Fire
It was touch and go for a while, but Kirkwood Mountain Resort, CA, confirmed over the weekend that the season will proceed as planned after survivng the Caldor Fire that burned south of Lake Tahoe in September.
After burning through Sierra-at-Tahoe resort, both Kirkwood and Heavenly were in the fire’s path. Kirkwood announced Friday that the updated El Dorado National Forest closure footprint no longer includes the resort, so they are continuing with plans to open on December 3rd.
WINTER UPDATE: We are happy to share that the U.S. Forest Service has updated the fire closure footprint of the El Dorado National Forest order, and the closure area no longer includes Kirkwood Mountain Resort. With this news, Kirkwood is continuing to prepare to open for the winter season on our anticipated opening day of Friday, December 3, weather and conditions permitting. We are grateful for the ongoing efforts of the USFS, Cal Fire and all of the local firefighting teams to keep our community safe, as well as the tremendous support of our guests, employees, and community members.
This winter will take on new meaning as we return to the mountain for our first turns. We can’t wait to welcome you all back to Kirkwood this year for another memorable season of skiing and riding.
The updated closure notice can be found on the USDA Forest Service website.
The new fire closure order opens the area south of Highway 88 except the Horse Canyon/Thunder Mountain trails area which still has ongoing suppression repair activities. This opens the Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Caples, and Silver Lake areas. Along Highway 50 the northern closure border has been reduced to Highway 50 (was Granite Springs road) until about Silver Fork where the closure boundary goes north. The closure boundary around Wrights Lake has been tightened opening the area north of it and the closure now runs from Wrights Lake east to the Desolation Wilderness boundary and continues along to the Forest boundary opening Desolation Wilderness (some access points may still be closed i.e. Wrights Lake campground, trailheads, and Wrights Lake road are still within the Fire Closure area and not open to the public due to ongoing supression repair activities.)
