10 which did not leave much of a tip. (I returned on Sun. and gave waiter more). My drive to SLT was uneventful taking just under a hour due to a lot of people with chains that were required until US-50 in Meyers.
The almost 180 mile drive started in heavy rain and took 3 hours and 45 minutes with chain control for only the last 20 miles as the snow level was high. At 6,000 feet there started to be flakes mixed in the rain and it was all snow by 6,500. Cornice and the Wall, the two best chairs at Kirkwood were not loading when I got on snow at 9:15 and there was a small line at 650 vertical foot Solitude so I walked to 900 vertical Reut.
I took the Reut five times, waiting for better lifts to open. I started with nearly untracked Shotgun where snow was a little wind-affected at top and in some other places. I was surprised how many more tracks there were next run so I went further skiers right and into the trees and found deeper untracked. I also took two runs on Waterfall that I was a little surprised to see open, but the only signs I saw said cliff area which it is. I had to cross some bomb debris to get to untracked. By 10:30, The Wall was loading so I moved there. I did not even have to traverse far getting smooth untracked into a tree-lined gully on the left side of The Wall, then moved left into double-diamond Dick's Drain. Then I started taking the traverse towards the corner of Wagon Wheel Bowl. The top of Sister's chute was totally untracked, then I traversed over to what may be Schaffer's Chute and had untracked in the very bottom of the chute, something very rare for me to find as I usually need to ride the walls to find that. Next run I went one chute further out and also got untracked in the gut of the chute.
They were not letting you on the ridge from hi-speed Cornice chair, which started loading later than Wall, with a much longer line. If they let you go past patrol shack, then ski along the ridge/above cornice, then hike for less than five minutes, you get to the same area I was getting to with gravity from the Wall. On my last two runs before lunch on the Wall, I set a 2 minute sidestep/hike skin track that got me higher on Schaffer's chute, which still was totally untracked at the top. Lower down where it had too many tracks, I went into trees to find more powder. I still did not get all the way to False Peak Chute, my usual goal from the other side. By my last run before lunch, it had started snowing again so hard that my skin track was almost filled in and I hiked further to False Peak Chute. Since it's a little more open, snow was wind-affected at the top, but I had at least 10 untracked turns, then more deep snow the rest of the way down. I was able to ski to the car for lunch and started it and ran the heater about half the time. My skis where nearly buried in less than half hour as it dumped at Kirkwood from noon until I left about 5 pm.
After lunch, I took hi-speed Cornice chair, about 200 feet from where I was parked, and skied Sentinel to warm-up and found some leftovers on the left side. Then I started traversing far looker's right to Palisades Bowl. The highest track was mostly gravity and I was surprised how much untracked was out there in the PM. I ended up going that way three times, finally hitting a buried rock solidly on my middle run. Big deep scratch, but I could not see any core. I also mixed in one run on Olympic, then moved to the steeps closer to Janek, but snow was not as deep or untracked so close to lift. I next skied Monte Wolf, then went up The Wall for one more lap into False Peak Chute. Someone was far above me going there, but my track got me to almost the same spot with a lot less effort. All the new snow had filled in a lot of the tracks from earlier.
I took one last ride on Reut and finished just before 4 pm with 21 lifts and over 24K vertical. I went to Bubb's Pub and had an excellent personal pizza and pint special that is only $7.50, less than the price of a beer at some ski areas. I should have gone to car while waiting for pizza to get out of damp clothes and get more money as I didn't know the beer I ordered was $1 more and I only had $10 which did not leave much of a tip. (I returned on Sun. and gave waiter more). My drive to SLT was uneventful taking just under a hour due to a lot of people with chains that were required until US-50 in Meyers.
