kirkwood

Scratching the Technical Itch @ Kirkwood

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.
Post Tag for Conditions ReportConditions Report
Play Video
Casey Cane |
2 Comments

“Tahoe Ten” Backcountry Mission: 10,000 Vertical Feet, 5 Peaks, & 20 Total Miles

[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/dsfb9wZ8UgA?ecver=2″] Professional skier and Tahoe local Josh Daiek and snowboarder Abe Greenspan took some time last December to complete what Josh has dubbed the “Tahoe Ten”: 10,000 vertical of hiking over five peaks on a 20 mile route. They also skied five epic lines off aforementioned peaks, and even if you could keep the pace during the hike, you won’t […]
Play Video
Sergei Poljak |
0 Comments

Before the Storm – Early Season Radness @ Kirkwood

Early season at kirkwood mountain is quite unique. The mountain is littered with deep volcanic chutes and cliffs that skis quite differently at the end of the season with a deeper snowpack.

On a normal year, these same chutes and cliffs disappear and may even turn into a open bowl later on in the year. Therefore, this early part of the season yields some radical mini-golf action in the classic Fingers, Wagon Wheel Bowl, Oops & Poops, Lightning, All the Way and of course all of Thunder Saddle.
Play Video
Casey Cane |
1 Comment

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.

Post Tag for Conditions ReportConditions Report
Casey Cane |
2 Comments