tseeb
Well-known member
I was hoping for a powder day as there was chain control on CA-88 most of Monday and it started at Silver Lake 5 miles before Kirkwood early on Tues, but I didn’t realize that it had rained to over 9,000’ feet in the Sierra on President’s day.
Reports from Squaw said it had snowed after the rain so there were pockets of new snow. At Kirkwood, the new snow was less an inch deep and surface was firm, even where it apparently had been groomed earlier in evening.
I got the closest parking spot to where cats and snowmobiles cross at 8:30, took my time getting ready and was on Timber Creek lift before 9. I meant to head to the Backside, but got too low going across so I went up Cornice. They had knocked down the bumps on more than half the width of Lookout Janek, but with the steepness and firm snow it skied better by keeping the speed way down. The Wall was spinning slowly and not loading and operator at The Reut said it was being de-iced (it never opened). I went by chair 2 that takes you to the Backside, but saw it was also not loading so I skied down and rode the Reut again, meeting up with SSSDave who had also driven up from San Jose. We skied the Reut again, then did a lap on Cornice before going to chair 2 which was now loading.
The Backside chair was delayed until at least 10:45 so we skied chair 3 twice. Then I skied long slow Backside 5 times lapping Dave who was making a lot of turns all day, even where Backside flattened out out on the bottom half that I usually mostly ripped though. I also lost him on the way back to the front where I did a lap on chair 2, then skied Low Whisky back to the Reut. I saw him from Reut and Cornice, but I went back to the car about 2 to re-hydrate, eat some salty snacks, sit in chair I had brought, put more charge into my phone and take some ibuprofen for my back which has been stiff since last weekend.
I went out again about 2:30 and took a slow run down Janek, then used The Reut to get to chair 2 where I did a lap, then after riding chair again skied Whiskey. Both runs are W-facing and in sun, which combined with temp that may have stayed below freezing all day did not soften much. I skied the open to public late in the day race course on the Reut, then finished my day about 3:45 with 25.8K after a cold ride up Cornice and skiing Sentinel back to the car.
I got the closest parking spot to where cats and snowmobiles cross at 8:30, took my time getting ready and was on Timber Creek lift before 9. I meant to head to the Backside, but got too low going across so I went up Cornice. They had knocked down the bumps on more than half the width of Lookout Janek, but with the steepness and firm snow it skied better by keeping the speed way down. The Wall was spinning slowly and not loading and operator at The Reut said it was being de-iced (it never opened). I went by chair 2 that takes you to the Backside, but saw it was also not loading so I skied down and rode the Reut again, meeting up with SSSDave who had also driven up from San Jose. We skied the Reut again, then did a lap on Cornice before going to chair 2 which was now loading.
The Backside chair was delayed until at least 10:45 so we skied chair 3 twice. Then I skied long slow Backside 5 times lapping Dave who was making a lot of turns all day, even where Backside flattened out out on the bottom half that I usually mostly ripped though. I also lost him on the way back to the front where I did a lap on chair 2, then skied Low Whisky back to the Reut. I saw him from Reut and Cornice, but I went back to the car about 2 to re-hydrate, eat some salty snacks, sit in chair I had brought, put more charge into my phone and take some ibuprofen for my back which has been stiff since last weekend.
I went out again about 2:30 and took a slow run down Janek, then used The Reut to get to chair 2 where I did a lap, then after riding chair again skied Whiskey. Both runs are W-facing and in sun, which combined with temp that may have stayed below freezing all day did not soften much. I skied the open to public late in the day race course on the Reut, then finished my day about 3:45 with 25.8K after a cold ride up Cornice and skiing Sentinel back to the car.