Once arrived, it was very dry:

The next day, the storm didn't hit, so I skipped most of the day and only went for a couple of runs before they closed 6 again for wind. Snow conditions were terrible and confirmed I was right to otherwise skip the day:

the inch of fresh snow looked ok, but it was so much crud underneath....

The 3rd day, 8 inches in the report, which sounded good, but most was apparently wet, made a base and it was only 1.5" of actual powder:

long line for turns out, not a lot of pow ;)

it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either

you can see it wasn't very deep pow

still, nice bluebird

eagle bowl just opened for the chair 4 rush

but let's wait at chair 2, first :)

it was easy to tell the new snow was not deep

never seen the wave os bare in february

the first runs down the backside are always pretty

While Day 3 didn't have a lot of fresh snow, it felt nice. By day 4, it was snowing hard and finally we had real inches of snow in the morning for first run:

a bit of a line for 6, but nothing terrible

finally some powder

10 opened reasonably early and the now was great

short line for 10, well worth it

came down this

then time for chair 4

good snow

My last run of the day in Fawn Ridge, beautiful snow, it was worth waiting the week for friday:

made it around 13:40, enough time to go enjoy some snow

charging in the snow

2 hours to go snowboarding friday

My favorite tree runs were still a bit bare, my board did get some hits

the wall was open, still a bit rocky but open

nice snow in the trees

snow got harder, vis went down

Chamoix still had a big rock jump

after the rock, things were nice

I rode until 16:00, last chair, went to check out the main lodge:

I had a bad surprise trying to get into Sun Maedows parking lot, which was closed, and the snow was wet enough that my Tesla M+S tires were not able to get enough traction to get back up:

good things I had chains, first time I got to use them

Saturday, almost 2ft

plenty of nice fresh snow

I used my car's defrost mode to limit snow accumulation on it

lovely snow

ran until 16:20, it was wet, got lots of ice on my facemask

got some help to get my car out and free up the charger

Sunday, bluebird

Cornice opened on tim (09:00), reasonable line of people wanting freshies

Snow was pretty packed

little bit of a line, but not terrible

the ridge was opened

not bad coverage

but still rocky in places

At some point I made a mistake, ended up here, and it was too much of a jump on snow that was too packed:

oops, I had to hike back up, that was a lot of effort

once the wall opened, pretty long line to drop:

only a short path down

I had a good time and ended around 14:00 as I wanted to make expensive mistake in trees with thin coverage:

nice drive home

One more nice storm before the likely end of season for me (due to trips in April)? Yes please!
With more than 30 inches in the forecast, drove up wednesday before the storm arrived, and rode a couple of hours to confirm that there was plenty of snow but it was kinda icy, like I expected it would be.

Got to see ski patrol load up a lot of bombs and heard lots of them the next few days early in the morning :)

After that, I just ended the day and waited for the good snow ot fall.

Thursday, a solid 9 inches, although it was pretty firm and only felt like 2 or so. It was a bluebird, so I used the day to charge my car:

nice but not very deep

Firt run on chamoix was nice, but you can see it's not super deep:

I never get tired of this view :)

I went to check out the cave skiiers left of the wall ridge, it's very filled:

I went to the backside to check it out when it opened:

usual line at chair2

the wave looked super nice

nice fast run since it was pretty firm:

As usual Fawn Ridge was the best snow on the mountain:

a bit of work get out, though :)

Friday, day 3 for me, was a ok-ish day, the new snow didn't fall until late in the day and it got a lot better then. Got to do a few runs with Maze before the storm hit hard:

Saturday, day 4 was the best day, the best for last for sure. A solid and soft 12 inches, and half bluebird:

not crowded for a saturday

First run was really good:

very very good snow

happy :)

The top of the wall ridge was hard, so I lost my edge, but once in the forest, plenty of good snow left:

Met Eric who did a much deeper Fawn Ridge run than me :)

Then it was time to head out to the back side, usual little line on 2:

fawn ridge was excellent

oops, I had to walk out on that run :)

I'll leave you with the last Fawn Ridge run, which was excellent:

Drive across the spur, was interesting:

Days 1-2: Shut down

The kids tried to dig out the front door:

day2

they failed, this is what it looked on day 3 :)

The snow was relentless, it never stopped:

KW tried, but didn't succeed in opening anything on day2

I parked my car in underground parking so it wouldn't get snowed in :)

parking your car outside didn't seem like a great idea :)

this was the parking lot I got in, you could barely walk out without hitting your head

Day 3: Cartmanland Fluffy 4H Pow Day

weather was blizzardly

nice board :)

I was able to snowboard all the way from the lift to across the street and inside the parking lot ;)

