tseeb
Well-known member
Heavenly, CA and NV 4/16/2016
Even though high in South Lake Tahoe was predicted to be in the low 60s, Heavenly stayed good as temps were not that high 2 to 3.5K higher where almost all of the skiing was happening and also due to strong and cool breeze from the NE. We did not get to top of gondola until 10 and my wife and I skied excellent Dipper and Comet groomers before I took a solo lap on Milky Way Bowl. I found it was groomed to the top and got my wife and two others who rode lift with us to try it and they all enjoyed it. Olympic was closed until almost noon for mechanical issue and we got two laps on corduroy there before we split up after returning to Dipper area. I skied Bill's into Mott Canyon and found scary dust on very firm, especially at the top, but it got better lower on left edge that was catching a lot of sun.
After watching most of the first half of Warrior's game, I skied to CA and rode Sky chair three times. Ellie's was as good as I've seen it all season (for a non-powder day) as it had been groomed to the top. I also skied the Family Cross run in CA which was fun. I returned to Mott Canyon for two more laps about 2:30 and found it still firm enough to make it difficult to link many turns. I tried the Y as someone told me it usually softened more, but it was no better the Bill's which I did for my last run. Line was building quickly to download gondola when we got there a little before 3:30. EpicMix missed more lift rides than I could add. Using my watch and Ski Tracks, I counted over 22K vertical.
Kirkwood, CA 4/17/2016
We went to Kirkwood for their closing day on Sunday. While waiting to get $69 buddy ticket for my wife, another person in small line complained about how early Kirkwood was closing due to lack of business which he thought they brought on themselves by charging full $99 price for last couple of weeks while running less than 1/2 the lifts. On TGR, there were some complaints about the two security guards at lifts that went to top who were searching packs and hassling people drinking in lift lines.
My wife and I went up Solitude and skied over to The Reut and skied it a couple of times. Conestoga was still a little firm a the top and while Buckboard was already good. The Wall was groomed to the top, where it was very firm, and then lower down it was not that smooth. I moved to E-facing Cornice and took a run on heavily skied Zachary's where chopped up groomed snow was deep enough on left side to get me to go into little bowl to skiers right above the top of Solitude chair. I then skied Sentinel by myself once, then twice with my wife, finding good groomed snow and not too much traffic. She was getting thirsty and my water bottle was empty so we went to my very close SUV at 11:30 and setup our chairs and drank some Fresh Squeezed IPA I had put in my growler the previous evening.
We got out again not much after noon and I skied The Reut twice with my wife. First I did a minimum turn run ahead of her down Short Spoke, then we skied Shotgun and found great snow on both of them. Next I did two more laps on The Wall, skiing to top of Shotgun on first lap, then entering Snowsnake gully from the top and continuing down it. Finally I skied two more laps on Cornice, first starting on Olympic before cutting into steep face between it and Janek which I skied next. Snow was barely starting to get sticky at the bottom when I went back to SUV at 2 with almost 18K. I thought I would get out for a couple of more runs but after taking off my boots, putting on shorts and tailgating for an hour, but we decided to leave at 3. This was my 48h day of the season including 28 days on my Tahoe Value Pass: 11 at Kirkwood, 8 at Heavenly, 6 at Northstar and 3 in CO. I should get my 50 days (and could get 52) next week while my wife is most likely done with 6 (all since 3/13) which is 6 more than last season.
Even though high in South Lake Tahoe was predicted to be in the low 60s, Heavenly stayed good as temps were not that high 2 to 3.5K higher where almost all of the skiing was happening and also due to strong and cool breeze from the NE. We did not get to top of gondola until 10 and my wife and I skied excellent Dipper and Comet groomers before I took a solo lap on Milky Way Bowl. I found it was groomed to the top and got my wife and two others who rode lift with us to try it and they all enjoyed it. Olympic was closed until almost noon for mechanical issue and we got two laps on corduroy there before we split up after returning to Dipper area. I skied Bill's into Mott Canyon and found scary dust on very firm, especially at the top, but it got better lower on left edge that was catching a lot of sun.
Kirkwood, CA 4/17/2016
We went to Kirkwood for their closing day on Sunday. While waiting to get $69 buddy ticket for my wife, another person in small line complained about how early Kirkwood was closing due to lack of business which he thought they brought on themselves by charging full $99 price for last couple of weeks while running less than 1/2 the lifts. On TGR, there were some complaints about the two security guards at lifts that went to top who were searching packs and hassling people drinking in lift lines.