Wallowing in Winter’s Warmth @ Kirkwood – 03/18/16 The season rolls on and El Nino has been gracious enough to continue to add substantial resets every Monday or so. On this day, we headed out to Kirkwood to check out the conditions in the West Shore area after 6 feet of new snow fell the previous on the tail of the previous weekend. Unfortunately, I could not make it out during the storm due to road closures and not wanting to spend all day in the car with my two lovely children. The storm followed the traditional pattern of big snowfall, high winds and then followed by four days of warm Spring temperatures. After finding a nasty ice layer two weeks prior, I was a bit hesitant to fully unleash on some of the steeper and more exposed lines, so we settled with a relatively conservative jaunt over to Boulevard Chute. To our surprise, we encountered a consistent wintery and silky surface all the way to Emigrant Lake. The rest of the day was spent searching for chalky and softening snow in Hellโs Delight, Normโs Nose, The Wall, Sisters Chute and of course all aspects of Cornice Chair. Remember, the sun angle is a bit higher so those North facing hidden gems are beginning to get their fare share of sunlight, so if it snows, its best to get after it early. Bottom line, the upper mountain is CAKED. Cliffs and massive rock formations are now buried in areas like West Shore, All the Way, Fingers and Chamoix. Conditions Report Casey Cane | March 22, 2016 1 Comment
Search and Ye Shall Receive @ Kirkwood For the fourth year in a row, the snowpack in Tahoe is lackluster for this time of year. Thankfully, Kirkwood received just enough snow to open 100% of their mountain from the storms to date. Unfortunately, we received some mixed precipitation and heavy Eastern winds […] Conditions Report Casey Cane | January 8, 2015 4 Comments
Shootin’ Some Chutin’ @ Kirkwood – 04/05/14 The last week of March and 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 […] Conditions Report Casey Cane | April 10, 2014 2 Comments