I also noticed that it was cold enough my car lost 8% charge

Despite the bad weather, these were some of the best runs I've ever had at kirkwood, especially as no one was able to drive in since the roads were closed:

Chamoix was trivial to get down, so much snow:

Day 4: Finally better weather, Wall opened

the wall finally opened!

everyone flocked there :)

the path down from the top was all gone and burried

chair 2 needed a bit of TLC :)

I started the day with a fast run down 6, snow was firm powder but still smooth:

A different, down angle run:

The wall, eagle bowl to chair 1:

Day 5: Late bluebird, Backside finally opened

the wall seldom looks like this :)

people camped at chair2 2H early to get to the backside :)

I used the time to hike to Glove Rock mostly for fun, the snow was not that great anymore by then:

nice views though

riding the ridge was super windy, I then rode part of palisades

snow was pretty packed by then though

The ride was pretty rough, I got blown off the icy ridge a few times:

Then went back to the Wall and eagle bowl to get to chair2

rode down this, pretty rough on my butt :)

chair2 line had gotten a bit longer :)

it looked pretty, but backside snow is usually pretty packed

haha, good one :)

I went to find better snow

the cornice off the wave had been blown off by the wind, it was now a gentle slope. Had never seen that.

Fawn ridge was beautiful, as always

The first run was pretty firm:

This was my last, and best fawn ridge run, snow was much better there as usual. Good thing I had poles to get out of it, especially with the snowboarders that were blocking the path out:

After multiple fawn ridge runs, it was time to drive back, just as Carson Spur had finally re-opened:

got through the Spur just as the snow as starting to stick

I did a quick charging stop at jackson since I wasn't sure when I'd charge at KW, but in hindsight I could have driven there direct and arrived with 15% left (day drive, no headlights, no heat, warmer temps). Nice to see my car can still make it there in one shot when the conditions are good:

found this as jackson supercharger

Day 1: Sunday, a few inches

not very deep, but still nice

went pow hunting

finally could ride to the rock under the wall

Day 2: Monday, 18 inches

not that deep like I said

not that busy for a deep pow day

the chutes were still a bit shallow

astill a sheet of ice

Despite the slighly hard powder, it was still a very nice day.

Firat run:

Day 3: Tuesday, 10 inches of fluffy pow

not too many people

Chair 4 finally opened, it was worth checking out :)

the wave was pristine

I did have to hike back up to find a pole I dropped, took 25mn because of deep the snow was

Awesome snow:

Fawn ridge was stellar:

Day 4: Tuesday, 4 inches for the last day

not much of a line

my watch told me I snowboarded too much :)

haha, one more day before I can rest :)

went to check out a wall chute

Still good runs:

By the way, this is why I why I get underground parking, getting this car out will be an hour of work with a shovel...

All in all this was a good trip, with plenty of enjoyable snow and kirkwood staff did an awesome job opening terrain timely, as well as communicating what they were doing. Thanks Ricky Newberry, the new GM, for running a great ship.

For our last day in Hokkaido snow, Kiroro has just gotten a lot of snow, and it was a godo time to visit to enjoy the powder. It was reaosonably busy, but even if the parking lots were full and we had to go to overflow, the resort didn't feel very crowded and never had to wait long for a lift:

the weather alternated between sunny and snowing, all day

I wasted some time trying to see how to register for the sidecountry gates, as was required last time I came, but that was 7 years ago, and now they ask you to register with some Hokkaido backcountry office on the internet which seemed fairly time consuming if you just wanted to do the in resort sidecountry as opposed to exiting in places where you'd end up way out there.

the maps are worth paying attention to, lots of tree areas and powder fields

yes!

The first run down the chair was very good:

the gondola to the other peak had a short line and did take 15mn up each time

beautiful trees

anti wind gates

did I say nice trees? :)

Seems that most people didn't really register and just took the side country gates in a way that you end up in the resort at the end, but in one of them, if you turn the wrong way, you could end up in unhappy places (like snow hike out which could take hours)
You definitely have to pay attention to this map once you get out, especially for teh elevation linea and the river in the middle that you can fall into if the snow collapses:

I did have my beacon :)

some signs, but no real warnings about the river that will try to swallow you at the bottom

the hike at the top of the gondola can be as long as you want it to be, but make sure to drop on the left side

While the side country was good experience, it also could get you in trouble, especially as you end up on top of a river with multiple holes, some big, and others where the snow could collapse and you fall in the river, no good:

it was very easy to end up in one of these, they were almost everywhere

After 6 different side country runs, the day was over, and time to get back:

Defintely a great experience, but it's a no screw around zone, you can really get in trouble once you go side country at Kiroro

Rusutsu gives you 5 free days if you have an epic local pass, but those 5 days are consecutive

