Kirkwood Conditions

[tonyvanriet]

Anybody have anything to say about the conditions at Kirkwood on Sunday or Monday? After the big dump on Saturday/Sunday I'm thinking of playing hookie tomorrow, but I'm a little discouraged by the high temperatures.

[beno]

i'm guessing kirkwood's conditions'll be good this weekend, as long as it doesn't rain there. man, i wish i could be at kirkwood or tahoe this weekend. instead, i'm spending a week in socal with my inlaws. i'll make one or two trips out to big bear (snow summit). they only have a measly 12" of snow there and very limited runs open. no black diamonds! a socal black diamond is like a norcal blue square. anyway, apparently, it'll be all freestyle riding then this week. i'll just spend the whole day in the terrain parks, i guess. that's the one thing they've got there.

[beno]

well, i was at kirkwood last saturday, so i can give a very late update on the conditions. since it might be snowing now, today, or else at least soon; this update is pretty moot. (is that the right term?) well, kirkwood was pretty good last saturday. supposedly, it had 70" in some places. maybe... there were many more rocks out there than i like to see. i think the relatively low amount of snow made certain flat areas flatter. i felt like the traverses were worse than usual. i think when there's more snow, more of a slope forms on the traverses. before, i hadn't thought of kirkwood as a place that requires a lot of hiking like heavenly, but i guess it can sometimes.

the runs off of sunrise were nice... a little icy at the top, but not really. 3 parks: the bigger one with two sides - jumps on one side with a quarter pipe at the end, crazy rails on the other side - and the small one, which is a bit poorly designed cos it has a narrow up and down slope at the beginning, where i guess they expect you to camp out... but if you camp out, you won't have enough speed to ride the first rail... so it's better to jump that up and down slope... cos it looks just like a jump... although it's a bit narrow... however, if you take that jump, you could end up snaking someone and thus pi$$ing him/her off, which is never good. worse yet, you might land on some unfortunate beginner who instead chose to camp out at the peak of that up and down and then slowly approach that first rail.

the gullies at kirkwood this past week were actually some of the best areas. also, right after that small (baby) park, there's a nice tree stump on the left to jump off of.

anyway... that's my update for what it's worth... which probably isn't much.

[beno]

traffic's probaby gonna be horrible next saturday, eh? anyway, i guess we're all powder addicts, so what're we to do? gotta go.

[beno]

man, i'm pretty frightened'f how bad the traffic might be on the way to and from kirkwood this weekend! very scared!

[beno]

today, kirkwood had plenty of used powder. new, fresh, untouched powder was not so readily available; but used powder was all over the place. the gullies were fun, the parks were great, the bowls were great. heh, very descriptive, eh? well, the sunrise area, it wasn't icy at all. there's a brown patch to the left of sunrise, which is too bad. sentinel bowl, that was some of the best snow. and... well, yah... the gullies were particularly fun because they had plenty of soft snow yet, the snow was still fast enough. the only places where i got to ride some patches of untouched powder were off in the trees.

in the small park on the timber creek side, the jumps are a bit small... but well, that's why it's the small park. there's still some nice easier boxes and rails there. there's a bent rail at the end.... like a double bent rail.

[beno]

kirkwood doesn't have a halfpipe yet, right? i didn't see one; then again, i didn't search the entire resort. from what i'm reading here, only boreal and sugar bowl have halfpipe right now. is that right? if so, that's crazy. is halfpipe snowboarding just not as popular as it used to be?

[jump]

No, quite a few places have a pipe open right now. I can't say for sure everywhere, but I know for certain Northstar's Superpipe is open, Sierra has their pipe open, Sqauw has a pipe open, and I know Heavenly does as well. If anything I would say pipe riding is getting even more popular. More and more skiers and boarders are starting to ride the pipe regardless of their ability level, which is definitely progressing the sport, and making for some interesting entertainment ;)

[beno]

oh, ok; so more resorts have halfpipes right now than i realized. i guess that's what i get for hanging out at only kirkwood these days. so halfpipe boarding/skiing isn't going out. ok. heh heh.

[beno]

ooh, i'm crossing my fingers.... i hope traffic isn't bad to kirkwood this weekend.

[beno]

the snow at kirkwood yesterday (st. patrick's day) was abundant but very soft. it felt like i was snowboarding on a kwik-e mart squishee! when i hit flat spots, the snow really grabbed at my base and held me back. however, i still had fun.

kirkwood has a small halfpipe. it was very soft.

soft snow is very forgiving, so it's a good time for beginners to learn. furthermore, it was very, very warm; so beginners don't have to deal with cold weather as they learn.

yeah, plenty of people were just wearing short sleeves or less.

