Winter Lurks Amid Searing Sun @ Kirkwood – 03/16/14

Casey Cane | Post Tag for BackcountryBackcountry | Post Tag for Conditions ReportConditions Report

With temperatures approaching 55F at the 7,800ft base of Kirkwood expectations were extremely low for finding decent winter snow. Given the lackluster snow this season, coverage is actually quite good on the mountain. Areas such as Oops n Poops, Chamoix, Thunder Saddle, Hells along slackcountry zones of Corner Zone, Broadway and Boulevard all held onto a hint of winter even in the searing temps.

Skiing with a 5 and 2 year old at the same time isn’t easy, but I know I’ll cherish these moments in a few years. However, as soon as my wife took over after spending most of my day bent over in a snowplow training a 2 year old, I straightlined to maximization of vertical and snow quality…and was blown away on what I encountered.

Kirkwood looking good

On our arrival the night before, I took a minute to get a tan…in March…in Tahoe.

The lake looking a tad like summer

Did I mention it was warm?

This is skiing in California…in March

My 2 year old was killing it until we tried to cross naptime at 1pm…

Parker ready to slay

On my break, Len and I headed beyond the ropes to find the winter season…

Lower Chair 15 is open

We started with a Corner Zone lap…

Looking good to me

The snow had a hint of chalk which was actually more than expected so I was stoked…

Casey in a fast exit – photo:Len Holmgren

Aaron Miller showed up and then threw up some wintery spray…

2014 Deep Cali Pow

We might as well ski Broadway Chute…

One of the author’s favorites

Len Holmgren in his happy place…

Len stoked on skis

I grabbed the kids from the grill over at chair 4 and we headed up chair 3…

Baby Rocker in full effect!

Back on the front side, I dropped off the kids and explored off chair 6…

Chamoix with some CHALK

Apres Ski included a little SUP action on the lake…

SUP’ing Tahoe in March

The view of Heavenly from a SUP in March 2014…

Heavenly holding on…

The next morning, Parker and I worked on racing each other…look at that smile!

Parker enjoying the snow

On my free laps, Aaron Miller and I hit up the Wall…

Steepness on THE WALL

And headed over to Norm’s Nose…

Aaron on the Nose

From there we headed out to check out Broadway Chute beyond Fawn Ridge…

Steep Rollover City!

The snow was wintery that’s for sure…

Slough management

Highlight of the weekend? I’d say so…

The final crux in Broadway Chute

Aaron carves his way to Emigrant Lake…

One last turn

Success!

West Shore in a skiable gnar state

All that’s left is a shoulder ride back to the car…

Daddy award goes to?

…more pics and longer report here:

http://www.slaythegnar.com/2014/03/winter-lurks-amid-searing-sun-kirkwoodmtn-031614/


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One thought on “Winter Lurks Amid Searing Sun @ Kirkwood – 03/16/14

  1. Seba!!!!
    I enjoy your posts. Was a longtime Kirkwood pass holder and still get down that way occasionally. Brings back some good memories.

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