Rusutsu Day 1: Great Bluebird

nice drive to Rusutsu

I didn't know the terrain so well, my first ride down the gondola, I was afraid of getting stuck at the bottom, but actually it was fine

always hard to gauge if it will be downhill the whole way, I was worried the gondola line had an uphill section lower down

ran the gondola line a few more times, it was excellent

While I really like flow bindings as they are easier to get in and out, they fail in too many different ways. Thankfully I learned my lesson and carry an entire spare emergency binding in my backpack:

kind of sucky that such a thick cable can snap

there you go, emergency backup binding installed

will fix this later, spare cables were ordered and sent home for when I get back

Back on the slopes to esplore the rest of the resort:

Rusutsu Day 2: Windy Post Storm

snowy drive to rusutsu, but the roads stayed open

only a few lifts were open in the morning, Mt Isola was too windy

people showed up for the pow day, thankfully we already had a ticket thanks for our epic pass and skipped the ticket line

eventually Mt Isola opened up

And the tree runs on the correct face of Mt Isola (way from sun and wind) was also quite nice:

and after a bunch of rides, it was time to get back. Yes, there was night skiing, but that didn't really seem worth it after the great powder we had all day:

Defintely got lucky with Rusutsu, great snow even if the terrain isn't super steep in many places.

For US people, Niseko gives you two days for free with Mountain Collective (you have to go to some office to get them) and then half off. At half off it was about $30 a day to ride all 4 mountains, i.e. super cheap.

Niseko Day 1: Annupuri and Niseko Village

my partner in crime, Arturo

ticket prices were quite cheap by US standards (got 2 free days with mountain collective and half off for the last 3 days)

lots of side country gates

gate 11 by niseko village was also fun

riding pizza box chairs on the way back to Annupuri :)

doesn't feel super safe, but better than a tow rope

the Annupuri G1/G4 gates were nice, but you quickly get to a valley with tracked terrain

Niseko Day 2: Grand Hirafu and Hanazono

morning gondola line

windy day with rotor cloud on top of Mt Yotei

beautiful day

gates were open, G5 took you to the Hanazono base

this was the posh base for people with too much money :)

2 or 3 chairs to go back up and cross back to Grand Hirafu

with 2 chairs only and a short hike, this side country took you back

this was the posh base for people with too much money :)

2 or 3 chairs to go back up and cross back to Grand Hirafu

with 2 chairs only and a short hike, this side country took you back

When it was sunny, it looked nice:

Side country run with good snow, still:

Niseko Day 3: Grand Hirafu Mostly Shut Down Blizzard Day

not many pictures, visibility was not good due to wind, it was kind of a blizzard

Nice side country with powder faceshot:

Niseko Day 4: Windy Grand Hirafu and Hanazono

morning gondola line, although it went faster due to less wind and higher gondola speed

the gates were weird, some closed ones were routinely ignored while others were really a good idea to respect

the work to get that powder was not really worth it, and it was not very steep in most places

beautiful views

but the weather turned quickly again

Two nice sidecountry runs, one with sun, one with show falling:

Niseko Day 5: Better weather, all mountain

lnie for the top lift

The avalanche gate near the top had some really good warning cartoons. They were poetic sounding (maybe even haikus in japanese?), and they should actually be more advertised, The warnings on getting stuck in crevaces and riverbeds, were wery on point, especially at Kiroro where you can really get in trouble when you go side country:

you could hike all the way to the top, but it was a 45mn hike that didn't feel worth the time and effort

being able to take gate 4 for the first time, was nice

After that, I went back to Niseko Village and gate 11, which is alledgely a triple black diamond, but didn't feel that hard:

makes for a nice picture, though ;)

Nice clouds to end the day:

farewell niseko, we had a great time

One sidecountry run off gate 4 that finally opened:

And a loast one from gate 11, the supposed to be triple black diamond that was only single black:

snow line was low, but that's good for the snow quality (cold)

got to KW in just over 3h40 with chain control speed restrictions, not bad (arrived with 31%)

glad to be back :)

Day 1 was cold and windy, became whiteout conditions before long:

coverage in Chamoix was still a bit rough at the bottom, but easy to go back on my butt

still a bit low in coverage on some ridges, but ok elsewhere

bottom of the drain still had holes to the river underneath, but they were being covered slowly

the wall still needed a bit more snow in places

it was still easy to get cliffed out i places

fair mount of snow falling the 2nd half the of day

KW crew did a great job keeping 6 and 10 open 'till end of day.

Thanks to Jeremy for getting me lodging for one night

Day #2 was the bluebird. We didn't get the 1.5ft in the forecast, only 7", but it was just the right kind that it felt bottomless and enjoyable while helping improve the base.

crews hard at work, and it sounded like this guy was actually electric, not diesel. Is that possible?

