Scratching the Technical Itch @ Kirkwood

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The series of storms that have hammered the Sierra over the month of January recently calmed down and in their absence, a ridge of high pressure gave California a chance to dry out. With Kirkwood receiving over 400 inches of total snowfall on their upper mountain so far this year, the calm weather provided a perfect opportunity to examine my usual fun spots and to see…well…if they were even still there.

With my daughter in tow, we arrived early in response to the reports of crowds and full parking lots the last few weeks. Her Mini-JETS (Junior Expedition Team) begins at 9:30am, so with an early start, we managed to grab a few untracked corduroy laps on Chair 5 and sneak in a lap into the Ditch of Doom before dropping her off.

Now that I was on my own, I needed to get to work trying to find the best terrain given all the recent snow. Of course, as per my modus operandi, I wasn’t able to ski on the powder days…but hell, nobody forced me to have three children so I digress. Right off the bat, I decided to follow the sun and ski off the top of Wagon Wheel Bowl and take a few runs in the Fingers. Astonishingly, the Fingers are barely visible but what the snow buries also allows other lines to become skiable.

After countless laps skiing all my favorites on Chair 6 (Oops & Poops, Chamoix, Lighnting, Icefall, Dan Cliffs), I ventured over to Chair 10 to do the same. On my first ride up, I could not help notice the incredible smooth windbuff terrain just under the chair…literally a naturally groomed run. I decided to rail a few top to bottom laps down finishing through the Wagon Trail groomer.

Needing to explore, I walked over to check out Once is Enough (fairly wide but a bit fast for flying into bumpy terrain in the shade), so I decided to give a look into Heart and Sisters Chute respectively. Firstly, the dreaded East Wind really did a number up there as most of the new snow had been stripped off in the both of the chutes. Sisters Chute had a chalky wind affected layer which led into a 4 foot crown onto the ice layer…yep, no thanks. The last few years have plagued a lot of the steeper terrain in and around Kirkwood with a bulletproof layer that just won’t let go. However, once below the chute and onto the apron, the snow was fast and forgiving thus providing great runs down All the Way and Sisters Chute proper. On my final lap in this zone, I rolled over into the nooks and crannies of Waterfall. Ironically, the wet snow/rain allowed snow to plaster on some of the exposed lines and oh boy was it fun!

The forecast is calling for some significant storms in the coming week, so apparently Winter’s grip is still holding on strong in the Sierra.

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Yup, there’s snow in South Lake Tahoe…

Mt. Tallac glowing in the morning light…

Elephant’s Back above Red Lake on Carson Pass…

Round Top Peak and The Sisters from Caples Lake…

Chair 5 groomer freshies…

Untracked corduroy awaits…

My 5 year old and I decided to get in some warmup laps…

Then we headed over to Timber Creek to check out the coverage…

The Ditch of Doom has snow…

On our last lap we worked on edge control…

After dropping off my daughter, I headed over to the Funnel in Wagon Wheel Bowl…

Followed by an inspection of the Oops Spine…

Lower Olympic was groomed to perfection…

The Fingers are almost invisible…

North facing Fingers area was a bit more variable…

Forgotten airs are now in play…

Over on Dan Cliffs, I found some spicy fun…

Groomer? Why not?…

The view of the Fingers and Chair 6 from The Wall…

Desolation Wildness looking white from the top of Chair 10…

Over in the Waterfall zone, a unique line finally had snow…

Coverage in the main bowl of The Wall…

I took a hike to the top of Hospital Air to look back at Once is Enough…

Sister’s Chute was incredibly variable…

Views to the West of Kirkwood…

Now back with my daughter, she’s ready to ski the trees…

We rolled over to Sentinel Bowl and then continued down into the Ditch of Doom…

One last lap in the Bandit Park and let’s roll…

Snowbank is large on the Carson Spur…

Not a bad day at all…

AND now the current forecast at the time of publishing this article…

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