tseeb
Well-known member
I arrived South Lake Tahoe at 2:15 AM, 10 hours after leaving Snowbird. I've had much worse drives (but not solo like this one) across NV than this one which included a 30 minute fast food/gas/Starbucks stop in Elko and about an hour nap at rest stop near Button Point, before Winnemucca, the furthest north I-80 goes crossing NV. After a stop at Safeway to get breakfast and lunch, I arrived Kirkwood and was on Cornice lift at 9:30 AM. Conditions on Sentinel and Zachary, their two winch-cat groomed runs were excellent in most places, but there were a couple of spots, especially on Sentinel where you had to watch the overlap between groomer passes as they were not perfectly smooth.
After skiing down Sentinel to Timber Creek and riding that lift up, I went into Tuning shop and after being assured damage done at Big Sky and in UT and elsewhere before this trip would be done in and hour and a half, left them for free tune I received at Kirkwood movie event. I walked out to the car to get my Super 7s out for the first time since powder day at Targhee a week ago. I went up Cornice and skied both Zachary and Sentinel to get used to how wider (117 vs 99 underfoot) worked on groomers.
I then went up Wall chair, where liftie warned me about firm conditions before loading. At top I noticed that the only other person riding chair shortly before 11 was a ski patroller. It was a little scary for first turn or two, then very good. The other ungroomed I skied was Eagle Bowl, where you wanted snow to be in sun, then a little on Sunrise chair, plus one of the Man Chutes, next to Thunder Saddle to return from Sunrise. There were more rocks showing on N-sides of runs and gullies on Sunrise (Kirkwood's E-facing Backside) as they are S-facing. The N-facing chutes off Thunder Saddle also had narrower than usual chokes. I returned Super 7s to the car, picked up tuned skis and did another lap on each of Sentinel and Zachary. Groomers were still very good with the light traffic. I quit at 12:30 with almost 15K as I wanted to get home without getting stuck in traffic returning to San Jose.
It sounds like Kirkwood got a little this morning as they are on only Lake Tahoe road with chain control (R-1). "CHAINS OR SNOW TIRES ARE REQUIRED FROM SILVER LAKE (AMADOR CO) TO 5 MI WEST OF PICKETTS JCT (ALPINE CO)". I could have stayed another day, but my wife let me get away for 22 day trip and I did not want to push it for prediction of a wet 5" or less. My streak of skiing every day that began with Mustang Powder Cats ended at 18 and included skiing in BC, AB, MT (and a very little ID at Lost Trail), WY, UT and CA.
Not a lot of snow on S-facing, but almost 10K' Pyramid Peak, on left of first picture or in a lot of Kirkwood's valley
After skiing down Sentinel to Timber Creek and riding that lift up, I went into Tuning shop and after being assured damage done at Big Sky and in UT and elsewhere before this trip would be done in and hour and a half, left them for free tune I received at Kirkwood movie event. I walked out to the car to get my Super 7s out for the first time since powder day at Targhee a week ago. I went up Cornice and skied both Zachary and Sentinel to get used to how wider (117 vs 99 underfoot) worked on groomers.
I then went up Wall chair, where liftie warned me about firm conditions before loading. At top I noticed that the only other person riding chair shortly before 11 was a ski patroller. It was a little scary for first turn or two, then very good. The other ungroomed I skied was Eagle Bowl, where you wanted snow to be in sun, then a little on Sunrise chair, plus one of the Man Chutes, next to Thunder Saddle to return from Sunrise. There were more rocks showing on N-sides of runs and gullies on Sunrise (Kirkwood's E-facing Backside) as they are S-facing. The N-facing chutes off Thunder Saddle also had narrower than usual chokes. I returned Super 7s to the car, picked up tuned skis and did another lap on each of Sentinel and Zachary. Groomers were still very good with the light traffic. I quit at 12:30 with almost 15K as I wanted to get home without getting stuck in traffic returning to San Jose.
It sounds like Kirkwood got a little this morning as they are on only Lake Tahoe road with chain control (R-1). "CHAINS OR SNOW TIRES ARE REQUIRED FROM SILVER LAKE (AMADOR CO) TO 5 MI WEST OF PICKETTS JCT (ALPINE CO)". I could have stayed another day, but my wife let me get away for 22 day trip and I did not want to push it for prediction of a wet 5" or less. My streak of skiing every day that began with Mustang Powder Cats ended at 18 and included skiing in BC, AB, MT (and a very little ID at Lost Trail), WY, UT and CA.
Not a lot of snow on S-facing, but almost 10K' Pyramid Peak, on left of first picture or in a lot of Kirkwood's valley
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