6 opened right on schedule, no delays

lovely snow

Couldn't see the base or anything the previous day. Much nicer on day #2:

I feel like I jumped this because I was too lazy to hike back up and the snow was soft enough, but it looks high. Still, I took a picture afterwards and have no other such picture, so it may actually be this one:

The Wall opened around 11:00 after snow safety was done, and the backside at 11:45 exactly as scheduled (big thumbs up on the twitter updates):

lovely to see the backside coverage, not bad

I didn't stay in line for 30mn to get first chair on 4

but I went to the wave, one of the first people down

looked like a good place to check out

got all this snow to myself, woot!

not every day I get a shot like this :)

I finished the day, getting good snow and lines all day, and left after 2 full days, very content. Great job to the KW crews for keeping things running in the middle of the week, even if few people were there:

Got up at 4:40, in hindsigh shoudl have been 20mn earlier to get first liftat 09:00 (including a 10-15mn charging stop on the way up), but close enough :)

Saw Sierra on the way up but it was already closed

the base of SLT looked somewhat snow free

Heavenly CA parking lot was fairly full for a wednesday

let's get to work :)

fairly good powder at the top of sky

found Ovidiu on the way

did I saw powder, in May?

Yes!

we rode to Killbrew gates (all closed)

Nevada side only had Dipper running but that was good enough

plenty of snow still, signs are still buried

Had a bit of a view from time to time:

so much snow to be enjoyed

Arturo and I went to check out the beach, which I seldom get to see :)

Day #2, we went back to Heavenly but it was a bit icy in the morning, until more snow came, and the resort got closed for lightening:

vis went downhill quickly

there was still decent snow

I took roundabout to the bottom:

the bottom forest snow was warmer

it did start snowing hard

Day #3, we went to Kirkwood when it just re-opened that day (friday). Thankfully the recent snow didn't melt and freeze, so the conditions were awesome:

one thing that sucks about kirkwood is that they are now down to one charger left (from 10)

woot!

the lines

top of chair 7

Sunday: Kirkwood

roads were already nice and white on the way up

Carson Spur was quite loaded

Impressive wall of snow

thankful to have underground parking for the duration of my trip

another impressive wall of snow

glad to be back on the lift

I arrived by noon on sunday, new snow was starting to cover the frozen crust underneath:

lots of snow, the top of cornice had some almost invisible real cornices like that, I fell down from that one

met Johannes for a few runs

school run was a rounding error

it was still a bit too warm and wet

by the end of the day, things looked good though :)

When I got to my condo, I was reminded that it had snowed a bit recenty:

Monday: Kirkwood

Kirkwood has a real problem with electric charging, this is the only charger left on the entire property

nice powder

notice the huge pile of storage snow by the parking lots

got one of the first few chairs up the wall. Wee!

interestingly, the top of the chutes by the wall were bare due to wind blowing the snow away

this is the one time I had to unbind that day :)

Palisades was good too

Another picture of the storage snow pile in the parking lot

Cornice run, a bit rough at the top, but opened up to be good lower down:

Straight down run from the wall, a bit firm at the top too, but good after that:

Wall tree run:

The backside just opened, so I went to check it out:

pretty big cornice by the wave

it was a bit of a jump into snow that wasn't exactly a pillow underneath :)

I got down, but it was a bit scary :)

snow as wind packed at the top, deeper lower down

Tuesday: Kirkwood

the wall had so much snow that they gated you to come down before the chairs, the regular ramp that went under, didn't fit anymore

weather and visibility improved during the day, so much snow

I literally managed to snowboard all the way back to the building parking lot across the street :)

Great pow ride off the wall:

More pow during the day, free refills:

Even face shots (1:16):

Wednesday: Heavenyly Side Country

Gondola line

got to the gate for the first run

We went back for 6 firebreak runs total:

After 6 runs, we had enough time to go back the Gondola one more time, up sky, and towards the backside:

The backside snow wasn't perfect, but it was still a good run down, especialy at the top:

Eventually got down the good parts and took a rest :)

before doing the rest of the run down, where snow became more scarce (it's melting quickly at lower altitude):

eventually we got to below the snow line and had to walk a bit

then there was a bit of snow left to finish up

and we got to the road

way too much to drive back

thankfully we got luck with hitch hiking

25mn later, back at the gondola base, end of a great day

Thanks much to Ovidiu and Rik for joining me and the 7 powder runs

we celebrated with a mexican dinner big enough for 4 :)

After staying at Eagle which was a bit less insanely overpriced than closer to the ski slopes (which was over $500/night), Arturo suggested spending the first day at Vail (friday) to avoid the crowds. It worked out well:

