Before the Storm โ€“ Early Season Radness @ Kirkwood

Casey Cane |

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”

While Tahoe has been getting slammed with the Pineapple Express, I figured why not post some pre-holiday Kirkwood stoke? At the very least, you will be able to see what the mountain looked like prior to feet upon feet of snow. Who doesnโ€™t like a good comparison? Well, that and I made a video while tanning on the beach in Florida for New Years.

Early season at Kirkwood mountain is quite unique. The mountain is littered with deep volcanic chutes and cliffs that skis quite differently at the end of the season with a deeper snowpack.
On a normal year, these same chutes and cliffs disappear and may even turn into a open bowl later on in the year. Therefore, this early part of the season yields some radical mini-golf action in the classic Fingers, Wagon Wheel Bowl, Oops & Poops, Lightning, All the Way and of course all of Thunder Saddle.

On this trip right before Christmas, I had two days to explore with my two older kids. The first day being a gorgeous sunny day and the second surprising us with a quick two inches before the lifts opened to give that much needed extra layer of fluff. With the entire mountain open, it was a great time skiing everything from the Palisades all the way to Thunder Saddle and everything in between.

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”

Early bird gets the corduroyโ€ฆ

Timber Creek, Kirwkood

When you let your kids pick the first runโ€ฆ

Monteโ€™s mogul bliss

Lightning is radical early seasonโ€ฆ

Nooks & Cranniesโ€ฆ
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The Fingers can be intimidating early on in the yearโ€ฆ

The road to the Fingersโ€ฆ

Skiing in from the cornice is always a good ideaโ€ฆ

Kirkwood, California

And then down deep into the early season funโ€ฆ

The Fingers โ€“ Kirkwood

Chamoix had a small exit air, but no longer after the last stormโ€ฆ

Chamoix โ€“ Kirkwood

The view from The Wall gives you a much better perspectiveโ€ฆ

Cornice Chair offeringsโ€ฆ

The backcountry zone of California Chute saying helloโ€ฆ

Kirkwood backside viewsโ€ฆ

Lots of snow on the backside of Kirkwoodโ€ฆ

Snow covered trees โ€“ Kirkwood

Vista had a mix of untracked pow and solid iceโ€ฆ

Vista โ€“ Kirkwood

After lunch, the oldest and I skied some BLACK DIAMONDS off Chair 6โ€ฆ

Olympic runโ€ฆ

Hand out frontโ€ฆHANDS OUT FRONT!

Some grom skiingโ€ฆ

Apres snowball manufacturing, but the my son wasnโ€™t impressedโ€ฆ

Apres Ski

Dinner at 7800 checked all the boxesโ€ฆ

7800 BBQโ€ฆ

The next morning, we met up with Bevanโ€ฆso I took some action shots!

Bevan in Chamoixโ€ฆ

Follow-cam down Oops & Poopsโ€ฆ

Oops & Poopsโ€ฆ

I think his heel is brokenโ€ฆ

Lock the heel, ski for realโ€ฆ

The Fingers were all-time funโ€ฆ

The Fingers โ€“ Kirkwood, CA

The top of The Wall provided some nice grippy steep turnsโ€ฆ

The Wall โ€“ Kirkwood

What was Florida like you may ask? Day after day of thisโ€ฆ

Sunset โ€“ Naples, Florida

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”

Oh and the current forecast is looking quite promising after Sundayโ€ฆ

Looking good ullr!

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