[beno]

according to weather.com it's gonna be a bit cold at kirkwood tomorrow, cloudy but no precipitation. wow, i've been wearing spring boarding gear for the past few times i was on the slopes; but i'll need to break out the winter gear again! it's winter again.:) i wish the resorts would extend their seasons!

[beno]

conditions were great at kirkwood on april 21, 2007. it was a little icy in the morning, but the sun came out. there was a bit of frozen but not too old powder in the gullies. the terrain park was very slick and the jump perfectly shaped from the previous weekend's contest. only the cornice express side of the resort was open: no timber creek, no backside. too bad i hurt myself on my first jump in the terrain park and had to call it a day... or actually call it a season. i went home on crutches. well, kirkwood closes next sunday. man, they'll have unbelievably great conditions on their closing weekend!

[Bpatter49]

Doesn't it suck when resorts close when they still have good conditions? I guess it is a part of business, plus they could be running low on regular employees.

[beno]

. . .plus they could be running low on regular employees.

yeah, they don't seem to have much staff. after all, it took a long time for the snow patrol to fetch me when i hurt my knee. there's always that one australian girl that works the cornice express lift. heh, it's not that i have a thing for her or anything, she just sort of stands out. anyway, she's still there. she's always there.

[Bpatter49]

Not sure if I ran into the similar girl or not earlier in the season, but after a while, she stopped asking to see my ticket since there weren't too many on the slopes. It can be nice to be reconized.

[beno]

It can be nice to be reconized.

i think if you go often on weekdays, it's easier to be remembered by the lifties.

[Bpatter49]

I would say so

[natrab]

Well, today was the last day. Conditions were slushy, and the place was fairly crowded (which led to some really chopped up runs like yesterday). It was sunny and gorgeous and I'm so glad I went back for a second day. I got to play around more on my new board, watch the pros hit the 75 ft. jump they still had set up as well as the required pounding of brews for the last day.

Kirkwood, we salute you. See ya next year.

[beno]

I got to play around more on my new board
heh, natrab, so you got another deck like you said you would, eh?
Kirkwood, we salute you. See ya next year.
yeah, kirkwood ended up being the resort that i spent the most time at this past season. i plan to return next season.

[natrab]

Yeah, I got a Capita Photo Fetish 160. Freestyle true twin board. It's taking a lot of getting used to as I've always had directional freeride boards. Had plenty of fun though.

[beno]

Yeah, I got a Capita Photo Fetish 160.
lemme guess: you got it at sierra snowboard & ski, right? sounds like that's the hot place right now.

Freestyle true twin board. It's taking a lot of getting used to as I've always had directional freeride boards.
really? i've always felt it was harder going the other way, going from a true twin to a directional. *shrug*:confused:

[natrab]

Yeah, the board was $220. Killer deal. I also got some new suspender pants.

I think I was having more trouble getting used to the extra flex. I like to turn hard and fast and I'd keep popping up on little bumps and moguls. The turning was very different than my SC board. I liked it, but it wasn't as natural. I got used to it by the end of the day though. The key was putting my weight forward more (which would be the correct form). I just like to pump with my back foot sometimes to get extra speed. I would end up inadvertently jumping if I hit a bump. I think I need to move to a slightly more set back stance (I corrected the boards natural setback so I'm in the true center).

[beno]

I think I was having more trouble getting used to the extra flex. I like to turn hard and fast and I'd keep popping up on little bumps and moguls. . . . I would end up inadvertently jumping if I hit a bump.

yup, that's what i had to get used to moving to my new seth huot deck in the recent months. people assume that freestyle boards are just for tricks, not for going fast; but, with flexy boards, you tend to go faster because you can't really dig in and carve. at the same time, because flexy boards are more forgiving, you'll go fast, try to carve, not dig in, but also not catch edges. doesn't it make you feel a little more confident? like you now know you can can handle more speed than you used to think, right? that's how i feel.

[natrab]

I haven't been able to get nearly as much speed with this new board as my SC board. I guess I just haven't found the perfect method. I also find I almost catch my back edge sometimes when turning (I think it was more because the snow was so chopped up at kirkwood).

[Bpatter49]

It might have been the combination of the two factors...new board and bad snow. You might have to wait until next season to find out.