[html:h2}Day4: Vail[html:/h2}

Unfortunately I managed to slip on the ice and fall on my flow finding, which shattered it. It was broken beyond repair, but I was able to use my snowboard leach to fasten the backplate to my boot and the front part of the binding, which miraculously allowed me to board all day in difficult conditions. The only downside was that I had to stay strapped on to the board all day, which I sure did. Normally it's no big deal, but the wind chill was so cold that it was tough:

anyway, we went for work (oh yeah, the gopros didn't work, way too cold)

we eventually got to the back bowls, they opened late

thanks to Arturo for finding snow that wasn't icy

It took more snow and finding the right back bowls to get bottomless powder eventually. Arturo did a good job finding that, although the conditions were rough, low vis and really cold winds. After a while, the back bowls started closing and it was time to get back. Getting back to the front side at the end of the day, requires long lines:

We had some good tree runs though:

After that, we found a ski patrol sign to get out via a less congested route:

[html:h2}Day5: Beaver Creek[html:/h2}

Next day was Beaver Creek, not really any new snow, but great leftovers:

wonderful corderoy :)

After doing the corderoy, Arturo and I found heaps of wonderful trees with fresh pow:

Doing the trees was a *lot* of work, so we had a good lunch:

Pretty homerun:

We then relocated from Eagle to Karl and Suwei's condo at Keystone:

night skiing :)

[html:h2}Day6: BreckenRidge[html:/h2}

The next morning, we went to Breckenridge with Karl and Suwei. It was a bit icy by then unfortunately:

longer line to the t-chair

we got some more fresh snow

dinner

[html:h2}Day7: Keystone[html:/h2}

The 7th and last day, I went to Keystone. By then unfortunately most of the snow was poor quality outside of groomers, where I don't spend much time, but I went around to see the resort again:

happy dog

I went to the outback, which I forgot is actually kind of small. You can hike quite a while, but the way down is actaully not that long. Still, it's fun:

I did a few runs and eventually decided to head back:

I tried the trees down Santiago and some of the snow was actually pretty bad

By then, at the bottom of the chair, a liftie thought I somehow crossed a rope and went poaching what was really terrible snow. After he realized that there must have been some ropes missing and let it be. I was leaving by then anyway. Given the so-so snow I tried to leave earlier to catch an earlier flight home, but that didn't work:

The last 2 days were not the best snow, especially the last one, but overall this was a really good trip. Thanks to Arturo for having me.

[html:h2}Day1: Aspen/Ajax[html:/h2}

The next morning, we went to Aspen so that I could remind to Arturo that Aspen Mountain actually sucks and we should only go to Highlands or Snowmass. Still, since we were there, we snowboarded it to confirm it really wasn't a snowboarder mountain :)

if you miss one or 2 lifts kind of high up, you are stuck with going back to the bottom and taking the gondola back up

don't ask :)

nice view of the airport

We then went back to a restaurent we had been to years ago in Aspen. It wasn't quite the same level, but still good:

[html:h2}Day2: Aspen Snowmass[html:/h2}

The next morning we had a good amount of fresh snow, so we went to snowmass:

it's a bit of a bus ride

we started with campground

plenty of pow

Then, a "yellow jacket" appeared and messed things up. long story, had to go back to the bottom and wasted an hour and money, but that just allowed for more snow to fall and the powder to become bottomless:

KT Gully from the Cirque tow rope

[html:h2}Day3: Aspen Snowmass[html:/h2} Third day was a bluebird, we went back to Snowmass since we knew there was plenty of powder left:

found this guy up top

We then went up high alpine and did a couple of hanging valley runs before the side country gate closed:

worth the hike

instagram queen in action :)

nice valley down

back to alpine springs for another run

seems that my car is still barely able to make it to kirkwood without charging despite the 10% loss since I bought it

I did charge in jackson and picked up another 30% to have a good margin

Carson Spur looked nice

The next morning, we didn't get the 18" we were hoping for, but still got a good 8" which wasn't bad (plus 9" during the day)

lines weren't terrible for a sunday

Chair 6 opened 30mn behind, not too bad

nice storm nonetheless

The wall opened just before 11:00, which was nice

Lots of pow

The next night didn't have more snow, but was able to catch up with TODOs

Kirkwood really sucks now, only a single charger left with 2 ports (used to be 10)

Monday was a bluebird:

Went in line for chair 2 and backside for when it was going to open at 11:00

first time doing the backside this season

fawn ridge delivered as always

Vista was unfortunately closed

After 2 good days, it was a reasonably easy drive home, although 88 was icy for quite a while and there were multiple accidents:

got home by using 56%, not bad

even early on a friday morning, chain control caused a 45mn traffic jam :(

well done guys for blocking traffic so much

snowplow escort that wasn't really necessary

I stayed on the Califonia side and managed to find parking close to the gondola to meet Ovidiu and Rick after confirming the Gondola had just opened (they parked on the nevada side which I generally avoid going to :) ):

several lifts no running yet, so the lines were long

back for more

nice views

Fire Break Runs:

