Kirkwood Numero Dos

Our last day of skiing was to be had out at my favorite resort in Tahoe, Kirkwood. Unfortunately it seems as though more and more people are discovering that this place has the best snow in the area.

We were out of the Condo by 7:45 and we stopped by a very busy bagel place for breakfast. Unbeknownst to us, we were letting 40 billion riders around us for the 40 minute ride from South Lake to Kirkwood.

Once we were over the pass, we were stuck. Not moving an inch. I couldn’t believe it but the cars were stacked up four miles back on the highway awaiting their chance to get inside and play in the snow.

Finally we were off the highway and headed for parking. It looked a little something like this:



We were directed up a snowy slope to park. There were three cars and one truck stuck on the sides from not having four wheel drive. The parking attendant came up to me and said “Make a go at it.” I turned on the four wheel and floored it. No problemo!

It was another sky blue day:



We were going to head directly to the backside until we saw the lift to get back there was stopped. We skied back to the bottom and lost Robert.

So Brian and I proceeded up “The Wall” chair. Once up top we could see the Backside chair was rolling again so we decided to ski down to it. The snow was thick and heavy. It tired our already sore legs from the week to get down.

From there we made our way to Fawn Ridge. There is a bit of a hike to get to the good stuff so we had to earn the turns a little.

While traveling up the lift, I saw this guy eyeing the ledge.



If you can’t tell, that’s a good two story drop.

We found some great snow so I asked Brian to film my meager attempt.

Click here for my meager skiing and Brian’s filming skills.

After getting all that we could out of the backside, it was time to check out the backside of the Cornice chair. There are some serious take your breath away chutes back there. I saw a couple for real Extreme skiers dropping straight it. Basically they would drop down a near vertical chute for about 20 yards before being able to make turns in the bowl. The hair stood up on my neck just watching them.

I took my normal line down and saw a couple guys eyeing another jump. So I stopped to practice my photo skillz.

Rider numero uno initial huck:



Numero Uno after-compression:



Numero Dos set-up:



Numero Dos mid-air:



I do not do things like that on my skis. Say what you will. There were some kids having a meeting in a cave not very far away that heckled them the entire time.

My legs were toast after 5 and ½ hours of riding non-stop so I called the end of my trip and went to enjoy some beers. My ski legs are satisfied for a bit.