Kirkwood, CA = 82″ of Snow in 48 Hours & Closed Yesterday

SnowBrains | | Post Tag for Conditions ReportConditions ReportPost Tag for AvalancheAvalanche
Kirkwood yesterday.  photo:  kirkwood
Kirkwood yesterday. photo: kirkwood

Kirkwood ski resort has received 82″ of snow in the past 48 hours and 98″ of snow in the past 7 days.  Kirkwood was closed due to high avalanche danger yesterday and they very well may be closed again today.

Kirkwood Official Statement Today @ 5am:

10” of new snow on the deck since 5pm, Temperatures 24.7@Summit – 26.8@MidMtn -29.4@the Base. Wind Speeds are 15.3 SSW@Summit with 10.@the base. We will start the day out here on Snow-Safety hold on all lifts with an expectation of delays on all lifts as our Pro Patrol & Mtn. make their on-mountain assessment. We will address and announce Lift status / Scheduled / Hold / Closed around 7am. Roads: SR88 is under R2 restrictions as reported by Cal Trans @0400. Both passes are open. Slow’yr roll here today, again we are on snow-safety hold, no need to run the Kirkwood500 and not make it out here. There is plenty of new 24%SWE snow, seriously, plenty!
New summit snow totals for the past 7days here:
12hr – 10”
24hr – 36”
48hr – 60”
72hr – 82”
7 day – 98” = EIGHT FEET – ONE INCH!

Mountain teams are getting ready to load up early and start their snow-safety routes this morning, there as always is a lot to do in the early morning hours. You will be hearing a “few” charges this AM as we work around the summit. Please no-uphill access stay clear of the mountain as we are still in a high Avalanche Awareness status. – Kirkwood, February 10th, 2014

Kirkwood Official Statement Yesterday:

“Let me tee-up the expectation for tomorrow, as you can see (below graphic) we have another large band of moisture approaching. The forecast for tonight is 12” to 24” with temperatures dropping significantly tonight. This being said, (again Caveats are inserted here) current temps are: 28.3@summit 30.7@Mid-Mtn with the base temp @32.6. Snow water content today and over the past 3 days is close to 24% SWE (Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) equaling what we like to call “Sierra Cement”…. (Another caveat inserted here) This is perfect for the base we have been lacking and have needed since December. This is not “ColdSmokePOW”

Kirkwood yesterday.  photo:  kirkwood
Trying to dig out.  Kirkwood yesterday. photo: kirkwood

We are looking to open 6 lifts, at least that is the goal, and the challenge tonight / overnight is “how much snow do we get overnight” “what are the temperatures overnight” & “what does the AM weather look like”

So to answer the question of what are we opening? We need to wait, watch and see… I will be posting up out here & on twitter and Kirkwood.com as early as 0430, but Mtn. teams need to get out on the Mtn. and assess before I am going to post “Scheduled” – Snow Safety needs to be run again in the morning & we still are in a “High Avalanche” awareness situation.

Here are the totals:
Base Summit
12hr : 10” 14”
24hr : 31” 50”
48hr : 46” 72”
Over the last 7days we have received – 91” = 7.5’ wow! 

We want to open, we want to open more terrain, but we will not sacrifice safety, just to say we are open. We have a lot of work to do, we want us all to be safe, we want us all to enjoy and most important we want to open Kirkwood to 100%, It will take time, energy and effort. We are ready, our team is fired up and we want you to come home to KirkwoodMtn!” – Kirkwood, February 9th, 2014


Related Articles

Got an opinion? Let us know...