For Day #2, I went to kirkwood, by then I had of course missed the fresh tracks from Day #1, but given the firebreak runs, that was not a big deal. Driving there was not a huge deal, but there was already a good line getting in the parking lot when I arrived:

my car has become a lot more chatty :)

lots of cars trying to get in

Despite the parking getting full quickly, the resort didn't feel too full. Snow coverage was excellent. Chamoix was not even a problem, anyone could go without even trying hard:

snow was still good and a few stashes here and there

given the few lifts running, we had mild lines

running the wall for the first time this season

the wall ridge opened and I was able to drop it the first time this season too

liftie humor :)

very windy on top

sunny at times

But with 60mph+ winds, being on the top of the mountain was painful. Once I went up cornice and wanted to ride the ridge to drop skier's right, but the wind was so strong and I was being pelleted by ice/snow in the face, so I aborted:

that's snow/ice being blown around

by dropping the wall, I was able to get to the snow cave, sheltered from the wind

lenticular cloud, showing the strong winds

After some good runs, I went home. Glad to get such good snow in January!

Drove up early on a friday morning and the snow line was quite low but thankfully the road was clear until higher altitudes, so the drive was pretty quick, except for requiring a 10mn charging stop for safety (temps + headlights + snow rolling resistance made it unsafe to drive in one shot without stopping):

Carson Spur looked good

Big downside was that kirkwood only has 2 chargers left

It was early season, but when going in the right places. Friday was a bluebird with 19"

Chamoix was still very new

Drain was still low too

Day 2 had more freshies:

Palisades was kind of closed

but looked very nice :)

Later in the day, I found Johannes:

terrain towards the wall never opened all 4 days, neither did the wall

Despite the great snow, coverage was still limited, and I ended up getting a core shot somewhere during that day:

thankfully I had Ptext to fix it :)

Dau3, Sunday, got more fresh snow, kirkwood only opened 6 around 9:30, but I guess it wasn't too late:

a bit of a wait

got cold to wait like this

people were eager :)

when I finally got up, it was very good :)

Day4, Monday, we ended up only getting 1" overnight and 5" in 24h (mostly the previous day), but things were still great. Unfortunately not a lot of terrain opened and the Wall never opened.

the guys who waited 2H for first chair didn't get a lot

coverage wasn't perfect everywhere, but still very good for early december

Around 14:00, I had had enough fun and given the limited terrain opened, I called it a day and drove home, tired and happy :)

Snow coverage was excellent for that time of the year, although the snow was obviously variable and you had to follow the sun or the snow was icy or too wet. Still, for that time of the year, it was better than average for sure.

great to meet ovidiu, it had been a while

and then there is this troublemaker

chamoix was still in very good shape, snow all the way down

palisades was still in great shape

People also had nice costumes:

Group pictures:

some music before the drive home :)

Despite leaving at 13:00, the drive got delayed by 30mn due to traffic (damn, things clog up early now). That caused my tesla to save battery use (slower speed) and I had an estimate of 21% left of arrival before the last climb. This got down to 9% when I arrived, as my drive up took more than planned, as usual (despite virtually no snow on the road). Snow line was a bit over 6000ft, carson spur was not too covered anymore, so no worries about it closing:

coverage left was decent

The snow was a bit wet (high snoe line) and didn't stay much on the road/base, but the next morning, we had some. Unfortunately lifts opened 1h late due to lack of staff to do snow safety. Once opened, the snow was pretty good:

unfortunately lifts opened 1h late, lik

finally got to go up

Chamoix was in really good shape

The wall still had a good amount of snow left

Even Palisades was still open

Day #2 had more snow, although it came late a night and continued throughout the day, it was pretty wet. Good amounts of snow, but the conditions were tough and most people got pretty wet. Snow was pretty wet and heavy and took a lot of effort to ride. Still, not complaining, it was fun :)

as a result, few people running the lifts, even on a sunday.

the woods were always good if you knew how to avoid trees

The next day was powder day, we took a bus to Canyons:

then the familiar gondola line

we waited about 35mn before going up

good runs done, even if the base was a bit bare

steep enough though

We tgen did a long ride across the mountain to get back to Park City

still snowing when we got out

Thank you Arturo for the extra photos:

Beautiful scenery from the sky:

I arrived with 18% left and kirkwood sadly got rid of their 10 chargers, replacing them with only 4, now using chargepoint (some tesla chargers had up to 10A, or 8A, and those are only 6A), which now charge money, but that's fine.

