Firming up a Solid Base @ Kirkwood – 12/11/16 Just like that another ski season around the South Side of Lake Tahoe is up on us. With strong wet storms providing much needed drought reducing rains since mid October, all signs are pointing to a solid year…my unscientific opinion of course. After a busy Thanksgiving, I finally was able to grab the kids and head to Kirkwood for our first day to ‘Ski at a Higher Level.’ While most resorts were reporting top to bottom rain the previous day, Kirkwood was reporting snow…albeit in the wet variety. In any case, since my daughter had a mini-Jets evaluation, we were going to ride regardless of rain or snow. As we pulled into the lot, the upper mountain ‘looked’ liked creamy goodness. However, after we took a few runs on Chair 7, it was obvious that rain fell on the mountain overnight. The groomers were in decent shape but a bit frozen and ideal for cleaning off your rusty edges. We headed over to the Village at 10am and ran into Coop who said straight up ‘it is FIRM up top but the positive is that we know have a solid base.’ With a massive crowd on Chair 11 due to some de-icing on Chairs 5 & 6, I headed over to Timber Creek to rail the groomers on Chair 7 until I was informed of the opening of Chair 6. Conditions Report Casey Cane | December 13, 2016 2 Comments
Sierra Cement Slayage @ Kirkwood – 04/09/16 Another late season storm pushed it’s way into the Tahoe region last weekend but with forecast models showing 9,000 ft snow levels, it really wasn’t looking too promising. With one day to ski, myself and the two kids decided to roll the dice and head to Kirkwood…praying for snow instead of rain. On the drive in the early AM, it was apparent that warm weather had a stranglehold on the area as we encountered nothing but rain on the summit of Carson Spur. The parking lot scene did not look much better as the rain fell from the sky and not just from dad’s forehead after fitting a few pair of ski boots. But hey, we are in the mountains, there’s almost nobody around, and WE ARE SKIING! As we loaded Timber Creek Express, a refreshing mist washed off our sunscreen laden faces as we soared above untouched perfectly groomed corduroy. However, to our surprise, it was starting to snow at the top of the lift. We took a few laps down the corn groomers, the Trench of Terror, Ditch of Doom and the rollers of the Gold Rush Zone until it was time for dad to get his groove on…alone. By 11am, massive flakes of wet snow were plastering the mountain including the base area. I met up with Bevan and his buddy Noah and we attacked the steeps of Chamoix and Oops & Poops…finding soft landings everywhere we looked. One of the good things about the warm weather was that the spring snow underneath did not have time to freeze, so the dreaded ‘dust on crust’ was happily avoided. Of course, there was a lot of goggle management going on but we managed to take quality runs on Notch Chute, Lightning, The Fingers and more. We met back up with my son and ended the day with a few more laps on Chair 6…but now finding around 5 inches of an untouched silky surface. As we departed at 3:30pm, the snow was still coming down and chain controls were in effect over the Carson Spur. By the next morning, 12 inches of snow accumulated where some resorts on the North Shore received only an inch or two. Luck was on our side and we’re not complaining. Conditions Report Casey Cane | April 12, 2016 5 Comments
Early March Radness…on Snow! @ Kirkwood With a few feet at the beginning of March, Kirkwood received a much needed refresher to keep the season on schedule. Other than a nasty ice layer on the steepest upper elevations, skiing was a blast on March 4th and 8th. Highlights include […] Conditions Report Casey Cane | March 20, 2015 1 Comment
Fickle Snowpack Furor @ Kirkwood last week! Last week Kirkwood Mountain was graced with a freak massive amount of new snow of…wait for it…3 inches! Given the season so far, that 3 inch storm yields to one of the deepest powder days of the year! With a bluebird forecast the day after the major snow event, I rallied up to the mountain to see what I could find in and beyond the boundaries. Albeit with a firm layer underneath, those 3 in […] Conditions Report Casey Cane | February 4, 2015 0 Comments
Shreddin’ the Coral @ Kirkwood – still fun to be had! With 3mm of new snow under bluebird skies, it was one of those days skiers from California could only dream of at Kirkwood. So the MLK weekend monster storm is gone. Do you go skiing or do you stay home and purchase yet another DLC on Forza? […] Conditions Report Casey Cane | January 14, 2015 2 Comments
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
Cultivating the Cornice Chair @ Kirkwood – one awesome chairlift! I have a special place in my heart for a chairlift better known as Chair 6 aka ‘Cornice’ at Kirkwood Mountain Resort. Why you may ask? Well, for starters, the lift starts at the base and tops out on a ridge line full of cornices (hence the name.)[…] Conditions Report Casey Cane | December 25, 2014 2 Comments
Kirkwood, CA Conditions Report: Killin’ Time in 17″ of Powder Yeah, yeah, yeah…”should have been here yesterday bro!” The last ‘biggest storm of the decade’ seemed to miss most of Tahoe by sliding South, but it did manage to clip Kirkwood and lay down a few feet of the goods. With Cornice Chair opening up mid-day Friday, I had to go up on Sunday and test it out for myself. The coverage ended up being way better than expected allowing a skier to open it up with confidence. With a 6 year old in tow, the runs on Chair 6 were few yet fantastic in this skier’s mind. Ultimately, I didn’t get a ton of fresh lines […] Conditions Report Casey Cane | December 15, 2014 1 Comment
Conditions Report
