tseeb
Well-known member
Kirkwood Tuesday 3/9. While they reported 1" new, it did not seem that 'deep', even though it snowed lightly part of the day and there were a couple of periods of heavier snow. Surface was generally good. The (very little) new snow helped and the sun was often bright enough though the clouds to soften surface. It was my wife's first day of the year.
We parked at, rode and skied Timber Creek many times, then moved to Solitude for a couple of laps (I took Cornice once to check it out for her, but she was not ready for it) and The Reut for a couple of laps. From The Reut, she skied blue Buckboard and easy black Wagon Trail. After a break at the car to warm up, eat lunch and let the dog out, we skied a few more laps on Timber Creek together before I skied Cornice for an hour and she stuck with Timber Creek as it was warmer since it is so protected from SW wind that was usually light but had some gusts.
In Pre-Covid days, and if we had earlier start, I probably would have checked snowfall amounts at other Vail Tahoe resorts from the road, before committing to Kirkwood. But with reservations and Buddy ticket for my wife (whose pass was refunded way faster than expected due to 30+ days stay-at-home order in our County) arranged at least a day before, I could only hear about it from friend who reported 9-10" on Backside at Northstar (reported 7”), and friends who said they skied 3-4" new at Heavenly (reported 1”). We quit about 3. My watch counted 24 lifts and 21.3K. I took our dog out for a long walk after dinner and just before dark.
Heavenly Wednesday 3/10 We joined long line for Gunbarrel chair about when it started moving at 9 and loaded at 9:14. Heavenly reported 4” new and early morning temps in the teens. We took a few laps on Sky chair, where line stayed short, and there was untracked on the edges of, and between, runs. I also had a good run early on Ridge Bowl and twice skied mostly untracked left side of Sky Canyon. We moved to NV Nevada and I took high entrance into Milky Way Bowl and found the best snow of the day above the lower traverse and it was still good and lightly tracked in the Bowl. I took left/more S-facing side below bowl and found less deep new snow and hard layer underneath. I went into Mott Canyon, skiing left side of The Y, finding OK snow, but it was better when I crossed over below Rocky Point. I met up with my wife at Dipper chair which we skied a couple of times. We also rode and skied Comet and I got into more untracked dropping off run to right.
My wife was getting cold and there is no place to get warmed up so we skied back to CA and rode Canyon and skied Ridge Run to Mombo and rode Groove chair to ski Advanced, then regular Roundabout to where we parked at CA base. But Advanced Roundabout was still roped off so we skied Patsy’s then poled into Roundabout from there. East Bowl above the base of Tram was excellent and I don’t see why they can’t run it for storm day skiing, but they only seem to do it for racing. My wife was done for the day at 12:30 so I drove her to the cabin where our dog was looking out window waiting for our return. We had lunch and I changed gloves and masks and was back on Gunbarrel at 1:30.
I returned to top of CA and took a warmup run into Ridge Bowl, finding some lightly tracked snow above it to the right, then entering it from the left. I rode Sky chair and skied a few turns from high entry into Milky Way Bowl, before catching traverse that took me just below Gate A into Killibrew. I entered and skied past gate B. I missed entry into Stateline Chute, but found long face that was very light tracked to the left of it and made a lot of powder turns before getting on thin higher exit from Killibrew. I rode Mott and traversed across Bills, then had a really sketchy sidestep to get into right side of The Y and above Rocky Point. I went to the end of the ridge and skied Promised Land which still had some untracked at 2:30.
After riding Mott, I skied to and rode Dipper then returned to CA via California Trail and Maggie’s Canyon, which had a lot of untracked. From the top of Groove I saw Advanced Roundabout was now open, and a lady was struggling after losing a ski in brush on usual track. I went straight ahead into Hogsback and quite a few untracked shots getting to and on left side of Gunbarrel. Then I found more very lightly tracked where Face and Gunbarrel separate. I quit at 3:30 with almost 25K. My ski day was not over as I took my XC skis out with our dog. I thought I could just go to Meadow past closed Lakeside Inn, but there was no snow there so I parked along road to Nevada Beach and hiked into a tree-lined meadow that had enough snow to XC for maybe a mile each way.
In Pre-Covid days, and if we had earlier start, I probably would have checked snowfall amounts at other Vail Tahoe resorts from the road, before committing to Kirkwood. But with reservations and Buddy ticket for my wife (whose pass was refunded way faster than expected due to 30+ days stay-at-home order in our County) arranged at least a day before, I could only hear about it from friend who reported 9-10" on Backside at Northstar (reported 7”), and friends who said they skied 3-4" new at Heavenly (reported 1”). We quit about 3. My watch counted 24 lifts and 21.3K. I took our dog out for a long walk after dinner and just before dark.
Heavenly Wednesday 3/10 We joined long line for Gunbarrel chair about when it started moving at 9 and loaded at 9:14. Heavenly reported 4” new and early morning temps in the teens. We took a few laps on Sky chair, where line stayed short, and there was untracked on the edges of, and between, runs. I also had a good run early on Ridge Bowl and twice skied mostly untracked left side of Sky Canyon. We moved to NV Nevada and I took high entrance into Milky Way Bowl and found the best snow of the day above the lower traverse and it was still good and lightly tracked in the Bowl. I took left/more S-facing side below bowl and found less deep new snow and hard layer underneath. I went into Mott Canyon, skiing left side of The Y, finding OK snow, but it was better when I crossed over below Rocky Point. I met up with my wife at Dipper chair which we skied a couple of times. We also rode and skied Comet and I got into more untracked dropping off run to right.
My wife was getting cold and there is no place to get warmed up so we skied back to CA and rode Canyon and skied Ridge Run to Mombo and rode Groove chair to ski Advanced, then regular Roundabout to where we parked at CA base. But Advanced Roundabout was still roped off so we skied Patsy’s then poled into Roundabout from there. East Bowl above the base of Tram was excellent and I don’t see why they can’t run it for storm day skiing, but they only seem to do it for racing. My wife was done for the day at 12:30 so I drove her to the cabin where our dog was looking out window waiting for our return. We had lunch and I changed gloves and masks and was back on Gunbarrel at 1:30.
I returned to top of CA and took a warmup run into Ridge Bowl, finding some lightly tracked snow above it to the right, then entering it from the left. I rode Sky chair and skied a few turns from high entry into Milky Way Bowl, before catching traverse that took me just below Gate A into Killibrew. I entered and skied past gate B. I missed entry into Stateline Chute, but found long face that was very light tracked to the left of it and made a lot of powder turns before getting on thin higher exit from Killibrew. I rode Mott and traversed across Bills, then had a really sketchy sidestep to get into right side of The Y and above Rocky Point. I went to the end of the ridge and skied Promised Land which still had some untracked at 2:30.