tseeb
Well-known member
I did not go skiing in the first half of Nov, but made if for the first day of the 2nd half, which was my first Nov skiing since the last big winter in 2010-11. After feeding and putting out dogs, I left San Jose at 5 AM. There was some ice on the road before I first saw snow at 3,000' elevation. After 35 miles of chain control, I turned into Kirkwood at 8:30 AM. They reported 14" new in the last 24 hours and 4" overnight.
I was in short line for Cornice chair before 9 AM, but they announced a wind hold so I used Solitude chair, which I usually avoid as it stops too much and only gets less than 800' vertical, to move to the Reut chair. I skied the Reut 11 times before taking a lunch break. The first time down there were only about 5 tracks on Race Course and I had an untracked line on the right side. I next tried Shotgun where I found untracked snow somewhat wind affected unless in a gully or the lee of trees. For my next 9 runs, I found a lot of untracked and only a few logs and rocks. The worst of these were on the run where I was trying to show someone who had never skied Kirkwood before a line in the lee of some trees and then when I cut across a very rocky cliff face to Waterfall to the Drain. On my way to lunch, staff at still closed Cornice lift said they were getting 60 mph gusts at the top, but at least they had not sent them home so there was some hope.
After lunch, I took out my new Fischer Ranger 96s and skied groomers the rest of the day. I skied Solitude six times, trying the new snow mostly where they were making it, then moved to the Reut and skied three different runs. New skis worked well having a lot of turn and hold although the groomed runs were not steep enough to find and test their limits. I took a short break at Monte Wolf's where I removed my always troublesome right boot. I then skied the Reut one more time before finishing with two more laps on Solitude.
In retrospect, it would have been better to get there Sunday PM as Kirkwood ran high-speed Cornice most of the day and I heard it was snowing hard enough to fill in tracks. First day of the season total was 24 slow lift rides and 21K vertical. Probably going to Heavenly on Tues. but it is tempting to return to Kirkwood to see if any new snow remains on Cornice, although most of it probably was blown to Silver Lake and beyond.
I was in short line for Cornice chair before 9 AM, but they announced a wind hold so I used Solitude chair, which I usually avoid as it stops too much and only gets less than 800' vertical, to move to the Reut chair. I skied the Reut 11 times before taking a lunch break. The first time down there were only about 5 tracks on Race Course and I had an untracked line on the right side. I next tried Shotgun where I found untracked snow somewhat wind affected unless in a gully or the lee of trees. For my next 9 runs, I found a lot of untracked and only a few logs and rocks. The worst of these were on the run where I was trying to show someone who had never skied Kirkwood before a line in the lee of some trees and then when I cut across a very rocky cliff face to Waterfall to the Drain. On my way to lunch, staff at still closed Cornice lift said they were getting 60 mph gusts at the top, but at least they had not sent them home so there was some hope.
After lunch, I took out my new Fischer Ranger 96s and skied groomers the rest of the day. I skied Solitude six times, trying the new snow mostly where they were making it, then moved to the Reut and skied three different runs. New skis worked well having a lot of turn and hold although the groomed runs were not steep enough to find and test their limits. I took a short break at Monte Wolf's where I removed my always troublesome right boot. I then skied the Reut one more time before finishing with two more laps on Solitude.
In retrospect, it would have been better to get there Sunday PM as Kirkwood ran high-speed Cornice most of the day and I heard it was snowing hard enough to fill in tracks. First day of the season total was 24 slow lift rides and 21K vertical. Probably going to Heavenly on Tues. but it is tempting to return to Kirkwood to see if any new snow remains on Cornice, although most of it probably was blown to Silver Lake and beyond.
