tseeb
Well-known member
Short version by the numbers: 14th day of my season, 11th at Kirkwood
Shared 1st chair on Solitude, 4th day in a row I skied all day on 10 year-old Super 7 powder skis.
18” new on Monday, 10” new reported on Tues 2/20, but a lot of it fell during the day Monday and was wind-affected.
Three laps on Cornice and Wall before meeting up with friend. Three laps on Backside in PM. 20K
My very early drive was 3 1/2 hrs with fast gas stop and manned chain control for last 20 miles. Avalanche prone Carson Spur just before Kirkwood was closed all day Monday, then opened in evening before a short closure in middle of night. Caltrans website said 88 was open (correct) with no controls (wrong). I parked not much after 8 AM in VIP lot. About 10 miles before Kirkwood.
I was concerned Cornice which had moderate line would not open on time so I used singles line to join guy on 1st chair on Solitude,
then Cornice loaded about 30 seconds before Solitude. After skiing low-angle untracked, I rode Cornice which had at least a 5 min line. At top I went past Sentinel and was heading for Palisades when I saw last Rabbit run was untracked so I skied it.
Next lap I did a gravity traverse into Palisades. It felt like cat-sking, not crossing any tracks.
Cornice line went down as people moved to the Wall which opened at 1010. Next I skied down then hiked up ridge to left at top of Cornice into False Peak chute which had more tracks, but skied well. My first lap down the Wall I skied lightly tracked just to lookers left of chair at top then came down untracked steep nose lookers right of chair before dropping into some deeper snow on Waterfall. Unicorn in Wall line and going up chair on my first ride.
Next lap I skied lookers right of the Wall into some steep and deep on Dick’s Drop. I was going to go further into Wagon Wheel Bowl on third lap, but long lift stoppage while I was in line made me late for 1130 meeting time I’d set to guide friend from FL and his cousin from Indiana back to Timber Creek as they needed something easier than Reut to get ski legs back on first day of season. We skied a couple of laps there then skied above Kirkwood’s base to independent 7800 where we had $3 beers to go with our bag lunches on their deck. It started out sunny, but quickly clouded up and cooled off.
We rode chair 1, then chair 2 to get to Backside where wind was strong enough to make it hard to get to chair that had about 5 minute line. We turned right at top to put our backs to wind and skied near main run that was only groomed one cat wide at top and two wide in middle. I found some decent powder to right of Elevator Shaft. Next run we separated as I went further right skiing before and after Cold Shoulder, but didn’t find much deep untracked. I traversed and poled a little to get high on Sunnyside for a lot of turns in wind and sun?-affected new snow. They continued to chair 3 and skied a chair 2 lap while I rode windier and colder every time Sunrise. I found some better powder on edges of Hully Gully and Cold Shoulder before skiing and hiking past blasted and slid Moon Bowl.
I found some good steep powder including below a lower fracture line not much past here. We met up at bottom of chair 2 and rode it, then skied in untracked low angle between Low and High Whiskey. After a couple of laps on the Reut, we quit at 3:30. Drive to South Tahoe without chain control was not much over 45 min although I had to pass on right two Subarus in passing lane who were going 40-45 up Carson Pass and a pickup truck going 20-25 going down Carson Pass.
Shared 1st chair on Solitude, 4th day in a row I skied all day on 10 year-old Super 7 powder skis.
18” new on Monday, 10” new reported on Tues 2/20, but a lot of it fell during the day Monday and was wind-affected.
Three laps on Cornice and Wall before meeting up with friend. Three laps on Backside in PM. 20K
My very early drive was 3 1/2 hrs with fast gas stop and manned chain control for last 20 miles. Avalanche prone Carson Spur just before Kirkwood was closed all day Monday, then opened in evening before a short closure in middle of night. Caltrans website said 88 was open (correct) with no controls (wrong). I parked not much after 8 AM in VIP lot. About 10 miles before Kirkwood.
I was concerned Cornice which had moderate line would not open on time so I used singles line to join guy on 1st chair on Solitude,
We rode chair 1, then chair 2 to get to Backside where wind was strong enough to make it hard to get to chair that had about 5 minute line. We turned right at top to put our backs to wind and skied near main run that was only groomed one cat wide at top and two wide in middle. I found some decent powder to right of Elevator Shaft. Next run we separated as I went further right skiing before and after Cold Shoulder, but didn’t find much deep untracked. I traversed and poled a little to get high on Sunnyside for a lot of turns in wind and sun?-affected new snow. They continued to chair 3 and skied a chair 2 lap while I rode windier and colder every time Sunrise. I found some better powder on edges of Hully Gully and Cold Shoulder before skiing and hiking past blasted and slid Moon Bowl.