Kirkwood was nice and sunny, but everything non groomed was kind of unpleasant, so groomers it was:

I tried to time the storm systems and drove to kirkwood in between 2 storms, when Carson Spur was open. It was too cold and I had to drive at night, so the temperature and headlights made it so that I would have arrived at kirkwood with -4% battery from my after the fact estimate, but thanks to the new supercharger in Jackon, a 5mn detour and 10mn bathroom stop gave me more than enough battery to arrive there comfortably. Drive up took just over 3h45 with the charging stop and the snow:

the bad news is that most of the chargers are broken, and the 2 left are sharing the same power (only 20A each)

It was early season, KW had only been open for 3 days, so they were still getting things ready and cleaning up :)

coverage was amazing

Normally, 6 would have opened on tuesday, but didn't like I predicted, and opened late (11:30) on wednesday. It was a longer wait than planned, but better than nothing:

we all waited eagerly :)

and finally got up

plenty of snow

coverage on chamoix was amazing

Day #2 got an extra 17", which caused Cornice to open a bit late (9:50), but not terribly:

ski patrol was training

chamoix started being scraped a bit :)

this is why the run is called hole in the wall :)

plenty of freshies

Palisades opened

we were all eying the wall and hoping it would open the next day

Day #3 started being a bit repetitive running 6 all day, but we held hope for the wall opening:

beautiful conditions

by 13:00 people started lining up for the wall

so I went to join them and waited about 45mn

and at 14:00 it opened, wee!

people who waited 1h30+ got first tracks, but there were plenty for everyone

After lapping the wall until they closed it, I was definitely spent, and with a huge grin on my face :)

Before people cry murder about how bad it is for the environment, it's all indoors and temperature is controlled beter than ski resorts that spent untold amounts of energy to make a lot of snow that melts away on very big slopes. I don't have numbers, but my feeling is that it's actually not that bad in comparison, and it's cool for people there to be able to enjoy the snow when there is clearly none nearby.

This is what it looks like:

Like other places in Dubai, navigation was a bit tricky, I missed one exit and had to find far away street parking and jump some hedges to get in the mall eventually (or it would have been a 15mn drive to get all the way out and back in to the correct entrance). Got there eventually. I got in kind of late on a weekday, so I was lucky not to have any wait and got my gear right away. The guy was surprised when I asked a board of 164 and stance of 15R 30F. That was a bit aggressive and powder-day like, which is almost all I do :)

really cool to see a groomer indoors

the quad chair was not detachable and a bit slow, but note the nice leather seats

After a while I figured out that the tow rope was faster than the quad chair:

The run is of course not super long, but they have a mini terrain park at the top, and it was fun enough for almost 2H. Here's a vid:

I wasn't happy with Vail closing early (again the earliest in the history of kirkwood, not counting covid last year), but in the end, there was not a lot of snow, so it's probably not a huge loss.
I went with Deana who had been meaning to go to Tahoe, and this made the trip more fun for sure, especially on easter sunday where she definitely wanted to be in the running for bunny spirit :)

Carson Spur was honestly not showing a lot of snow, and despite the higher temps, the early morning was on the icy side outside of groomers, so it was a chasing the right snow, day:

Deana got some rentals:

getting ready for the day :)

it was easter, bunny ears

She then went mostly on chair 1 and 2:

A few pictures from higher up:

a few people still went hiking up, but the snow wasn't worth it for me

not very busy

Then, we did something I haven't done in many years: lunch :)

I went on the backside to check it out, it had started to melt, but still had snow:

the wall drop never got a lot of snow, and started getting questionable to ride again

And that was it for the weird 2020-2021 season. Not the best, but better than nothing.

lots of people, lines for getting food

the wall was pretty tracked out, but not that much snow at the top

The forecast for overnight snow went down to 6", but thankfully Kirkwood got 1ft, nice!

eagle bowl, not open yet

got more snow refills during the day

I went to the back side when it opened:

fawn ridge delivered

the line wasn't bad

I definitely got some good rides that day:

a later ride on fawn ridge:

Day #3 was a bluebird with pleny of pow left:

saw a heli land at martin point, not quite sure why

As a first (for me), I used half the day to hike two peaks, starting with Thimble Peak:

the other side was nice, but a bit bare

After Thimble peak from chair 4, I went to hike Glove Rock over palisades. As I expected, by the time I got there (15:40), the temperatures went down and the top crusted, making the ride down a lot less satisfying:

you have to hike far to see those signs

nice view of the back

it was spooky to ride on the other side of the ridge, away from the resort

I then rode the ridge some more

and afer another warning, it was time to ride back down

I wasn't the first person to do this :)

And that was it for day #3, very nice conditions, and snow that was good until 2/3rd of the 3rd day.

