Kirkwood 12-14-2012

johnnash

johnnash

New member
Wife Sarah and I had a great first day (for us) of the ski season at Kirkwood. First time there, and we loved it. They claim to have gotten 21 inches from the storm a few days ago, and with the cold temps, it was well preserved, so surfaces were powder on ungroomed and packed powder on groomed all over. Only small downer was that your skis still bottomed out in icy hard-pack in the troughs of some bumps on steep ungroomed. I presume that this is the remnants of the rain event that preceded this last big storm. My skis also got a little ‘’bite’’ from a small shark lurking in one of these troughs, but nothing serious. Day started out bluebird, but it started to snow around noon and snowed the rest of the day – not heavily, but steadily. Judging from the accumulation on our car, it was around an inch by the time we left, and it was still coming down. We left a bit early, since my quads had had about as much fun as they could handle on the first day out, plus I was starting to get nervous that with the new snow, they might impose a chain requirement for the roads, which seems pretty common here. As it turned out, the roads weren’t bad, but I wouldn’t want to be driving them in the dark. All in all, a wonderful day, although our spirits were really depressed by the news from Connecticut. What a tragedy…

And BTW, snow is still coming down at Heavenly where we are staying. I doubt there will be any untracked still left, but there's a lot of nice snow to enjoy this weekend for anyone in driving distance. And looks like a pretty steady series of cold storms between now and Christmas.
 
Garry Klassen sent me this from Mammoth yesterday:
Garry121312.jpeg
 
johnnash - Thanks for the report. I think the 21" was two-day total. See http://tahoeweatherdiscussion.com/resort-totals

I have pass valid at Kirkwood, Heavenly and Northstar and don't like missing the early season powder turns. Even though I'm retired, this could be my latest season start since 2009-10 when I was still working and my goal of 50 days is already looking difficult. :-({|= I've been stuck replacing a 2nd floor deck and have been replying on help that have other jobs. Today, before a cold rain started, we installed half of the aluminum layer that will provide a watertight area under deck. If the rain stops long enough tomorrow to get the rest down and I don't need be here for friend who is doing the stucco work, I should make it up later in the week.

:-({|= I also hosted a dinner for my wife's birthday on Thursday, then took her to work and to the airport after work Friday and will pick her up Sunday so she could visit her mom who is visiting her brother in Austin. I also had my son return home from college for longest visit since summer of 2011. He bought a Ski China Peak pass that is unlimited there and gives him 10 non-holiday days at Sierra-at-Tahoe, Mountain High (so CA) and Steven's Pass (WA). All for $119 when bought in a group of six before 12/10. So for my first trip, I may be dropping him at Sierra on my way to Heavenly, instead of going to Kirkwood on way to So Tahoe. :-({|=
 
Good luck on your 50 days, tseeb! I only wish I could aspire to a goal like that! In case you're thinking about Northstar in the near future, I offer the following observation based on our experience today: The one run we did off Zephyr was rather hard packed and crowded. Then we conneceted with a ''virtual friend'' who skis this and other Sierra areas a lot and he took us to Comstock. We all skied the rest of the day off that lift, and the conditions were just about like Kirkwood's -- packed powder on groomers, unpacked powder off. He said the Backside wasn't worth our time and we took him at his word on that.
 
My friend who lives on the other side of Truckee, less than 10 miles from Northstar, was there Wed-Fri. He said he was getting a little bored when it was only Comstock. He thought opening the Backside helped, even though only half of the runs were open. He also said he was able to duck into the trees in a couple of spots on the Backside for untracked.

I've skied a lot of powder on Comstock. Trees and runs off the East Ridge probably get the deepest snow at Northstar. The bottom half is not very steep, but I've found some fun lines.
 
If you ski powder on Comstock, you better not be the first track or else it's a brutal flat slog out the lower part. But yes, once you see that first exit trail set the upper part can be deep and underutilized.

The fluctuating snow line between 7,000 and 9,000 feet during the big storm 2 weeks ago means Northstar (6,400-8,600) is not the place to be until snow builds up from colder storms. Last week was the first of those and hopefully Monday/Tuesday will be the next. Meanwhile VR passholders should stick to Kirkwood and the top tier (Sky/Dipper) at Heavenly. Mott is opening today, so perhaps Heavenly is better than I thought a week ago.
 
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