Backcountry
Conditions Report
The last week of March through the first week of April 2014 have provided some of the best skiing of the year in the Tahoe region. With a glorious Spring day scheduled, we headed to Kirkwood to session up some of the infamous high altitude slackcountry zones before the powder turned to mush.
With snow quality on our mind, we waited for first chair on The Wall, and then headed straight to the backside to get a few laps out in West Shore. The snow remained in mid-winter shape and mostly untracked until around 12pm where the sun really began to show its strength. However, we did manage to grab some stellar laps in Broadway, Boulevard, and Temple of Doom near the bottom of Chair 4.
The highlight of the day for myself was a descent down Sushi Roll. Sushi Roll is situated between Boulevard and Broadway chutes respectively and offers a consistently steep pitch that funnels directly into the exit of Broadway chute. On this day, a few feet of fresh stable snow provided just enough coverage to make it through the center minefield of rocks.
Other than that, just another day in Tahoe where you start off your day wearing your puffy skiing pow to skiing slush in a long-sleeve by 1pm.
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The day started off early to get first Chair on The Wall…
Bluebird, no wind, and great snow…we’ll take it!
With about an inch of new overnight, The Wall was looking fast and fresh…
While we took a quick lap into Norm’s Nose, we saw some humans descending down Carnels off the top of the Cirque. Patrol? Film Crew?
Today’s plan was to get at least three quick laps in the West Shore zone before the snow turned to mank city.
Bradley Johnson made the drive from Incline to make this turn…
And to think this guy thought his powder skis were a bad choice for the day…
Meanwhile, I headed out to the Corner Zone for a slash…
As I traversed over to Broadway Chute, I drooled over the powder turns below…
Broadway Chute is always a photogenic descent…
The snow was quite delightful if I might add…
The Temple of Doom is an area that has not filled in well this season. However, its a north-facing haven of cliffs and powder that really wanted someone to make some turns…
On the Second lap, I headed over to Boulevard Chute to find smooth wintery snow up high to a nasty firm layer in the crux…
Its one of those chutes where you either keep going or let it slough out…
So far so good but I do spot a line that needs some tracks…
Round two into the ‘pow pocket’ of the Temple of Doom…
With the sun now in full effect, it was time for a classic…
‘Sushi Roll’ is definitely one of my all-time favorites out here…
Its not a long descent but you definitely want to know where you are going…
It was a bit rocky in the middle zone, but overall skied just as expected…steep & deep (2014 standards)
Other activity in area included folks ski touring laps over to Stovepipe, but Pipeline would have been my final line if time would allow…
And just like that it’s back to Spring…
For more pics and fun:
http://www.slaythegnar.com/2014/04/shootin-some-chutin-kirkwoodmtn-040514/
Chyeeah dude!
Nice TR Casey! I was out in the Mt Rose backcountry that day. SUPER good as well. Funny, when your caption suggested there was a line begging to be skied, my first thought was Sushi Roll…. then I scrolled down and realized we had the same agenda.