Kirkwood, CA April 2-3, 2026

[tseeb]

Thursday April 2 had 18" new snow but did not have 2,000' snow level we had April 1-2 last year. I woke up before my alarm, left the house at 5 and even with 20 miles (of mostly unnecessary) chain control then some traffic on Kirkwood Meadows Dr arrived at 830. I walked up to chair 7 and rode and skied it once before riding it again and bypassing not yet loading Cornice and skied Shotgun from Reut chair. Some powder turns but mostly not that deep for 12"/6" reported Wed/Thu. I later heard that a lot of the 6" reported had fallen during day on Wed. I moved to Cornice and skied my favorite chute (to right above skier) off Olympic run and found steep, not totally tracked out.

I moved to Wall chair for 4 laps skiing Headwaters area twice, Notch chute once, mostly skiing powder on steep left wall before getting into the choke and once doing traverse deep into Wagon Wheel bowl coming down between The Sister's and False Peak chutes.

I went into independent from Vail 7800 for the first time this season and took a $4 beer to table outside and had it with lunch I'd been carrying. There was so much heavy blasting during lunch that guy I shared table with and I wondered if they were trying to use up this season's dynamite before it expired.

After making long walk to Reut chair, then riding and skiing it and going up Wall chair, I figured out some of the reason for so much blasting. I caught rope drop into Eagle Bowl, being one of the first five to enter it and skied it 3x. Snow was not powder after all the wind then sun but was smooth and untracked. I started to go to more N-facing on first lap but saw a lot of avalanche debris so I went down steep more E-facing. My second lap I went further left into bowl and stopped for some photos.

On my 3rd lap I traversed to more N-facing and came down opening that is to lookers left of the snowboarder. It looks like another boarder is about to launch big rock higher and to the left. Closed except for comps Cirque in background.

I rode and skied Wall 5x after lunch and thought I may have done it 10x for the day but reviewing on data from my watch I only saw 9.
2nd to last lap between main Wall run and All The Way chute.

My last Wall run was repeating Notch chute I'd done earlier. I passed a guy skiing it with his 4-5 year-old who was doing well.

Friend I stayed with in his cabin (4-bedroom) that came off ski lease on 3/31 did not arrive until ~4. Sunset view of Red Cliffs with shadows from some of the Sentinels from there. Well after dinner we took a short full-moon walk in the neighborhood.

Wind gauge at top of chair 6. I think it reads high. First one is from Wed afternoon.

Next is early on Thurs.

Thursday afternoon

 

[tseeb]

Friday, April 3, 2026
There some Evil East Wind but it was not nearly as bad as this sensor at top of Cornice chair reported.

On Thursday I drove from San Jose, arrived at 830 and loaded lift ~9 while on Friday, staying less than a mile away from where I parked, I didn't start skiing until 930. I should have headed straight for chair 4 but waited to connect with friend I stayed with and another friend who drive from near Santa Cruz. We met at top of Reut chair and skied some tough re-frozen powder tracks and lost Santa Cruz friend who luckily? had dropped off traverse earlier. He did not want to go to chair 4 when he saw recommended return was advanced Thunder Saddle as snow under W-facing chair 2 was thin and firm and not recommended.

At Sunrise chair we found moderate (6-7 min) line and some good untracked on edge of run near trees. We wanted to do another lap, but ...

line had grown to end of maze then chair stopped for almost 10 minutes making line we suffered through ~20 min. Lady we shared our 2nd chair 4 with said powder was great on her first laps there. We left via Thunder Saddle. Note the fracture line at top (under chair cable at top).

Rest of Kirkwood did not have lines on Friday. I saw a lot of people who had moved from skiing limited, marginal Heavenly to Kirkwood. We met up with friend who stayed on frontside and skied Reut then Sentinel Bowl from Cornice chair with him. They went to sit in chairs outside Wall Grill while I did two more laps on Cornice skiing my favorite area between Olympic and Janek, then Monte Wolfe. Lower part of runs was softening while upper had winter snow where protected from sun and was still somewhat re-frozen where not even though it was after noon.

Friend I stayed with and I went out for four more laps on Cornice before we quit about 230 as I had to leave to make stop to make on way home before 5. Kirkwood appeared to fill all parking which they have stopped requiring reservation or charging for. While my Garmin counted 18.9K which would have left me 400' short of 1 million for the season, I added up lifts I skied and got to 19.4 which put me 100' feet over. I hope to return and stay with friend there April 15-17 but found Jury Notice that I had delayed for Banff trip now wants me to report April 13.

Kirkwood's Saturday Facebook post :
"All good things must come to an end. Tomorrow, April 5, will be the final day of operations on Backside Chairs 2, 3, and 4 for the season.
This wasn’t a decision we made lightly. Despite recent snowfall, our Backside terrain (especially under Chair 2) is melting quickly. Due to thin coverage, we are closing the area for guest safety and our inability to maintain reliable patrol access for toboggans and sleds.

The silver lining: this allows us to focus grooming and snow-farming efforts on our frontside terrain so we can provide the best skiing and riding conditions possible through closing day.

Tentative operations plan for the rest of the season (conditions permitting):
- Timber Creek (Chairs 7, 9 + Bandit Park) open through April 12
- Frontside Chairs 1, 5, 6, 10 + 11 open through April 19

We’ll be hosting a toast at the top of Chair 2 at 2pm to send off the Backside in style. Champagne (21+) will be first come, first served, and non-alcoholic options will be available. KRAD Foundation shirts will also be available for purchase at the top of Chair 2. See you there!"