the wall

Savoring the Super Snowpack @ Kirkwood

With over 500 inches of year to date snowfall on the upper mountain of Kirkwood, I was curious to see how my usual stomping grounds fared with all this snow. Would my usual ski line even be there? Upon arrival, the weather had stunningly blue skies and yet a consistent Eastern wind that was visible on the ridges.

After the ‘getting the kids gear on struggle’ at the car and a few warmup laps with y daughter, I began my day on Chair 6, headed straight to the Funnel but found windstripped bulletproof on the steepest aspect. However, after a hundred feet or so below the ridge, the wind was absent and the snow was more mid-winter packed powder. The Fingers were fun but they are so small now…as in buried. Shortly thereafter, I notice that Chair 10 was finally loading so ran over to there to check out the coverage. I found that the wind was ripping up top and over Eagle Bowl into the Buttress. I normally roll into the Wall via the steep pitch above the usual traverse track but found that most of the upper steep pitches entertained the bulletproof layer that the winds created. Of course, I wanted to hit Once Is Enough but figured the snow was variable and I didn’t need a high speed crash, so I passed up the line (made the same decision for Upper Chamoix on Chair 6 earlier.)
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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 Hell’s Delight, Norm’s 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.
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Kirkwood, CA = Chair 10 to Open Today | 100% Open on Saturday

“All the snow dances and patience paid off in spades, we’ve been opening new terrain all week and plan to be 100% open by this weekend.” – Kirkwood. Kirkwood opened Chair 2 today allowing access to the great Thunder Saddle. Thunder Saddle is some of the most fun terrain at Kirkwood and it hasn’t been open all season. By the weekend, they’ll have every chair and every zone open. It’s gonna be a great weekend at Kirkwood. What a stellar day up here @KirkwoodMtn! Sunshine with minimal clouds and only a hint of a breeze off the ridges. BIG NEWS to drop on everyone tonight and I’m stoked to be the one to do it – Chair 10, […]
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