Kirkwood Conditions Report: Corduroy Cruising & Variable Off-Piste

*UPDATE* Chair 6 (offering top to bottom skiing) & Timber Creek – Chairs 7 & 9 – NOW OPEN* (pics added below)

All of us who ski Tahoe are aware of our snow situation. WE NEED A CLASSIC SIERRA CEMENT SNOWATHON! Well, at least we have something right? A few days ago, I was able to head up to Kirkwood and get the legs burning but also was pleasantly surprised to find some quality skiing.

It’s more about the groomers right now….

Off of Chair 5, Lower Zach’s and Outlaw were blissful packed powder corduroy and perfect to burn off the summer rust of your edges. They were blowing a ton of snow on Chair 6 to get ready for Saturday morning’s opening.

Zach’s was the main run (only section to have snowmaking) but being fairly steep it was pretty skied off by the time I arrived up there at 1pm.

With Zach’s being open, the skier’s options greatly increased…

The ridges off the top of Chair 6 are closed due to lack of snow, but Patrol opened everything from Zach’s and as far as one could traverse left under Chamoix.

Olympic had some pretty decent coverage and it was nice to finally open it up on some North facing steeper terrain.

And yes, there was still some powder skiing to be had at 1pm on Saturday in Lower Chamoix.

Chair 11, with Buckboard being groomed, was definitely the run of the day.

On Saturday, Timber Creek with chairs 7 (hi-speed) & 9 opened with great snow and cruising conditions

Open off-piste terrain includes anything off of 5 and most stuff off of 11, albeit a tad lower traverse than regular, but coverage in areas like Shotgun/Short Spoke are quite good under Norm’s Nose. It’s getting a bit bumpy with more skier traffic, but the skier compaction allows you to see most of the obstacles so you can open it up a bit.

What’s in my future? Yep, I’m bringing up the 5 year old and ripping the corduroy in the sun.

Oh yeah, Santa…can you please bring us some snow for Tahoe?

But until then…check out some snow pictures below!