tseeb
Well-known member
Thursday 1/6/2022
I was at Kirkwood on Jan 6 2022 as I was in 2021 when I started my season against my wife's wishes on the day our Capitol was breached.
Report from 2021 at https://www.firsttracksonline.com/b...tahoe-skiing-ca-and-some-nv-1-6-8-2021.14317/
I heard that there was some rain on both Tues and Wed at Kirkwood. I had only seen a lot of wind Mon-Wed and a little snow on Tues at Heavenly. EpicMix had me at almost 25K even though I didn't get on chair 7 until 1055 as after finding and clearing snow from skylights over bathrooms in my family's SLT cabin, then showering (shoveling on roof is sweaty work), packing, cleaning and closing cabin, I had 45 min drive.
I took a couple of laps on Cornice, skiing first firm and fast Sentinel, then better Zachary's (as long as you turned where snow had been piled vs. scraped.) I next took the Wall and found good snow at the top then I followed a couple of guys into Eagle Bowl. There I found crunchy large pre-corn that was OK where E-facing, better where it was more S-facing and too firm if anywhere North of East. I moved to Backside where cats were pushing snow from near Happiness Is to try to cover top of Elevator Shaft, which like some other places at Kirkwood had been wind-stripped.
I followed a couple of guys past end of rope-line and skied OK ungroomed into groomed, but not skied much since regular entrance was closed, Elevator Shaft where snow was very good. After a lap on Hully Gully, I found my run of the day on Happiness Is as wind had deposited snow on most of the run, which I repeated having beer I'd been carrying during 12 min. lift ride between runs.
It was hard to catch the shine in some of the snow from frozen/re-frozen precip/snow. You can see some in what fell from lift cable in first picture and more in lower left of second photo.
I exited the Backside after 5 quick rides with no lines on long non-high speed chair via one of the Man Chutes in Thunder Saddle. Entrance was good, but there was some challenging crust and snow. I rode Caples Crest twice, once skiing the main run, then skiing very good W-facing Low Whiskey to Reut chair. I alternated Reut and Wall, finding very good snow on Conestoga, some barely survivable snow on Waterfall, then spotting and talking to @SSSdave from SkiTalk at top of Reut. He was going to sunny Caple Crest while I did 5 fast laps in shade on Cornice and a cool-down on chair 7.
Instead of missing a few to almost half of my lifts as on previous 3 days, EpicMix had me riding Reut twice at 209 and Cornice at 1103 and 1104. It also missed one Caples Crest ride. My watch counted 23K and 21 lifts when I finished skiing about 100' from my car at 3:30.
Note that time in EpicMix is Mountain, not Pacific, so my last lift ride was 3:22, not 4:22.
Monday 1/10/2022
We did not leave home until a few minutes after 10 and I loaded the Reut lift a little before 2:30. Picture of racers under lift taken at 2:29. There were at least as many at bottom of course.
I took a warmup run on Conestoga, then moved to Cornice lift where I skied Sentinel (still firm, but mostly smooth), Janek (best of three) and Zachary’s (OK if you turned where snow had been pushed to vs. from). I also took two laps to Hole-in-the-Wall where snow was excellent, but had slight delay when Mom and/or lifttee (who was in shack) failed to help 3? year-old load lift and she didn’t make it.
Next I did a lap on the Wall where top was still good, but middle needs some grooming. I cut over above top of Reut and repeated top of Conestoga, then cut over to chair 2/Caples Crest where sun was rapidly moving up the mountain. I only had sunglasses with me and had been skiing shady runs on Cornice without them. Snow on the two Caples Crest runs was very good, but visibility was tough without removing shades partway down. My last ride I was on chair near top at 4 PM (they load until 4:05) and missed getting picture of three patrollers straight-lining under chair. I skied excellent High Whiskey for the first time this season and my last run of the day. My dog and wife were happy to see me near the bottom on chair 1 as when sun went down it had quickly gotten too cold to be outside at 7800, Kirkwood's independent bar with $6 IPAs and $3 Coor. 10 lifts (5 high-speed) and 9.4K. We plan to ski Heavenly Tues. through Thurs.
I was at Kirkwood on Jan 6 2022 as I was in 2021 when I started my season against my wife's wishes on the day our Capitol was breached.
Report from 2021 at https://www.firsttracksonline.com/b...tahoe-skiing-ca-and-some-nv-1-6-8-2021.14317/
I heard that there was some rain on both Tues and Wed at Kirkwood. I had only seen a lot of wind Mon-Wed and a little snow on Tues at Heavenly. EpicMix had me at almost 25K even though I didn't get on chair 7 until 1055 as after finding and clearing snow from skylights over bathrooms in my family's SLT cabin, then showering (shoveling on roof is sweaty work), packing, cleaning and closing cabin, I had 45 min drive.
I followed a couple of guys past end of rope-line and skied OK ungroomed into groomed, but not skied much since regular entrance was closed, Elevator Shaft where snow was very good. After a lap on Hully Gully, I found my run of the day on Happiness Is as wind had deposited snow on most of the run, which I repeated having beer I'd been carrying during 12 min. lift ride between runs.
It was hard to catch the shine in some of the snow from frozen/re-frozen precip/snow. You can see some in what fell from lift cable in first picture and more in lower left of second photo.
I exited the Backside after 5 quick rides with no lines on long non-high speed chair via one of the Man Chutes in Thunder Saddle. Entrance was good, but there was some challenging crust and snow. I rode Caples Crest twice, once skiing the main run, then skiing very good W-facing Low Whiskey to Reut chair. I alternated Reut and Wall, finding very good snow on Conestoga, some barely survivable snow on Waterfall, then spotting and talking to @SSSdave from SkiTalk at top of Reut. He was going to sunny Caple Crest while I did 5 fast laps in shade on Cornice and a cool-down on chair 7.
Instead of missing a few to almost half of my lifts as on previous 3 days, EpicMix had me riding Reut twice at 209 and Cornice at 1103 and 1104. It also missed one Caples Crest ride. My watch counted 23K and 21 lifts when I finished skiing about 100' from my car at 3:30.
Note that time in EpicMix is Mountain, not Pacific, so my last lift ride was 3:22, not 4:22.
Monday 1/10/2022
We did not leave home until a few minutes after 10 and I loaded the Reut lift a little before 2:30. Picture of racers under lift taken at 2:29. There were at least as many at bottom of course.
I took a warmup run on Conestoga, then moved to Cornice lift where I skied Sentinel (still firm, but mostly smooth), Janek (best of three) and Zachary’s (OK if you turned where snow had been pushed to vs. from). I also took two laps to Hole-in-the-Wall where snow was excellent, but had slight delay when Mom and/or lifttee (who was in shack) failed to help 3? year-old load lift and she didn’t make it.
Next I did a lap on the Wall where top was still good, but middle needs some grooming. I cut over above top of Reut and repeated top of Conestoga, then cut over to chair 2/Caples Crest where sun was rapidly moving up the mountain. I only had sunglasses with me and had been skiing shady runs on Cornice without them. Snow on the two Caples Crest runs was very good, but visibility was tough without removing shades partway down. My last ride I was on chair near top at 4 PM (they load until 4:05) and missed getting picture of three patrollers straight-lining under chair. I skied excellent High Whiskey for the first time this season and my last run of the day. My dog and wife were happy to see me near the bottom on chair 1 as when sun went down it had quickly gotten too cold to be outside at 7800, Kirkwood's independent bar with $6 IPAs and $3 Coor. 10 lifts (5 high-speed) and 9.4K. We plan to ski Heavenly Tues. through Thurs.
