December 28, 2004, Kirkwood

Kirkwood was today's destination again. The snow phone reported 7-9"s of new, and there was an inch of new on Ben's driveway in SLT. The forecast called for 2-4 more inches during the day. It was lightly snowing on the drive to Kirkwood but once at Kirkwood it was snowing hard with large flakes. We immediately headed to the Palisades where we found almost a foot in the deepest areas. Skiing here was pretty good though we still hit the layer underneath every few turns. We spent most of the morning in the Palisades which had very little traffic and we installed the high traverse. By afternoon the wind had increased substantially with intermittent heavy flurries. We rode one of the last chairs up the Wall before it was placed on windhold. This chair ride was quite eventful, it was absurdly windy and due to the wind the chair was stopped multiple times during which we violently swung in the wind and froze--it was one of the coldest liftrides I've ever had. Soon after this lift ride the entire upper mountain was placed on windhold and we headed back to SLT. With the short stay, lots of traversing and slow lifts, today's vertical was only 10,520ft but it was of very high quality; I think when it comes to vert quality is more important then quantity. <br><br>Here's Ben:<br> <br><br>Today was sadly my last day in Tahoe. Tahoe is forecasted to get a very large storm starting Wednesday night which is forecasted to drop 2-4ft of snow!

Tahoe is forecasted to get a very large storm starting Wednesday night which is forecasted to drop 2-4ft of snow!

<br><br>Rumored predictions (courtesy of telemarktips.com) are for 7 inches of water content at cold temperatures late this week.

Rumored predictions (courtesy of telemarktips.com) are for 7 inches of water content at cold temperatures late this week.

<br><br>Yeah . . . it depends which forecast you read and how you wish to remember it. The latest Winter Storm Warning states, <br>

AFTER A BRIEF BREAK...THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL MOVE IN BY LATE WEDNESDAY<br>NIGHT BRINGING HEAVY SNOW TO THE LAKE TAHOE AREA. TWO TO FOUR FEET OF<br>NEW SNOW IS EXPECTED THROUGH FRIDAY...WITH UP TO SIX FEET OF SNOW<br>POSSIBLE IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS.

<br><br>I'm trying not to think about it. <br>