This was our last stop on Arturo's ski road trip

Day #1 was great, awesome pow for the location, we spent most of our time at Strawberry Bowl:

lots of lines to be had

The runs were wonderful:

Day #2 was still good, less pow, but still plenty of good snow:

we took the tram to John Paul Ridge

great view

lots of pow, still

After 4 days in Utah on Arturo's ski road trip, our next stop was Crested Butte in Colorado.

Crested Butte is not a mountain for beginners, and a bit on the bony side, but very interesting terrain. We got to meet Karl and Suwei:

great views

good pow on the sides, but you had to pay the price of getting back

the tow ropes were there to weed snowboarders :)

before the ride down

then the hike back up

Wanna smoke some rocks, dude

we went for banana to find some powder

Then another hike to another run: spellbound (hike was not that fun):

arturo didn't even make it to the beginning of the descent :)

it was a fun run down, with another hike to get out at the bottom

After a 2 day drive, this was our first stop on Arturo's ski road trip

We were in a yotelpad, small, but close to the lift:

nice cell phone tree

So much powder:

The trees were good:

Day #2: was lots of snow:

the next day, there was a bit of a line to get up, 45mn+

but pow!

did I mention snow?

The trees in the morning were lovely:

So much pow:

I went back to the trees and found lots of things hiding under the snow and got my snow pants ripped out :)

The powder in the other trees, was ridiculously good:

Day #3 was a bluebird:

even more lines

Day #4, we went to Park City:

still pow

stupid guy that kept photobombing my pictures

After a while, I got tired and took the traverse gondola back to Canyons:

big valley between

mid station where you could ski back down to either mountain

back to Canyons

a few crossing lifts

nice views

We got lucky and got an unusal early cold storm in January, which covered all the rocks and ice. I drove there on a tuesday afternoon before the storm hit, parked the car underground and waited for the storm and the lifts to open.

I made it in one shot (no recharging) and 11% left when I arrived. That was by far a best condition scenario: no headlights, no heat, no windshield wipers, and no snow to add rolling resistance. I know that it's not safe to attempt this in one shot if all the stars don't align, but on the plus side, there is now a supercharger in jackson (only 5mn detour), so it's much easier to charge if needed. That said, I only had to charge when I arrived at kirkwood.

Day #1, wednesday. Big dump, lots of wind, kirkwood only managed to open 6 (the only lift to the top) by 15:28 and promptly closed it at 16:00. Disappointing to say the least. The old kirkwood would have stayed open past 16:00 as a gesture of good faith. The new kirkwood, closed after 32mn:

Day #2, thursday. Another big dump. Thursday, they opened at 13:00 again (new dump). The "you had one job" twitter guy failed to tell anyone that anything opened. I just noticed it on the webcam and ran outside screaming "WTF?"
They closed at 15:00 sharp, because the road was closing at 15:30. They knew they were punishing every single person who paid you and KW to stay on site. They didn't care.
The old kirkwood turned away people for the lift if they didn't have logdging and kept them running until 16:00. The new KW closed for everyone.

Day #3, friday: the wall never opened. Again, it was probably hard to make safe, but I'm pretty sure they could have opened friday.

Johannes came to join me for a few hours:

Day #4, saturday. The wall didn't open until 10. Why? Nobody knows. And then it closed at 14:00 for reasons unknown.

by the weekend, people came, teslas filled the electric parking slots

there was a line by 07:30 already

Time to go to chair 4 that had just opened.

slight line to chair 4

probably first time of the year that the wave was rideable

fawn ridge

At the end of the time, I was able to retrieve my camera pouch I dropped off the lift:

So all in all the snow was fantastic, and kirkwood as a resort was beyond disappointing in multiple ways. I will seriously consider heavenly next time.

never seen the area outside of the snow season, pretty trees

I've only ever seen caples lake when it was frozen

Then, we went to check out kirkwood. This must have been the lowest snow coverage day I've seen at kirkwood :)

the wall

which button do I push? :)

it was fun to see the magic carpets. They can be raised as the snow level goes higher

the 'temporary' lodges

still stocked

After going around KW a bit, we went around Carson Spur:

avanlache prevention gates and avalanche triggering devices when the road needs to be cleaned

After parking the car, we hiked up from Carson Spur to Thunder Mountain, and back down to Silver Lake/Kit Carson. It was a pretty easy hike up to Thunder Mountain with great views of kirkwood, Caples Lake, top of Cornice lift, and Silver Lake.

nice to see the avalanche gates from so close

these trigger the slides for avalanche safety on Carson Spur

the smaller kirkwood lake

multiple big volcanic rocks

damn, I never hiked that far with my snowboard :)

getting closer to sentinel bowl/cornice lift