Nancy in the Norm’s Nose area of the Reut chair.
We drove down to Kirkwood with Mark “Chingus” Standen for a very nice day of skiing on actual real snow.
The view to the north from Lookout Vista with Caples Lake in the background.
Kirkwood had virtually no snow until these last storms, but due to their high base they got all snow when Tahoe was getting mostly rain.
Looking back toward The Cirque.
Kirkwood is a funky ski area. It has lots of slow chairs, an amazing face called “The Cirque” that is always closed, and more gullies than you can imagine.
Skiing the Covered Wagon area off of the Sunrise chair with Round Top (10,381’) in the background.
Dropping in off a cornice past The Sisters in the area of Shaffer’s Chute.
It was so nice to be skiing steep, off-piste winter snow. After half a season of man-made snow on groomers, you kind of forget what it feels like.
Dropping!
On the shoulder of The Cirque.
The Cirque only opens for extreme contests, but you can ski a little bit of the lower shoulders.
Looking back at Sentinel Bowl, Palisades Bowl and the base area.
We made a long traverse to the High Whiskey area. It turned out to be the worst snow of the day.
Oh look, another gully.
On our last run we found a small arch at the top of a gully in the Chamoix area.
Next stop, all-you-can-eat sushi!
